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Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

tholman.com

271–280 of 336 posts

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#271

A lot of people already mentioned here the Home button. Anecdote: for years we kept getting users asking for a back to top button and we always told them to just use the Home button and they thought it was the most amazing thing ever. Most of our users are on Windows. Anyway, we did end up having to put a Back to top button. It was clear that users just don’t get it. Most people really don’t know what the Home button…

Many we don't use a mail client, so the mailto does not work because it's not configured :)

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#272
post #191
post #79

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Hacker News attracts a lot of smart readers, so I'm kind of surprised that your comment actually 'fooled' people. It was very obvious sarcasm.

i have worked with way to many people that don't know what the navigation keys do, don't understand most of the control keys, and the only function key they know is F5. Way too many people who have never used an actual console terminal

Only function keys I know off-hand are F2 and F12. Mostly because I prefer modal setups and only ever need those two during boot. Although without checking I have a suspicion that F5 refreshes a browser window. Am I right??

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are Ctrl+e and ctrl+a Emacs conventions?

Yes, emacs navigation keybindings are native in Apple UI. e.g. ^A ^K to clear an input line

It’s funny. Apple’s UI has taught me how to use emacs instead of the other way around.

I use Ctrl-A and Ctrl-E all the time.

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#274
post #193

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Vimum plugin gg - go to top G - go to bottom You can also go anywhere on page (litterary) with single key (homework). Much better then home/end as you usually need to hunt for those keys, or even use them with Fn modifier.

The problem with plugins is that they give full control over your browsing to whoever controls the plugin. I sometimes install plugins myself if the code is open source and it is small enough for me to vet it. I would love vimium, but the code is way too big to vet it myself. I wish there was some party that is trustworthy, vets codebases like these and publish hashes of trusted versions. An alternative would be more…

Honestly I'd rather have one big unified collection if I was going to review.

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#275
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After 20 years of using keyboards, I have, thanks to this comment, discovered the "Home" button.

Other keys that may be non-obvious: - Insert toggles between shifting characters after the cursor to the right and deleting the character to the right of the cursor, replacing it with the new character you typed, but not replacing a newline character. While eg. Caps Lock is global, Insert mode is local to the text input that currently has focus - tab or mouse over to a new window and you've lost Insert mode, tab back…

I had a support call yesterday where the computer was highlighting things and deleting them while the user was going back to change things in a document. I was initially suspecting either a faulty shift key or a double-click setting causing things to be highlighted. When I looked at the user's screen I recognized the block cursor and told him to press Insert.

I haven't seen that or heard of it happening for probably 10-odd years now. Didn't realize it still worked in Windows 10!

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#276
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After 20 years of using keyboards, I have, thanks to this comment, discovered the "Home" button.

Other keys that may be non-obvious: - Insert toggles between shifting characters after the cursor to the right and deleting the character to the right of the cursor, replacing it with the new character you typed, but not replacing a newline character. While eg. Caps Lock is global, Insert mode is local to the text input that currently has focus - tab or mouse over to a new window and you've lost Insert mode, tab back…

Since we're sharing tips, here's another one: Holding the middle mouse button and dragging the mouse up towards the top of the screen accomplishes basically the same thing as pressing "Home" without requiring you to take your hand off the mouse.

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of Mac users out there without a “Home” button.

My work Apple keyboard has a home button. It's right there between Function and Page Up. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MQ052LL/A/magic-keyboard-... My home Apple keyboard has the Home button between Help and Page Up. Though, I will admit that keyboard is 2003ish. But I keep using it because it still has good action.

Is that one of the A1048 [1] "crumb tray" keyboards with the clear rim around the edge? I recently switched to one of those from an original iMac keyboard (finally got fed up with not having a forward delete key) and the key edges and the action both feel crisper. Could just be that I've been using the other one for a decade or so though.

[1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Keyboard#Apple_Keyboard_...

Re: Elevator.js – A “back to top” button that behaves like a real elevator

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you make a really big button (or a button that appears out of nowhere on mouseover on PCs) that people frequently hit by accident, your "engagement" metric will improve, showing that the feature is valuable!

It's funny because it's (probably) true. ...AARGH! No, scratch that. It's actually infuriating. :)

The worst offender of this right now is email programs. You go to click an entry in your email list and then suddenly you've archived it with a little icon that wasn't previously there.
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