alt Hacker NewsmacOS keyboard shortcuts situation is weird. it shines where Windows is lacking, and falls behind where Windows is ahead.
Example:
I still don't know how to install an app (*.pkg) just using keyboard on macOS. On Windows, it's simply "press tab or alt and see what happens". Another example: on Windows I can press Alt and see a letter underlined in the menu to let me know what keyboard shortcut activates it, but on macOS I have to do Cmd-Shift-/ and search for the command.
On the other hand, on macOS I get to create custom keyboard shortcuts in the Settings app while Windows, afaik, doesn't have this feature.
I can make a new folder on macOS and put the selected files in it automatically if I do Ctrl-Cmd-N, but if I want to "show package contents" of an app in the Applications, I definitely need a mouse! On Windows machines there's often a right-click button which is really useful
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For peak usability, Windows 3.1 kept the mnemonics underlined _all the time_. It's been downhill since then. Though I'm looking at the menu bar on Firefox on Ubuntu right now and at least the mnemonics are underlined now as I type, even without hitting "alt".
> I still don't know how to install an app (*.pkg) just using keyboard on macOS. On Windows, it's simply "press tab or alt and see what happens".
You may be looking for the "Keyboard navigation" preference that lets you tab between controls like on Windows.
installer(8)?
on Windows I can press Alt and see a letter underlined in the menu to let me know what keyboard shortcut activates it
Have you not noticed that every MacOS menu item that has a keyboard shortcut has the entire shortcut listed on the right side of the menu? This goes back all the way to System 1 in 1984: https://web.archive.org/web/20140512112637/http://www3.nd.ed...
It's somewhat more obvious when you're using a keyboard that actually has all the same symbols on the meta keys; Apple likes to drop those sometimes and it's really not helpful for someone who hasn't learnt the cryptic glyphs. The ancient Magic Keyboard on my desk only sports a ⌘ on the Command key, and lacks ⇧ on the shifts, ^ on control, and ⌥ on the alts.
You can even navigate the menus entirely by keyboard, if you turn on "Full Keyboard Access" in the Accessibility prefs. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/navigate-your-mac-u...
but if I want to "show package contents" of an app in the Applications, I definitely need a mouse!
With Full Keyboard Access on you can hit tab-m to bring up an app's right-click menu and navigate to it. FKA has a lot of tab-something shortcuts.