Archive for April 24th, 2007

Without a doubt, the most used keyboard shortcut on my computer is Alt-Tab. I have used this since it was called the “Cool Switch” in Windows 3.1.

The Cool Switch lets you toggle between opened applications using only two keys. Press the ALT key located to the left of the space bar with your left thumb. Extend your index finger and tap (press and release) the TAB key making sure the ALT key is pressed continually using the thumb. When the desired destination application is highlighted in the pick list, release the ALT key. The selected application will come to the top and become the active application.

If the pick list is large, and you go past the desired application, the Alt-Shift-Tab keys will reverse the direction of the selector in the pick list.

The pick list is arranged so the last active application is always the first in the pick list. This makes toggling between two applications quick even if many applications are open.

TSPY=1.81

I’m going to call it Time Saved Per Year or TSPY. It is a measurement of the amount of time (measured in hours) that is saved in one year by using a more efficient technique to accomplish a routine task.

Using yesterday’s – Windows Key – Down Arrow – Enter shortcut to a browser, I did an experiment in the lab with users running two normal applications: Word and Outlook. One group had to reduce the two applications using the mouse and double-click the “e” on the desktop. The second group used only the keyboard shortcut. The average time savings per browser opening (ATSPBO) was four seconds.

If this activity is initiated ten times during a normal working day, the numbers look like this.

10×4=40 seconds per day
40×5=200 seconds per week
200×52=10,400 seconds per year
=173.3 minutes per year
=2.89 hours per year

Yesterday’s TSPY was 2.89 hours.

That is more than one third of a teaching day. It is time that could be used interacting with students or completing administrative tasks that would otherwise been done in the evening at home.