A lot of Windows software has Alt-key shortcuts to access items on dropdown menus. For example, you can hold down the Alt key, and then press F and S to save a document (File menu, Save item).
AutoCAD 2010 turns off the menu bar, but today I noticed that Alt sequences still work, but in different areas from menu bars.
Press the Alt key, and tooltips appear near buttons in the Quick Access toolbar and tabs in the ribbon, as shown below:
Press key(s) to access the items, such as 1 for New Drawing and R for the Render tab.
Then AutoCAD displays tooltips with keyboard shortcuts for each item in the tab, such as XR for a button, VS for the droplist, VY for the panel extension, and VM for the options dialog box. (Shown below are the tooltips for the Render tab.)
...and if you turn on the old DOS screen menu (Options -> Display -> Screen menu) you get a very fast (no icons) logical menu that is fully context-sensitive. No more right-clicks to get the context menus.
The "AutoCAD" entry at the top always returns you to the root meny, and the line of **** below that always brings up object snap over-rides.
Posted by: bf | May 08, 2009 at 12:48 PM
BF, you might like to create an 'animation' showing how to use the 'screen menu', and publish it; to let those, who are not familiar with it, see what they are missing out on.
Your work may also be of interest to those at Autodesk who believe it appropriate for their customers to continually pay to re-purchase the same functionality in different guises.
Posted by: R. Paul Waddington | May 10, 2009 at 03:46 PM