John VaughanIn '95 we were migrating a "green screen" command line-driven online equity trading system (one of the first: Instinet) from keyboard-only entry to this newfangled, glitzy, graphical Windows interface. One of the major challenges - and a design mandate - was to include the keyboard shortcuts along with the gooey/mousey UI.
And with good reason:
Experienced traders could execute a trade task in no time flat - in an environment that values speed and is very keyboard friendly. They already knew the keystroke shortcuts and the trading Ticker symbols by heart. They didn't want to be slowed my mousing around or learning a new interaction mode, for that matter. And they were, of course, generating money hand over fist (That was then, this is now...)
How many of us DON'T use keyboard shortcuts for simple repetitive tasks that share a common keyboard convention across multiple software applications (like Delete, Cut and Paste)?
Have you ever tried to fill out an online form that DOESN'T conform to tab-order conventions?
In simplest terms:
Browsey page-wandering lends itself to the mouse.
Doing repetitive, complex stuff (esp. text-heavy content entry & management) can be improved tremendously by effective keyboard shortcut tools.
