The problem I have is with the use of keyboard shortcuts for web applications. The keyboard shortcuts that are used for web applications are not standardized! Keyboard shortcuts should never override commonly used ones like ctrl+c for copy or ctrl+v for pasting. I bring this issue up because of my recent frustration with the ctrl+b shortcut.

In Word and other text editors, ctrl+b bolds text. This is pretty much a standard convention, and it’s something ingrained in my muscle memory. However, when I’m editing text in a content management system or email on a website, ctrl+b does some funky things. The first program that overrode my ctrl+b shortcut was Delicious. I installed the Delicious toolbar in Internet Explorer, and it hijacks my ctrl+b shortcut to open up the Delicious bookmarks sidebar! This was unbelievably frustrating when I edit text and forget that ctrl+b does something else in Internet Explorer.

On top of this, I recently installed the Last.fm application on my desktop, and now that hijacks my ctrl+b shortcut to “ban” songs in my playlist! So now every time I forget and hit ctrl+b to bold something, it “bans” a song in my Last.fm playlist, or opens up the Delicious bookmark sidebar!

There needs to be some kind of standardization of keyboard shortcuts so that the most common ones aren’t hijacked by new applications. It’s extremely difficult to train someone to forget or change the mental association of keyboard shortcuts, especially the most standard ones. So application developers please leave my keyboard shortcuts alone!

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