I try to work with only keyboard shortcuts to be as efficient as possible. For that I had to change a lot of default shortcuts because some shortcuts require too much hand movement.
Indeed I try to make sure that my hands do not move, exactly like with typing and for that I need all the modifiers such as shift, alt and ctrl.
The problem is with the alt key, when I use alt + L for example to move a note to the right I get this window that opens:
I’m a retired developer but if I remember, the application registers with windows which alt+letter drops the menu. Unless Dorico is using a restrictive framework there could be an option to not use these for menus. The problem may be getting this to work similarly across all supported platforms.
When you are typing, all the letters are within reach of your fingers, which means that you can write what you want without moving your hands. However, when it comes to using the arrows, a movement of the right hand is required. It is therefore not as fast.
I am aware that this is a detail, but I know that on my IDE for example when I create a shortcut with alt it takes priority over the shortcut in the software menu.
There’s always the third party keyboard option. Many keyboards allow you to program multiple layers. With secondary layers being only a button away (sometimes available by holding a modifier down). If you go this route, you can place the arrow keys right under your hands on layer two, and then still use all the default keyboard shortcuts. Or you could use a macro software that would send the arrow command in place of certain combinations.
will do what you want and the software menu will not open.
I have lots of these to cram as much functionality into the numpad as possible. Everything under my right hand without the need to move. Left hand on the midi keyboard.
…or if you have PowerToys installed – you can use the keyboard remapper funcionality to remap alt+l to right arrow just when Dorico is running.
Yes indeed, the time lost must be in the order of milliseconds . It’s mostly comfort in the way I work. After that, someone else might want to use the alt + L shortcut for something else, but they won’t be able to. The alt + L shortcut is an example among the 8 other unusable shortcuts.
