Tabbing in OS X

[KC8818]

I just switched to Mac so I am new to OS X. I was wondering if there was a way to tab between menu options when prompted? For example, when you select the shutdown option a menu pops up offering the choice to shutdown or cancle. By default, shutdown is selected allowing you to hit enter without using your mouse. If I were to select cancle, I can't tab over to enter, I have to use the mouse. This is the same throughout OS X when saving, etc. I am very used to tabbing through everything with my old PC and it is becmoming annoying to break that habbit and use the mouse. Is there a way to enable me to tab through my menu options? Otherwise Macs rock!

[AKcrab]

Esc == Cancel. I think that is universal.

[KC8818]

what if there is mulitple options? is there a way to tab through them?

[djn1]

If a button is edged in blue (rather than entirely blue) you can select it by hitting the space bar. And most dialogues will allow you to tab between available buttons including the shutdown dialogue. One click of the tab key puts the blue edging around the cancel button (hit the space bar to select it) and another click takes it away again. At either stage hitting the enter key will select shutdown.

[n.amadori]

Sometimes you can press the starting letter of the button you want to press.
For example in the shutdown dialogue (btw you can get it with control-eject) you can press:
Esc for Cancel,
Enter for Shutdown
S for Stop
R for Reboot

Nic :-)

[KC8818]

thanks guys

[seb2]

Just be sure to enable the keyboard acces in System Preferences, "Keyboard" pane, second tab "Keyboard access" and check "Every Element". Then, you can use Tab to go to every single element. Space confirms.

Also, in "Do you want to save dialogs", command-D usually means "Don't save"

[brmic]

as far as i know, with full keyboard access enabled, cmd+first letter of option should work in almost all cases

[chabig]

I'm not saying keyboard control is a bad thing. But remember why the PC lets you tab from control to control--it was a hack they built as they introduced graphical user interfaces to applications running on PCs that didn't ship with mice. It was not done to enhance usability.

Chris

[travisbell]

Interesting piece of info... although... I happen to think its very usable. I use the keyboard lots with no mouse, and in Windows I tab and shift-tab through everything. OSX should allow you to, by default tab through menu items and such... let us use the arrow keys!

[theRegent]

The first computer I used full-time was a Mac, starting in 1984 (5?) with a 512Ke. When I first sat down at a Windows PC, there were many times when things I inadvertently triggered with the keyboard were quite confusing.

I'd like to suggest that Apple should more visibly present these features as options for everybody. I expect there are quite a few users who would find them useful but don't explore them because they're generally referenced only as "accessbility" enhancements. (The Zoom feature is another good example.)

That said, my system has about half of the "Universal Access"-type features turned on siimply because I, like KC8818 though not for the same reasons, find them useful.

I'd further like to see access to items in pop-up selectors driven by multiple letter keys, as in the OS 9 Finder and open/save dialogs. Presently, each time you press a letter it skips to the nearest item that begins with that letter. Letters in quick succession should continue to navigate the list, taking you to the nearest matches available.
Originally posted by chabig
I'm not saying keyboard control is a bad thing. But remember why the PC lets you tab from control to control--it was a hack they built as they introduced graphical user interfaces to applications running on PCs that didn't ship with mice. It was not done to enhance usability.Respectfully, this doesn't mean that it isn't a feature that enhances usability. (Apologies for the double negative.) Both systems have been improved by borrowing from the other.

[chabig]

Originally posted by theRegent
I'd further like to see access to items in pop-up selectors driven by multiple letter keys, as in the OS 9 Finder and open/save dialogs. Presently, each time you press a letter it skips to the nearest item that begins with that letter. Letters in quick succession should continue to navigate the list, taking you to the nearest matches available.

Jaguar does behave this way both in Finder windows and in Open/Save dialogs. Each additional typed letter refines the selection. This is controlled by the keyboard delay setting in your Keyboard pref pane. Perhaps yours is set very short. Mine is set about halfway between short and long.

Chris

[theRegent]

Um... yeah. The Finder and open/save dialogs do work this way. My previous specification of OS 9 wasn't necessary. (Though I think some parts of it weren't working until Jaguar.)

But pop-up selectors still don't.

I haven't made a thorough test of the question, but it seems to be inconsistently implemented across applications as well. Preferences dialogs and prefPanes often don't seem to recognize Full Keyboard Access at all.

Naturally the behavior varies between browsers, too, and is generally different than Full Keyboard Access would make it. (i.e. triggered by the spacebar)

For that matter... personally I'd like to be able to tab into pop-up selectors in the browser without having every link on the page a part of the tab order.

:: side thought ::
Perhaps for pop-ups that aren't alphabetical (e.g. a file path, or limited set of options in a custom order) the Full Keyboard Access "spacebar then arrow keys then spacebar" behavior makes more sense. But I'd still like to skip that first step and see the pop-up open with the arrow keys.
:: end aside ::

[chabig]

OH...popup menus. I wonder if that behavior is application specific?

Chris