Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/05/04
One of the things about the Office 2007 and 2010 Ribbon is that it makes the things that you have remembered for 10+ years go into hard to find places.
My point is that according to the ribbon documenation:
A ribbon can replace both the traditional menu bar and toolbars.
Microsoft has decided to read the “a ribbon can replace” as “the ribbon replaces”. Thereby also introducing a whole new naming for the UI elements used in ribbons (see at the bottom).

Tab “Review”; Group “Changes”; Commands “Protect Sheet” / “Protect Workbook”
Protecting a worksheet and workbook have been in the menu “Tools”, submenu “Protection” forever. But alas: No more “Tools” menu, and accompanying keyboard shortcut productivity (and I needed “unprotect workbook” because you cannot copy workbooks inside a protected workbook).
As “password protect worksheet” shows, it is now under:
- Tab: Review
- Group: Changes
- Commands: Protect Sheet / Unprotect Sheet / Protect Workbook / Unprotect Workbook
–jeroen
via: Microsoft Excel 2007 – Protecting Workbooks.

Naming of ribbon UI elements
Posted in Excel, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Office, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/03/16
Unlike most tools where you use Shift-Enter to add a line break character (ASCII 10: line feed), Excel is different:
Sometimes it’s necessary to have more than one line inside a worksheet cell, which is easily done with a line break.
Add a new line by holding down the Alt key while you press enter. It’s the keyboard shortcut Alt+Enter. In Excel 2008 and 2011 for Mac use Cmd+Option+Enter.
–jeroen
via: Start a New Line Inside a Spreadsheet Cell in Excel | Excel Semi-Pro.
Posted in Excel, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Office, Office 2000, Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2010, Office 2013, Office 2016, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/03/09
Since about 9 months, 2.5 inch notebook drives ship that have 500 gigabyte platters.
With that technology, these drives ship:
they easily could manufacture these configurations:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Hardware, Power User, SSD, ThinkPad, W701 | 2 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/03/08
xs4all won’t tell you up front, but they changed a couple of things that will bring your 10 mbit down / 1 mbit up to something that hardly connects, and if it does less than half the speed.
This is also a post on how XS4ALL treats long lasting (15 years!) customer relations. Badly.
05.03.12 16:08:01 DSL-Synchronisierung beginnt (Training).
05.03.12 16:06:05 Internetverbindung wurde getrennt.
05.03.12 16:06:05 Internetverbindung IPv6 wurde getrennt, Präfix nicht mehr gültig.
05.03.12 16:06:05 Internetverbindung wurde getrennt.
05.03.12 16:06:05 DSL antwortet nicht (Keine DSL-Synchronisierung).
05.03.12 15:56:30 Internetverbindung IPv6 wurde erfolgreich hergestellt. Präfix: 2001:980:43d9::/48
05.03.12 15:56:30 Internetverbindung IPv6 wurde erfolgreich hergestellt. IP-Adresse: 2001:980:43d9::be05:43ff:fe70:9b53
05.03.12 15:56:26 Internetverbindung wurde erfolgreich hergestellt. IP-Adresse: 82.161.132.169, DNS-Server: 194.109.6.66 und 194.109.9.99, Gateway: 194.109.5.205
05.03.12 15:56:21 DSL ist verfügbar (DSL-Synchronisierung besteht mit 4804/1029 kbit/s).
05.03.12 08:44:20 DSL-Synchronisierung beginnt (Training).
They advertised XS4ALL ONLY (since it on the copper pair you only run DSL, no phone, so you don’t need a splitter) as faster, cheaper and more stable internet and VOIP connection.
It is not. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Fritz!, Fritz!Box, Network-and-equipment, Opinions, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/03/08
This use case drove me nuts in Visual Studio 2010 for a while, but can be solved.
Use cases:
double click on a word to select it
- press Ctrl-C to copy the selected text
- result is either of these two dialogs:
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
Cannot navigate to definition.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
or
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
Cannot navigate to definition. The cursor is not on a symbol.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
The reason is that Visual Studio 2010 still thinks I am clicking the identifier (which I’m not, I just released the mouse button) while pressing the Ctrl key. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in .NET, Delphi, Development, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User, Software Development, Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio and tools | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2012/03/05
Both the WordPress Visual editor and HTML editor accept keyboard shortcuts. The built in WordPress Visual editor is based on TinyMCE where some of the shortcuts come from.
