Different Actions – Same Result

Gepost op 2007.08.15 | Reacties (4) | Technologie

Long ago, I had a chat with someone about the fact that there are too many different ways in Photoshop to do the same thing. He believed this was a bad thing, while I didn’t find anything wrong with it. Having thought about this afterwards, I have formed my opinion about it, with arguments.

Let’s take Word for example, and we want to copy paste something. How many ways are there to copy paste something?

  • CTRL + Drag = Copy, Paste
  • Right click + Drag = Copy Here
  • CTRL + C, CTRL + V = Copy, Paste
  • Edit + Copy, Edit + Paste = Copy, Paste
  • Right click + Copy, Right click + Paste = Copy, Paste

There are 5 different ways! (maybe more, tell me)

Now, in my opinion this is a good thing, because I like CTRL+C, CTRL+V. But I know others who cannot grasp the concept of shortcuts and use the Edit menu, while someone else I know feels very comfortable dragging it with the right mouse button. In the end we all perform the same action in a way we feel ourselves most comfortable with, instead of trying to force us into only one solution.

I believe this gives a program power. Yes, you should have at least one easily accessible way of doing things (the menu), but it doesn’t hurt to have some shortcuts and right click options as well to make some others happy.

In conclusion, the fact that Photoshop has a toolbar, shortcuts, menu options and icons is very nice in my opinion, because it allows me to use whatever method I like.

How do you feel about this?

4 reacties op “Different Actions – Same Result”

  1. Dan Ciruli zegt:
    2007.08.15 om 1:45

    Was your friend a developer?

    In my experience, we developers like lots of options–we want everything to be available to us, and we want it as configurable as possible.

    Non-developers, I think, have a very different way of looking at the world.

  2. ahmar zegt:
    2007.08.15 om 1:48

    Another way of copy paste:

    Shift + Del: Cut
    Ctr + Ins : Copy
    Shift + Ins: Paste
    :)

  3. Karson Alford zegt:
    2007.08.15 om 13:57

    Additional way to copy paste in Microsoft land:
    Shift+Delete, Shift+Insert, Shift+Insert

    In Visual Studio:
    Shift+Ctrl+Insert allows you to cycle through all previous clip board contents.

  4. David Cumps zegt:
    2007.08.15 om 14:48

    Yes, my friend was a developer :)

    I agree that we are most of the times an exception to the rules. Still, you could add those options in, but not display them too obviously. That way the non-developer gets his familiar menu bar, which is the only thing he sees, while others who try out the common shortcuts, notice it works, and will become more productive.

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