Using keyboard with Start menu

[Larry]

How can you get to items on the Start menu with the keyboard?

In older versions, you pressed the Winkeys key to open the start menu, and
if you had an item that began with a "D" and you pressed the "D" key, the
item would run.

But in Vista, nothing happens. If I want to access Documents, for example,
I have to move the pointer to the Documents and click. I can't get to it by
pressing "D." This has been such a basic feature of Windows that I can't
believe they took it away.

 

[Guest]

Let me see if I can guess. There are two panes. So generically Tab or Ctrl
+ Tab will switch around real estate. I wonder if I guess correctly. After
all I'm a mouse user. Nah probably wouldn't work even though all features
are supposed to be accessable by keystroke.

 

[Larry]

Thank you for this helpful response.

Let me see if I can guess. There are two panes. So generically Tab or Ctrl
+ Tab will switch around real estate. I wonder if I guess correctly. After
all I'm a mouse user. Nah probably wouldn't work even though all features
are supposed to be accessable by keystroke.

 

[Guest]

It was meant to make you think in a problem solving way.

Plus I'm a keyboard hater but the most knowledgable person here on
keyboards.

I often use the Onscreen Keyboard because I keep my keyboard out of arms
reach and out of the way. People like you influence the feeble minded MS UI
designers and since MS released IE4 they have been trying to force us to
type and you confirm their stupidity.

NO TO TYPING. NO TO SEARCH BOXES. NO TO KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS. NO TO KEY
MODIFERS FOR MOUSE INPUT. and while we are at it, NO TO TREE VIEWS,

 

[Justin]

What if you had more then one app that started with "D"?

Hit your winkey and type "D". You'll see a list of everything that starts
with "D". My opinion is, that beats the crap out of the XP menu.

 

[Justin]

What the heck was all that about? Someone needs to lay off the caffeine!

 

[Guest]

You use each successive version of Windows. They keep wanting me to type
more and more and I have to standup and walk a pace at the beginning and
ending of each thing it wants typed.

 

[Justin]

So...you blame the OP and MS for making something more productive, yet it
back fired in your case because you insist on removing your keyboard from
your workspace?

It sounds like you require more of an appliance then a PC.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the majority PC user has a
keyboard at their monitor. I would never expect MS to design a product
based on the minority. Even using the word minority is an overstatement.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Well... Vista is different. To access, say, the documents folder, you can do
it one of two ways from the keyboard... hit Start, type documents and hit
enter... or, on my box, anyway, hit Start orb, hit Tab, hit down arrow.

Why not just create a shortcut on the desktop for the documents folder? Or
you can add it to the taskbar. (Just have to ensure "Lock the taskbar" is
not enabled to drag a shortcut to it.)

Lang

 

[Justin]

You got me! I have no clue as to how any of that has any bearing on this
thread. The best I can make of this is just how much of a minority
requirement you have.

Feet -> Keyboard -> ???????

Mainly, I optimize business processes. Mostly at the software level.
Usually the main goal is to remove as much mouse interaction as possible.
Someone should be able to pound the keyboard and be able to do most of what
they need. Having to go back and forth between the KB and mouse is very non
productive. The mouse should only be used to scroll and move between major
areas. I'm speaking in terms of Accounting, Order Entry, Shipping....those
types of areas.

The new Vista start menu does just that. What could take a user up to 8
clicks and searching can be done in 6 or less keystrokes.

 

[Guest]

You are aware that when recalling shortcut keys humans cease to percieve
time passing (according to Apple) making mouses faster than KB even though
KB users are convinced they are quicker. Also according to Fenymann
(something like, that a yank on the Challenger Inquiry) when a part of the
brain is being used by two processes (excuse my computer metaphor) it time
slices. So the person isn't aware of time flow in the normal sense.

Microsoft seem to have no idea on humans. Humans like you or me have no self
awareness. Apple's research was needed. MS employees have no idea.

