Which do you prefer? Menus or Keyboard Shortcuts?

[desmondying]

I would prefer keyboard shortcuts for applications like photoshop.
For normal Windows or OSX navigation I use menus and icons more often.

The reason is that I only use Keyboard shortcuts when my mouse is busy doing something else, like in PS, your cursor would be constantly hovering over the canvas and it would be a chore to keep moving to the toolbar and move back to the canvas. Its faster for me.

I don't memorize shortcuts, it just comes naturally to me after awhile of usage.

[scrimski]

Shortcuts! All the way, Max, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Avid. I'm much faster, it's like typing a text sometimes. I hate it to wait for mouse menu to fade in and to search for an option and not finding it, especially when I'm tired after long shifts this happens quite often. But when I hit the right key I know I'm there.

[LoneRobot]

My girlfriend says that's a waste of time (She's a 2D artist and does everything through mouse clicking in menus) and that it's worthless to memorize things like that. She also says I'm "weird" for knowing the shortcuts and that most people prefer the menus instead.

most people? i doubt it. :) if you were billing a job per hour it might be a good idea but to solely use menu items is tediously slow. If i dont have my shorcuts set up as i like them i get really frustrated because i've got used to working at a certain speed. UsingQuads and/or Shortcuts will improve your productivity over a long time. (the same as photoshop's batch processing and actions pallette will over multiple, repetative tasks)

When you look at someone modelling with shortcuts you can see the reasons why you couldn't do something like that as fast if you were using command panel options for things. I mean you might want to perform three or four operations on a single vertex. You're just saving time on repetitive movements. Some people dont appreciate how saving a few seconds here and there make any difference. It does.

If your girlfriend is a 2d artist (ie AFX artist) i can understand her opinion because i tend to use the menus in combustion. But for a 3D app i'd say it wasn't optional, but obligatory.

In answer to your question - I use both - a combination of Quads and Keyboard. And you're right. :cool:

Anyone still use strokes?

[mynewcat]

Once I learned keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop, Max, or any other program I instantly memorize the keys and use them to improve workflow. My girlfriend says that's a waste of time (She's a 2D artist and does everything through mouse clicking in menus) and that it's worthless to memorize things like that. She also says I'm "weird" for knowing the shortcuts and that most people prefer the menus instead.

I think she's wrong, but I'm more than open to the possibility of being wrong myself. :) Let me know what you use so I can get somewhat of a cross section of users here and what they prefer, that way maybe I'll prove her wrong for once.

Tell you girlfriend she is mentally lazy. If you think about how easy it is to associate one or two letters with a command, it's difficult not to remember the combos.

Is she really saying it's too hard for her to remember that the space bar allows her to pan around the canvas in Photoshop as the very least?

It's a waste of time to move the mouse all the way over to the menu to choose a tool, then back again, when your left hand - which would otherwise be doing nothing - can press a single key to change it.

Explain to her that you don't have to remember every command, just the most commonly used ones... or you could watch her work, and ask her if she gets tired of doing the same thing again and again when all she has to do is tap a key.

If you want to go in for the kill... point out the deficiency of the "women can multi task better" myth... tell her she's not paying enough attention to what she's doing then tell her to go and make you a cup of tea and a sandwich :p

[PEN]

Tell you 2D girl friend that she lacks dimention. I know the hot keys for ever app that I use. In Max almost ever one of them is custom and every key has been mapped at least 3 times. Not knowing hot keys is just waisting time.

[Clanger]

I try and use shortcuts for the main tasks but on a regular basis I might use at least 10 different programs and using the right shortcut on the wrong program can lead to all sorts of weird things happening. If only all programs use the same keys.
Re-define the keys you say? I very often use other peoples computers so altering things isn't an option.

[vader_dk]

i'm helpless with out hotkeys - i'm getting to that point i dont know where things are in the menus only where they are on my keyboard.

and Clanger thats why you allways have acess to your keybinding files. either on a disc or on your server :]

your girlfriend is way off - she have to buy you a dinner ;)

/cheers

[Clanger]

and Clanger thats why you allways have acess to your keybinding files. either on a disc or on your server :]


Unfortunately not all programs have such a feature

[PEN]

When I switch back and forth between Max and Maya I hit the wrong keys for about the first 10 min and then I get back in the grove. As for going to packages like PS I have been doing it for so long that it really isn't a problem until Abobe decides to change a hot key for no aparent reason when they do a new release.

[Taoizm]

Pretty much like Pen said. It's only an annoyance when the base package changes their default keys. Photoshop...grrrrr! Even MAX to a degree. I've found that porting over my .kbd file has sometimes broken things in newer versions due to new features. (that .kbd file has been with me since MAXv1. ahhh, the good old days)

[thatoneguy]

I use hotkeys for as many functions as I possibly can, however there are far more functions in Max and Maya than hotkeys allow for, therefore I only use hotkeys for the most absurdly common tasks and then leave the rest to the context sensitive quad/hotbox. I think the hotbox in Maya is just as fast if not faster than a huge quantity of hotkeys.

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