Coincidentally, I just discovered today that you can also do a forward-delete on a Mac laptop keyboard by hitting Fn+Delete. Very useful for e.g. sending a ⌘⌦ (Ctrl-Alt-Del) to a VirtualBox VM.
Given that holding the button still causes the Mac to shutdown... this seems awful dangerous. I could easily see myself holding the button to delete a few lines of text and then * oops *.
As trapexit mentioned, fn+Delete already does this, an can easily be entered without removing your hands from the main keyboard area.
I never find myself actually using that shortcut, despite knowing it exists. I end up repositioning the cursor, then backspacing. Whereas the power key is in the same muscle-memory space as my external keyboard's Delete key, which I use all the time.
It is a little dangerous, yeah, but worth it in my opinion for a nice shortcut. At least key repeat is off, so you have no reason to hold down the key.
When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
In your case:
Apple wouldn't put an eject button on a laptop with nothing to eject.
I'm typing this on a late 2011 Macbook Pro and I'm confused. Do I have a power key that is different than my power button? The power button seems too far away from the keyboard to be usefully remapped.
Thanks for the clarification; this software look more useful in that case. It would be even nicer if it would enable me to remap my eject key, since I never use my optical drive.
No obvious way to "alt-tab" between an apps windows, even less obvious on international keyboards.
No way to use arrow keys to select the OK and cancel buttons in a dialog.
Some Windows-isms was recently added, such as being able to resize the windows using any border. This must have been to appease converts. Do you think Apple will add any of the above soon?
fn + delete does this. If you plug in a USB keyboard, the forward delete key works as expected.
No obvious way to "alt-tab" between an apps windows, even less obvious on international keyboards.
⌘ + ` (this is the back-tick above tab). You can change this by going to System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts, clicking on the "Keyboard and Text Input" category, then editing "Move focus to next window." This option is buried because Apple thinks Mission Control is easier. :/
No way to use arrow keys to select the OK and cancel buttons in a dialog.
System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts. Check "Full Keyboard Access" to use tab, space, & enter on controls.
The proper desktop keyboard has a forward delete key, it's just the laptops (and BT keyboard) that have to make do with [Fn + Del].
The Alt-Tab thing for apps gets on my nerves as well, and I've been a Mac user for ten years now. However, it's easy to go into the Sys Prefs and change the default key shortcut for that to something reasonable. The functionality is already there, it's just hidden behind an obscure key binding.
Cycling through buttons in dialog boxes works with the Tab key. The first thing you need to do when you get a new Mac is to go into System Preferences and enable nav keys for all UI elements, it's a single checkbox.
The defaults on the Mac are a disaster, you'll have to revisit pretty much every single preference pane, but it's worth it.
Even worse - on my MBP there is no pound sign on the keyboard. Try coding without a pound sign! (EDIT: I'm referring to the hash key, i.e. #)
(I know it's alt 3, but WHY didn't they mark it on the keyboard? Newcomers have to google this! There is a sign on the '2' key that indicates euro (alt 2 is euro sign on my keyboard), so they could have done it easily on the 3 key.
I have the hash symbol on my 3-year old USA MBP (shift-3). Why is your keyboard different? Why do is it alt-3 instead of shift-3? (Is it your country or age of laptop?)
I would love for Microsoft to introduce some Apple-isms in Windows: text navigation is particularly awful, and I'm far more efficient on OS X when it comes to text. The lack of forward delete key doesn't bother me or hinder me at all: command-right + delete takes care of it.
Well, I see your point but you are using examples that voluntarily circumvent Apple's established, system-wide shortcuts.
Fortunately for us and developers, setting custom shortcuts for different commands is still supported. But this allows for devs to bypass default shortcuts.
I'm mostly using command and option and shift when I navigate in text, and it's a bliss to do so. On Windows, it's erratic and you have to use the Home/End keys to have the same results.
The thing is that Apple's Human Interface Guidelines (which define these bindings) were created in the 1980s, before Windows even existed, so it's a bit difficult to blame Apple for not being compatible with an OS that didn't even exist at the time.
The early Macs didn't even have a Control key, which was later added to support terminal applications that needed it.
An alternative is Double Command. I've been using Double Command to map the right ALT key to forward delete for awhile now: http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/
I had a full size key board to replace the stock bluetooth one, so I had both.
I'm a big guy and like a full keyboard, large screen etc. After the very first time the mouse died I went out and got all wired peripherals for my workstation.
