up vote 1 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

I don't want to use the feature in Mac Keyboard that replace Option+a with å. (For example, imagine I want to quickly press the button Repl&ace All in NetBeans) How can I have Mac stop do such thing?

Edited: My question arose out of this situation: I use Replace functionality in NetBeans. When I'm at the replace text box, I'm typing something. When I'm done, I invoke the Replace All button by press Option+A in the keyboard. Netbeans understand it as it perform replace all features. However, right before that, the å character (as a result of pressing Option+A) is appended to the replacement, make such process incorrect. I don't need to type a special character right now, so I want to stop it. Wouldn't it be more sensible if such feature can be turned on/off with another shortcut key?

link|improve this question
41% accept rate
Experienced with both Windows and Ubuntu, I find Mac have very nasty philosophy: No cut files using keyboard, no default keyboard shortcut for maximize windows. Alt+Tab is nasty when an application have multiple windows. – Phuong Nguyen Jun 11 '10 at 9:46
Isn't rel&ace cmd A not option A? – Mark Jun 11 '10 at 10:37
2  
No cut files using keyboard? The ability to potentially lose a file by overwriting the clipboard is a good thing? It's easy to add a shortcut to maximize windows. What do you mean alt-tab is nasty? Do you mean command-tab? Command-` cycles through open windows of an application, command-tab cycles through open applications. This is much better than the windows way. – ghoppe Jun 11 '10 at 22:21
1  
(In Windows, when you "cut" a file it doesn't go anywhere until you "paste" it. If you overwrite the clipboard, nothing happens to the file.) – Bavi_H Jun 12 '10 at 0:38
+1 For Cmd+`, I didn't know about it before. Thx. But wait, why don't mac just set the default keyboard for maximize windows instead of "easy to add"? We have one 20 iMac here and you expect us to go around and "easy-to-add" whenever we need to work on another iMac? – Phuong Nguyen Jun 14 '10 at 11:42
show 2 more comments
feedback

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

The alt key on the Macintosh is primarily used for international character keyboard mapping. This is a much more sane and reasonable approach to extended characters than windows alt-numpad tricks. Because of this, it is not typically used alone as a keyboard shortcut key (except with Function keys), although it is used in some shortcuts in conjunction with command and control.

Keyboard remapping can be done with a utility called Ukelele:

http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=ukelele

However, this won't help you, since you are expecting the alt key to act like a shortcut (command/control) key.

There is a free utility that lets you swap around modifier keys, if their placement is unfamiliar to you:

http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/

Here's the Netbeans article explaining MacOS X keyboard shortcuts, and how to adjust either the Netbeans shortcuts or the Mac OSX shortcuts:

http://netbeans.org/kb/articles/mac.html

EDIT: Solution for button shortcuts in netbeans dialog boxes.

OK, so the Netbeans IDE is a brain-dead cross-platform java application. Ensure you don't have a text field highlighted before using the alt-key button shortcuts. This can be quickly accomplished by hitting tab or shifttab.

link|improve this answer
Hmm, Cmd as a short cut? Is there any thing wrong with my keyboard, because when I press Command+T in Firefox, it open a new tab (which is equivalent to Ctrl+Tab in both Windows & Ubuntu). – Phuong Nguyen Jun 14 '10 at 11:40
This is expected behaviour. Generally, Command is the key used for system-wide shortcuts on the Mac. (Instead of control…) – ghoppe Jun 14 '10 at 15:24
I have looked at your suggested solutions but none is what I expected. I have modified the question so that you can understand my problem more clear. – Phuong Nguyen Jun 15 '10 at 2:58
@Phuong I've downloaded NetBeans to see what you're talking about. Ok, so this is shortcuts for buttons in a dialog. Honestly, this isn't a MacOSX problem, this is a NetBeans problem (Brain dead shortcuts in a Java-based application). All regular Macintosh applications use command-key for button shortcuts. I have a solution, hit tab so the highlighted control isn't a text field. Then use the Alt-A shortcut. – ghoppe Jun 15 '10 at 13:53
1  
Also, open menu with Ctrl+F2? Ick. I'm all for using keyboard shortcuts, but opening, navigating, and selecting menus with the keyboard is backwards. Here's a trick that's better: command-? to open help search menu, start typing the menu command you're searching for, down arrow to select it. – ghoppe Jun 16 '10 at 16:35
show 5 more comments
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.