https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Readline
https://github.com/chzyer/readline/blob/master/doc/shortcut....
Sometimes I use an iPad plus Bluetooth keyboard for writing.
What's annoying is that keyboard shortcuts mostly work in apps, but are sometimes buggy, because I think they're so rarely tested.
- it doesn't make sense to have a/e as beginning/end, there is a symmetry in the commands, but there is no symmetry in the a/e keybindings, they are on different rows
- likewise, it doesn't make sense to use the less convenient ⌃ for such a frequent command (and this is also the rightful criticism of all the bad Emacs pinky defaults)
- JKL; for cursor movements and
- DF for your word movements (instead of having to move your whole hand to ⌥◀/▶)
- A/⇧A for line start/end movements or maybe A/G if it's frequent enough to not warrant using ⇧
And re. those other apps - it's better to rebind them all (or, rather, use a tool to have the keybinds work in all of them) as well to use something good rather that stick with the bad just because someone lacked good design chops in the past
Spotlight usually works for most of my needs as well.
It’s frustrating when an app overwrites built in shortcuts like in Intellij on Mac, searching for shortcuts in the menu bar search doesn’t allow opt-delete if I remember correctly.
Speaking of menu bar search… one of my favorite commands is opt-shift-/ to search available commands in the menu bar of an app.
The more I got familiar with MacOS, the more I realized all those feature pictures ople praise MacOS for are just workarounds / copies from other systems, and (even power-) users just aren't familiar with other systems hence their amaze.
The inconsistencies that come with intermixing ctrl-option-command are just mind blowing. Even Windows got this right by making the Windows key control window manager specific actions.
By the time I’d started working as a dev fulltime where those keys might’ve been useful, laptops had taken over and my work machine was a MacBook Air which wasn’t large enough to fit those keys even if they’d wanted to, and so I learned the built in macOS text nav shortcuts. They were never a workaround for me because I’d never used the home/end/etc cluster in the first place.
Even today when using Windows or Linux it’s with a 60/65% keyboard without those keys because that’s what’s comfortable. Reaching over to hit home/end on a larger keyboard would feel odd with how far removed it is from the rest of the board.
Those keys are not lacking, but on laptop keyboards they are hidden behind the fn+arrow keys. But they also are not workarounds or replacements for those keys. On macOS Home and End scroll the document to the beginning or end, not the cursor to the beginning or end of the line. That can be done with cmd-arrow.
Apple has a pretty exhaustive list of so-called document shortcuts that I find particularly useful: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236#text
Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E in particular to jump to the beginning and end of a line are a pair that I use dozens of times per day.
Same with Opt+Delete to delete the previous word.
I use Opt+Left Arrow and Opt+Right Arrow to move the cursor back and forward by whole words so often that I didn't even think about including it in here until I unconsciously used it while editing text.
Also:
Cmd+Space brings up Spotlight and is a great way to launch apps and open documents.
I've used SizeUp for well over a decade to rearrange my Mac's open windows. It's literally the first app I install when I get a new computer. https://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/