Nails in the dogcoffin
Erik posted a great response and expansion to my previous article on Apple’s questionable UI implementations recently. One of his points was Apple’s inconsistent use of keyboard-shortcuts for the Preferences menu-item. I decided to look into that a bit further.
All of the apps below have a few things in common: they’re all Apple applications, they all run on OS X, and they all have a “Preferences” menu-command. That’s where the similarities end, however.
Take a look at the various different keyboard-shortcuts used to trigger the “Preferences” command.
| Web browser and email client | |
| Safari | command-comma |
| command-option-semicolon | |
| iApps | |
| iTunes | command-Y |
| iMovie (2.1.2) | none |
| iPhoto | command-comma |
| iDVD | (? - I don’t have it) |
| iCal | command-Y |
| iChat | none |
| iSync | none |
| Standard apps and utilities | |
| TextEdit | none |
| Terminal | none |
| Address Book | none |
| DVD Player | none |
| Preview | none |
| Sherlock | none |
| Stickies | none |
| Productivity apps | |
| AppleWorks | none |
| Keynote | none |
| Pro media apps | |
| DVD Studio Pro | none |
| Final Cut Pro | option-Q |
| Developer tools and built Cocoa apps | |
| Project Builder | none |
| PB - New Project - Cocoa Application | command-comma |
| Interface Builder | command-comma |
| IB - New Cocoa Application | command-comma |
All things considered, it seems that command-comma is the nearest thing we have to a current, officially-sanctioned keyboard shortcut for the Preferences command (other than no shortcut at all). Project Builder and Interface
Builder by default create new applications which use that shortcut for the “Preferences” menu-item, and it’s also used by Safari and iPhoto.
That said, I’m fairly sure that in the Developer Tools on Mac OS X 10.1.x, the default Preferences shortcut used by new Cocoa apps was command-semicolon, and indeed if you had to ask me what the “usual” Preferences shortcut was, I’d probably say command-semicolon, since I’m now used to Safari. Then again, I’d maybe say command-Y
instead, also being used to iTunes. I probably wouldn’t say command-comma. Anyway, my own uncertainty only serves to further illustrate the main point: Apple doesn’t seem to be taking UI consistency very seriously any more.
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