Re: On Ctrl+tab

[Sandy Armstrong <sanfordarmstrong gmail com>]

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 8:07 AM, Luca Ferretti <elle uca libero it> wrote:
> Il giorno mer, 13/01/2010 alle 08.38 -0500, Dan Winship ha scritto:
>> On 01/13/2010 07:47 AM, Luca Ferretti wrote:
>> > Il giorno dom, 22/11/2009 alle 16.32 -0800, Sandy Armstrong ha scritto:
>> >
>> >> Most users I've spoken to about this prefer ctrl+tab because it is
>> >> similar to alt+tab, and can be invoked with only the left hand.
>> >
>> > Ctrl+PgUp/Down can be invoked with only the _right_ hand using right
>> > Ctrl key.
>>
>> Right, but when browsing the web, you'll generally have one hand on the
>> mouse for clicking/scrollwheeling, and so for right-handed people,
>> having the important keyboard operations be left-hand-only is nice.
>
> This case seems excessive to me. If you've one hand on your mouse, use
> the mouse to change tab, clicking or using the scroll wheel :P

And yet, I was about to respond identically to you before I saw that
Dan beat me to it.  I believe that right hand on mouse, left hand on
keyboard is extremely common.  Consider selecting text and
copy/pasting, or using ctrl+tab to change tabs, with the mouse in the
content area so you can scroll, select text, etc.

So while I don't have any data outside my own usage and intuition, I
really don't think it's excessive, as you say.

> I suppose the scenario for keyboard shortcuts here is both hands on
> keyboard (or no ability to use the mouse).

I think that's a bit limiting, but even if we were to accept it as
true, we can still say that on a full keyboard, ctrl+page up/down
requires you to shift your right-hand considerably away from home row,
making it fairly inconvenient.

Fun fun fun,
Sandy