Since I’m a keyboard guy, I collected some information on keyboard shortcuts over time, and below is a table with what I collected for both editors.
That, combined with distraction free writing really gives WordPress a boost.
Most of the shortcut keys use the modifier keys ALT plus SHIFT.
Note that on a Mac, you will have to use the “command” key in stead of the “CTRL” key.
Visual Editor
You can see what these shortcuts do in the WordPress Visual Editor support page.
| Function |
Shortcut Keys |
Alternative Shortcut Keys |
| Undo |
|
CTRL + z |
| Redo |
|
CTRL + y |
| Headers (H1, H2, H3, …, H6) |
CTRL + 1 … 6 |
|
| Paragraph |
CTRL + 7 |
|
| Format |
CTRL + 8 |
(doesn’t work on a Mac) |
| Address |
CTRL + 9 |
|
| Bold |
ALT + SHIFT + b |
CTRL + b |
| Italic |
ALT + SHIFT + i |
CTRL + i |
| Underline |
|
CTRL + u |
| Strike through with red (delete) |
ALT + SHIFT + d |
|
| Align left |
ALT + SHIFT + l |
|
| Align center |
ALT + SHIFT + c |
|
| Align right |
ALT + SHIFT + r |
|
| Blockquote |
ALT + SHIFT + q |
|
| Unquote/outdent |
ALT + SHITF + w |
(doesn’t work on a Mac) |
| Code |
ALT + SHIFT + c |
(doesn’t work, is “align center”) |
| Unordered List (ul) |
ALT + SHIFT + u |
|
| Ordered List (ol) |
ALT + SHIFT + o |
|
| List item (li) |
ALT + SHIFT + l |
(doesn’t work, is “align left”) |
| A Hyperlink (a) |
ALT + SHIFT + a |
|
| Line break |
SHIFT + Enter |
|
| Read more |
ALT + SHIFT + t |
|
| Next page |
ALT + SHIFT + p |
|
| Media insert (image/video/…) |
ALT + SHIFT + m |
(on a Mac, it also inserts a Ã) |
| ins |
ALT + SHIFT + s |
(doesn’t work on a Mac) |
| del |
ALT + SHIFT + d |
(doesn’t work on a Mac) |
| Distraction free writing |
ALT + SHIFT + g |
|
| Enable “Kitchen Sink” Toolbar |
ALT + SHIFT + z |
|
| View HTML code |
ALT + SHIFT + e |
(doesn’t work on a Mac) |
| Advanced Editor |
ALT + SHIFT + v |
(doesn’t work) |
| Spell check |
ALT + SHIFT + n |
|
| Rich Editor Help |
ALT + SHIFT + h |
|
- Unused ALT + SHIFT + letter combinations: f, y, j, k, x.
HTML editor (don’t work on a Mac)
Though the sources I used (see bullets below) indicate the below table should work, they don’t.
So: no HTML shortcuts on Mac or PC, which is a shame.
The only reason I use the HTML editor once in a while are these:
| Function |
Shortcut Keys |
Alternative Shortcut Keys |
| Bold |
ALT + SHIFT + b |
|
| Italic |
ALT + SHIFT + i |
|
| Strikethrough |
ALT + SHIFT + d |
|
| Blockquote |
ALT + SHIFT + q |
|
| Code |
ALT + SHIFT + c |
|
| Unordered List |
ALT + SHIFT + u |
|
| Ordered List |
ALT + SHIFT + o |
|
| A Hyperlink |
ALT + SHIFT + a |
|
| Read more |
ALT + SHIFT + t |
|
| View HTML code |
ALT + SHIFT + e |
|
| Headers (H1, H2, H3, …) |
Ctrl + corresponding number |
|
| Insert date/time |
ALT + SHIFT + s |
|
| Insert IMG URL |
ALT + SHIFT + m |
|
| List Item (li) |
Alt + SHIFT + l |
|
| Publish the Post |
Alt + SHIFT + p |
|
| Redo |
CTRL + y |
|
| Undo |
CTRL+z |
|
–jeroen
via:
Posted in Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User, SocialMedia, WordPress | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/06
When you write applications, it is important to include both the CUA and the Windows/Apple keyboard shortcuts, and get the tab order of keyboard accessible user elements right.
