Under the Magnifying Glass

The Magic of Qualifier Keys

By Steven H. Fyffe

During The Adventure of Black Peter, in a rather whimsical moment, Sherlock Holmes said, “ I have investigated many crimes, but I have never yet seen one which was committed by a flying creature.” (1)

“Why in the world would I want to do that?” That was likely your first thought after completing your first “guided discovery” (2) assignment in last month’s column (3).

What? You haven’t done your assignment? Stop now. Click on Reference link #3 (below) and try the assignment for yourself ... don’t worry, I’ll be here when you get back. I need to finish my coffee anyway ... the finger tapping sound you hear is just me sitting here waiting.

Back already? Great! You have now discovered that holding the Shift key, while resizing a Quick Time window, allowed you to change the movie’s aspect ratio.

The Shift key altered the function of another key or action. Thus, it became a Qualifier key. Wasn’t that fascinating?

Tavern patron: A toast to the greatest detective in all the world.

Holmes: Thank you, gentlemen. I am touched.

Watson: I can vouch for that! (4)

OK, perhaps not, but I did warn you that we are discussing “trifles.” You’ve got to admit that it was fun, was it not? Anyway, enough with the belly laughs. I promise, you will remember the short cut to change the aspect ratio of a Quick Time movie, if you have a sudden urge to do so.

Why don’t you sit back now? Let’s discuss together what we have discovered in our inductive exercise. Although many have a long experience with Qualifier Keys, perhaps you have not systematically investigated their power. You may have often heard or read short cut tips. Maybe, you have even tried them out for yourself. Why not set a goal to discover the power of Qualifier keys in both the Operating System and in third party applications? Hey, I think “Under the Magnifying Glass” will do just that ... after all isn’t that what inductive learning is all about.

In fact, we have already started on our great detective journey together. We discovered one of the oldest know Qualifier Keys, the Shift key.

“I take a short cut when I can get it.” Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez (5)

The Shift key predates computers, going back to the time of typewriters (6). Indeed, it has remained in the same basic location on the keyboard for over 150 years. When a rifle manufacturer, named Remington, decided to go into the type writing machine business (7), there was a need for a change from lower to upper case letters. Thus, the birth of the Shift key.

Now, I challenge you to another inductive adventure. Here are a few more “guided discovery” (2) assignments to try...

1. Click on any folder. Now, in the Finder menu click on File. In the drop down menu, you will see an option called “Add to Sidebar”. With the menu still open, now press and hold the Shift key. What change do you observe? Try out both options, to have easier access to you folder.

2. Now, let’s explore a little deeper into the Operating System. Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the Desktop, then select System Preferences, and choose Dashboard & Exposé. Notice the boxes under “Active Screen Corners”. Click on the blue drop down option menu. Now hold down the Shift key. What happened? This is how to create a “hot corner” with the Shift qualifier. For example, you could set the lower left corner for the Screen Saver. Without the qualifier, every time your cursor ventures there, the Screen Saver starts, whether you intended to do so, or not. With the qualifier key, all you need to do is click the qualifier and then move your mouse cursor to the corner ... no more accidental Exposé moments. For even greater fuzzy feelings, instead of the Shift key as your qualifier you could use the Ctrl (Control) or Command (Apple) keys.

3. Some applications combine various Qualifier keys into Keyboard shortcuts. Try this while you are on the Desktop and Finder appears in the upper left corner of the Tool Bar, next to the Apple logo. Click the Shift, Command, and C key, at the same time. Now do the same with Shift-Command-A and Shift-Command-U. What did you discover?

4. By the way, in TextEdit, Pages, and other text entry boxes, what happens when you are typing and press the Shift key. WOW, the invention (8) of an Upper/Lower Case Shift qualifier was a cool idea!

How many other uses of the Shift, Control, and Command Qualifier keys can you discover?

AppleMark

This week, Jared went with grandma and Papa to the park. What would appear as a puddle of muddy water in the parking lot to an adult, Jared saw a great sea for adventure. He hopped and ran. He found a stick to splash and create waves. He investigated the tire tracks leading away from the muddy puddle. Oh the joy of it all. The muddy water made it all the more of an adventure. Grandma and Papa could not stop laughing at him as he explored the possibilities of his muddy puddle.

Please come back again next month as we look at our Macs in a whole new light ... putting the trifles “Under the Magnifying Glass”. It will be fun, but don’t be concerned if your trousers get a little muddy. Thanks for dropping by.

Reference Links:

1. http://www.bcpl.net/~lmoskowi/HolmesQuotes/q.detection.html

2. http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/52/1/88.pdf

3. Under the Magnifying Glass - Observation of Trifles =

http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/October2007/Columns/UMG.htm

4. Without a Clue (1988 movie) = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096454/quotes

5. http://www.bcpl.net/~lmoskowi/HolmesQuotes/q.Holmes.html

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter

7. http://abaris.rider.edu/special_collections/typewriters/T-001.jpg

8. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4204780.html