Richard Waller
Quick-Keys for PCs

Although the QWERTY keyboard has been around long enough so that I can actually now find the 'E' key (and E is the commonest letter in the English language), I am not too certain about this mouse thing. I have just typed something and now I have to stop and reach for the mouse. It is always the wrong way up. And it falls off the mouse-pad. And I have to give it a little twitch to locate the curser and unstick the ball. And it is fiddle to point to small things on a big screen. And... And... So despite the encouragement to play card games on the display, I am sure it is easier to use the keyboard for the necessary control functions.

- 2. Windows Is Too slow

Those of us who grew up with DOS find that the funny delays while Windows sorts itself out to be boring. My fingers are on the keyboard, and I can key Ctrl+S T Alt+TAB Ctrl+R much quicker to swap from WordPad to Netscape than to fiddle about with pointing and clicking.

- 3. There are just Too Many Options

What with a menu bar, and button bar and sometimes a rular bar it is major treasure-hunt to find a command for what I want to do. Enough of this nonsense. What I have done is:

• Printed the Quick-Key lists on card,
• Used the scissors to cut it to postcard size,
• Blu-Tack the cards to the side of the display.

And by chance, this card is ideal for helping new users of computers to get started. These are the very few vital commands that you may need today. You may never need Tables, and Columns, and Macros, and Fonts... Leave all that to the talented and versatile secretaries who can go on a two-day course to learn the curly bits. You can learn to use a PC in a couple of hours, and already it faster than scribbling the words down with a stub of pencil.

There are several of these Quick-Key lists already - the list may grow when I get round to it:

• The Most Common Quick-Keys
• Quick-Keys for Word 6
• Quick-Keys for Netscape
• Quick-Keys for Homesite

On a similar vein, and the same format:

• Basic HTML Commands

An alternative Approach?

The Sunday Times Innovation section 13 July had a feature which described a mouse-odometer from http://www.gadgetware.com which measures the distance your mouse-ball travels. The readings tend to be very high. In two days even a light mouse user clocked up 190 metres. Over a year your right wrist has pushed a piece of plastic 15 miles. Is this a quick way to get mouse-elbow?

Is there a saving using the MicroSoft Intellimouse? Has anyone experience of these? Are they the greatest thing since sliced cheese?