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Some Excel users pop F1 off their keyboards (2012)

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

#121
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Office has a zillion features buried in various menus and panels. The help feature has been pretty reliable when I need to find something that I know is in there.

Surely you're kidding right? I have never once found an answer in an F1 help in a Microsoft product. And I've been using Windows since 3.0. On a somewhat related note: Before wiki's, google, and stackoverflow became the norm, I used to love downloading CHM (compiled help files) references for HTML 3.x, Javascript, C/C++, and more.

I use Excel rather infrequently but when I do it's for something complicated, I could not do anything in Excel without F1 help. Just Excel.

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

#122
This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a conspicuously intact F1 key.

Same thing happens in programming circles. I am not exempt: All my MacBook keyboards get their caps lock keys remapped to control, in honor of my Apple II childhood and SunOS pizza box college heritage.

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

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of one time I've ever intentionally used the overwrite functionality either.

Really? I use it frequently while programming in Vim. Definitely one of my top ten operations.

Uh, yeah, why would you? You can easily delete a word at a time and then type in what you wanted instead.

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

#124
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

well, emacs, or terminal usage in general on a mac with the control key not on edge of keyboard is extremely unergonomic. So yay to control in the right place.

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

#125
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

> All my MacBook keyboards get their caps lock keys remapped to control

You must be an emacs heathen.

Caps lock gets remapped to ESC.

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

#126
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

well, emacs, or terminal usage in general on a mac with the control key not on edge of keyboard is extremely unergonomic. So yay to control in the right place.

Yup, I remapped mine out of a reaction to RSI, not nostalgia. I never even thought of that angle before!

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

#127
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

well, emacs, or terminal usage in general on a mac with the control key not on edge of keyboard is extremely unergonomic. So yay to control in the right place.

I'm with you; you're talking to a more than twenty-five year user of Emacs here. I do try, however, to be no less circumspect of my own actions than I am of others'.

Is saving my pinkie from cramping worth losing the ability to type on anyone else's keyboard? I'd say so, but there is a cost.

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

#128
post #125
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

> All my MacBook keyboards get their caps lock keys remapped to control You must be an emacs heathen. Caps lock gets remapped to ESC.

Control when held in combination with other keys, ESC when tapped by itself.

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

#129
post #125
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

> All my MacBook keyboards get their caps lock keys remapped to control You must be an emacs heathen. Caps lock gets remapped to ESC.

Guilty as charged. Does mapping right option to hyper aggravate my sins?

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

#130
post #125
post #122

This may be 90% cargo culting, 10% reality. One of my former co-workers desperately wanted to be perceived as an Excel ninja, and had heard that people who had achieved guru-level Excel mastery would remove their F1 keys, and so one day pried off her F1 key. Meanwhile the person in our office who probably could have written Minecraft in Excel and then built an Excel simulator in Excel Minecraft had a keyboard with a…

> All my MacBook keyboards get their caps lock keys remapped to control You must be an emacs heathen. Caps lock gets remapped to ESC.

> Caps lock gets remapped to ESC

15 year vimmer here. Caps -> Ctrl and use C-[ for going to normal mode.

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