Many modern applications seem to put less and less emphasis on the most efficient user input device: the keyboard.
You should: it makes your application much more pleasant to use.
I wrote about CUA before, but the Windows and Mac shortcuts are just as important.
A small table (please post a comment if you know additions):
Keyboard Shortcuts for the most common tasks.
| Function |
CUA |
Windows |
Mac |
| Copy |
Ctrl + Insert |
Ctrl + C |
Command + C |
| Cut |
Shift + Delete |
Ctrl + X |
Command + X |
| Paste |
Shift + Insert |
Ctrl + V |
Command + V |
| Delete before cursor |
Backspace |
|
Delete |
| Delete after cursor |
Delete |
|
Fn + Delete |
| Undo |
Alt + Backspace |
Ctrl + Z |
Command + Z |
| Redo |
|
Ctrl + Y |
Command + Y |
| Confirm the current task |
Enter |
|
Return |
| Cancel the current task |
Escape |
|
Escape |
| Next field |
Tab |
|
Tab |
| Previous field |
Shift + Tab |
|
Shift + Tab |
| Next pane |
|
Ctrl + F6 |
|
| Previous pane |
|
Alt + F6 |
|
| Next window |
|
F6 |
Cmd + ` |
| Previous window |
|
Shift + F6 |
|
| Application menu |
|
Alt + Space |
|
| Windows menu |
|
⊞ |
|
| Local menu |
Shift + F10 |
Local Menu |
|
Note that many Linux programs follow both the CUA and Windows settings.
References:
–jeroen
Posted in .NET, Delphi, Development, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User, Software Development, xCode/Mac/iPad/iPhone/iOS/cocoa | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/11/18
I’ve had RSI in the 90s before it was even called RSI, I quickly found out it was because of using a computer mouse.
So I quickly learned all the keyboard shortcuts of the things I use everyday.
Most of the CUA and Windows keyboard shortcuts stored in my spline, and having done quite a bit of Mac development lately, it took a while for Mac keyboard shortcuts to end there as well.
Here are a few nice overviews of handy Mac keyboard shortcuts:
Have fun with them!
–jeroen
Via: mac os x keyboard shortcuts – Google Search.
Posted in Apple, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/10/14
This might not be strictly legal, but it is supposed to be possible to run the retail OS X Lion 10.7 under VMware Workstation 8 (or VMware Fusion 4) and VMware Workstation 7.1.4 (or VMware Player 3.1.4) on a regular PC (if that PC Supports VT) running Windows 7 x64.
Since Apple MacBook still don’t come with a TrackPoint (and having suffered from RSI, that is about the only pointing device I can use) there are only two options for me:
- Go the route described above
- Use an external USB TrackPoint keyboard with a Mac
(traveling with a huge external USB keyboard, I’d look like my long time friend Mark Miller from DevExpress, who also suffered from RSI)
(boy I wish there was a wireless ThinkPad TrackPoint keyboard)
–jeroen
Via: How to Install Retail OS X 10.6 under VMware Workstation or Player – InsanelyMac Forum and
How to Install Retail OS X 10.6 “Snow” and OS X 10.7 “Lion” under VMware Workstation 8 and Fusion 4, A simple set of instructions – InsanelyMac Forum
Posted in Apple, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User, RSI, UltraNav keyboards, VMware, Windows, Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/10/10
Press Ctrl–Option–Command–8 in your colleagues keyboard and watch them getting their inverted colours back :)
It is like the 3-finger salute on Windows, but much much nicer, as the inversion is all done on the GPU hardware :)
–jeroen
Via: How to Invert Colors on a Mac – wikiHow.
Posted in Apple, Fun, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, LifeHacker, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, Power User | Leave a Comment »