 

[denis]

Hi,

Try Vista Start Menu -
http://www.vistastartmenu.com/

In the past, you had to press the arrow keys and other keys several
times until you reached the item you needed. Now you can start any
program with just a couple of keystrokes. The program splits the list
into sections. You select the necessary section with the first key
(for example, by pressing E) and then select the item in the section
by pressing keys from 1 to 9.
Note that the positions of the programs do not change and thus you can
memorize these key combinations and use them every day.

 

[Scott]

What if you had more then one app that started with "D"?

Hit your winkey and type "D". You'll see a list of everything that starts
with "D". My opinion is, that beats the crap out of the XP menu.

A M E N!
--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.

 

[Guest]

I like to prepopulate Start Run with commands. Even easier, Start - Run -
click down arrow - Select command. People really should learn to use a
mouse.

 

[Jane C]

I must admit to being more of a mouse than keyboard person - even though my
last (cordless) mouse committed suicide by throwing itself onto the floor
;-) Serves it right for eating too many batteries. Rechargeables used to
last 2 days if I was lucky.

 

[Scott]

I like to prepopulate Start Run with commands. Even easier, Start - Run -
click down arrow - Select command. People really should learn to use a
mouse.

The up and down arrows on the keyboard accomplish the same thing. ;-)
--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.

 

[Larry]

But none of what is described below happens. If I press Winkey and then
type a letter, that letter is simply input into the little Search window at
the bottom of the Start menu.

Also, with previous version, I put things I wanted to access very quickly on
top of the main start menu, so it literally takes me two keystrokes to open
the item. for example, I have a customized Start menu sub-menu called My
shortcuts. I press the Winkey, press M, and that sub menu opens. I don't
see how that is possible with the Vista start menu

In fact I don't see how using the keyboard AT ALL is possible with the Vista
start menu since it seems to respond only to the mouse.

Larry

 

[Larry]

Ok, so the basic feature in previous versions of the Start menu responding
to a typed letter does not exist in Vista at all, is that correct? You open
the Start menu, then you type Tab to get beyond the search window, then you
use the arrows to get to a particular item. But the utterly simple method
that exists in previous versions, such as typing Winkey, then P, to open
the Programs menu, or typing Winkey, then A, to open the Favorites menu,
does not exist in Vista, is that correct?

 

[Guest]

No. You use tab to jump search, then anything works. Don't you have a start
menu in front of you.

 

[DP]

I'm not going to read all of the responses here to see if this has already
been answered. I glanced at a few and saw the start of a flame war.
So excuse me if I'm repeating.
The winkey does indeed open the start menu, as you already know. And typing
a letter puts that letter into the search box. BUT.....
If you hit TAB first, it will take you out of the search box and put you in
one of three possible areas of the start menu.
The first area is the right pane of the start menu. The second area is the
one on the lower right with the shutdown options. The third area is the
wider left pane of the start menu.
So it seems to me that 1 and 3 are the areas you want to be in. Once you've
tabbed into the area you want, you can then press the key and it will bring
you to the thing that starts with that letter.

I don't have a pre-Vista version in front of me, but as I recall, pressing a
letter key and having something execute from the start menu worked if there
was only one thing beginning with that letter on the start menu. If, for
example, a program named Pong was the only program in your start menu
starting with P, then pressing P would automatically execute Pong. If
however, you also had something called Poker in your start menu, pressing P
would highlight one of those; pressing P again would highlight the other.
Continuing to press P would simply toggle between the two. To get one of
them to execute, you'd have to hit enter while it was highlighted. That's my
recollection.

Now, I just went back to the Vista start menu to check something and I just
discovered something else: Once you've tabbed outside the search box,
continuing to press a letter will find stuff in BOTH panes that start with
that letter. It will go to the first thing that starts with that letter,
press it again, and it will go to the next, no matter which pane it is in.
So actually, if you press the winkey and then tab and then the letter of
what you want, it should work.
However, it also looks like you have to press ENTER to activate the
highlighted area. Unlike the pre-Vista behavior I explained above, nothing
will activate without pressing ENTER, even if it's the only item in both
panes that starts with the particular letter.