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Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

businessinsider.com

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Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#71

Post by LambdaComplex »

jabot wrote: post #2

This should really be solved in software... However, I remember trying to map capslock to control on windows a few years back. It involved becoming an administrator and entering an opaque hexadecimal key into the registry. Simply popping off the key is probably easier. Oh, on linux it boils down to "setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps", which doesn't require root...

My keyboard (Ducky Shine 3) actually has a dip switch on the back that swaps capslock and control. Not sure if any other companies do that though

Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#73

Post by glaberficken »

OMG! This is genius!, how have i never thought of this before!

I bet the people removing caps lock, scroll lock, insert etc are doing it because of the "cleaning ladies"! Not because they accidentally hit the keys.

But because in most offices, keyboards are swiped clean daily by cleaning crews and when you arrive each morning you find an assortment of those keys toggled on or off.

(I have even locked my Windows account on occasion due to not noticing a combination of Caps Lock / Num Lock toggled on/off in the morning)

Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#74

Post by digi_owl »

1_2__4 wrote: post #46
jtraffic wrote: post #35

In my view, there are many insights like this to be had by physically studying product users a bit more. The startup community has built a strong habit of studying users before a new solution is adopted, but not as much after. The insights designers get from just watching someone use a product are always delightful. The idea is basically ethnography for design. ( https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the…

The cynic in me says most startup types would witness this behavior, snort derisively and say "they're not our target market".

Or "you are doing/holding it wrong!!!".

Damn it, i have had a prominent FOSS DE guy basically claim that users are idiots after studying the results of a usability test of their DE.

For me, in the trenches, it is more that users find their own ways of doing things. And if it works for them it works for them, and we have no business correcting them.

Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#75

Post by digi_owl »

frenchman_in_ny wrote: post #72

I work in the field - years ago I had someone create a small program called "TurnOffF1" that runs silently in the background. It captures any F1 keypush in Excel only & blocks the Help popup. Wish I had the source code for the program.

Autohotkey perhaps?

Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#77

Post by pavement »

froindt wrote: post #42
superasn wrote: post #18

Windows help and Windows troubeshooter are among the two most useless things in the OS (and lately it's Cortana). It far easier and more relevant to just do a Google search than waste time with these things. Same goes for answers.microsoft.com, whenever i see that link on top og Google results I'm pretty sure I'll just waste 10 minutes of my life and then search for the same thing on Stackexchange and pray to god som…

I remember back in the days of 98 when in my experience, hitting F1 would trigger the help which would never load rapidly or successfully. My standard operating procedure was to do a hard shutdown. It was so frustrating. I was roughly 5-7 while using it. Maybe it wasn't that bad and I was simply impatient. Regardless, it's always been useless to me.

And for this very reason (throttled CPU lock over accidental bullshit > BSOD > necessitating cutting all electrical power to all circuits) was THE reason I despised the idea of proprietary hard-soldered batteries in laptops and mobile devices, and shaped my buying habits for years.

I simply could not trust these shit options, regarding unhackable-useless-cruft-removal-customizations (aka: pre-live-cd-linux era) not conflicting with the need to cut power to the main board and CPU, to force a cold boot on a moment's notice.

Now, I still despise the idea of non-removable battery power, and avoid it vehemently, but for different reasons. Basically fuck any Android device that has no removable battery, no well-understood rooting procedures, and locked falsh firmware. Fuck Android's slow-loading, identity-authentication-prompting-geographic-location-demanding shitware, and all-encompassing, non-uninstallable-OEM-but-still-mostly-Google/Facebook/Twitter-garbage.

Fuck Apple products that refuse to power on even when plugged into power, and fully capable of displaying a fancy, animated empty battery graphic. Fuck that shit right in the god damned face.

I plug you into the wall, and you shall power on at my whim. I want you off, I pop the battery and pull the plug whenever I want, or I THROW IT ON THE GROUND.

Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#78

Post by pjmlp »

Macha wrote: post #48
pjmlp wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those features are not made for us, rather for the majority of clueless users that save files in whatever directory happens to be the default one.

Do they know what F1 is?

Many keyboards have "Help" written on it.

Re: Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

#79

Post by virtualized »

pjmlp wrote: post #33
superasn wrote: post #18

Windows help and Windows troubeshooter are among the two most useless things in the OS (and lately it's Cortana). It far easier and more relevant to just do a Google search than waste time with these things. Same goes for answers.microsoft.com, whenever i see that link on top og Google results I'm pretty sure I'll just waste 10 minutes of my life and then search for the same thing on Stackexchange and pray to god som…

Those features are not made for us, rather for the majority of clueless users that save files in whatever directory happens to be the default one.

That's the type of user who would never read the help content even if it was good.
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