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May 15, 2001
Timesaving Hints
By Jeffrey Branzburg
This page is designed specifically with the new-to-technology educator in mind. Please feel free to reproduce this page for use in your teacher training sessions or other staff development efforts.
We all know that our computers save us a great deal of time and effort; here are some ways in which the features of operating systems can help to speed things up even more.
Keyboard Equivalents
I like to save my work frequently, but when I'm busy typing, it seems too time consuming to go to the mouse, point it at a menu, click the button to pull down the menu, choose the "Save" function, and release the mouse button. That's five steps to complete one simple act! There must be a way to do it faster, without interrupting the flow of my work. Keyboard equivalents provide the answer.
Many menu functions have a keyboard equivalent. This equivalent usually requires simply pressing two keys simultaneously: on Windows-based computers, the control key (marked "Ctrl") and a letter key. For example, to save a document hold down the "Ctrl" key and press the letter "s". Release both keys, and the document will save. For Macintosh users, keyboard equivalents usually require holding down the command key and pressing a letter key. Regardless of your platform, you will find keyboard equiv-alents listed next to some functions in the pull-down menus.
While we are on the topic of equivalents, many programs also provide toolbars. A toolbar is a line of icons; a single click on one of the icons performs a specific function. For example, the disk icon means "Save," giving you three ways to save a document-use the menu, use the Ctrl-S keyboard shortcut, or click once on the Save icon on the toolbar. Also, if you do not remember the meaning of a specific icon, just point your mouse at the icon (without clicking) for a couple of seconds, and a label will appear.
Right-Clicking
When I first began using a Windows-based computer after years of using a Macintosh, I was confused by the two-button mouse. What was the second button for?
The "right-click" button in many situations gives immediate access to content-sensitive menus. This means that the menu of choices presented to you depends on exactly where the mouse is positioned when you press the right button. For example, in Microsoft Word, if you right-click on a toolbar, a menu will appear with a list of Word's toolbars, giving you a quick and easy way to turn on any one of them. Right-click in the body of a document in Word, though, and the menu will give choices such as "Cut", "Copy", "Paste", "Font", and "Paragraph"-selections that make sense within the context of where you clicked, and that enable you to access functionality consistent with the body of a Word document.
Right-click on the Windows 95 or 98 desktop, and your choices will all be related to the desktop and its icons: arrange icons, refresh the desktop, or create a new folder, for example.
Try it. A great number of applications support right-clicking. For Macintosh users, pressing and holding the single mouse button frequently brings up similar context-sensitive menus.
Shortcuts on the Desktop
Do you have certain files, folders, and programs you use more frequently than others? Do you need to navigate your computer's hierarchical menu system to find these items each time you want to open them? Would you like to get at them more quickly and easily? Then create a shortcut to them in Windows, or an alias in Macintosh, on the desktop.
A shortcut is simply a pointer that "remembers" the actual location of your file, folder, or program. When you double-click the shortcut or alias, the computer goes to the actual location and opens up the file, folder, or program, just as if you had gone there and clicked it yourself.
To create a shortcut in Windows, locate the item and right-click on it. The context-sensitive menu that appears will contain a choice that says "Create Shortcut"; select it. Macintosh users, select the item and choose "Make Alias" from the File menu. A shortcut or alias icon will appear next to the original item.
Drag the icon to your desktop, and you're done. Just double-click the icon to access the file, folder, or program.
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