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The world’s worst NLE keyboard shortcut defaults
Number One on my list is “zoom in/out”.
In Media Composer it’s Cmd[ and Cmd].
In FCP X it’s Cmd- and Cmd=.
In Premiere it’s simply – and =.
These are all terrible but perhaps Premiere’s is the least terrible. But why are they all so bad?
If you are right-handed, and surely all keyboard shortcuts are designed (rightly or wrongly) with right-handed people in mind, the worst possible thing you can do for a shortcut that is so fundamental to the editing process is to have to either take your hand off the mouse in order to use the right hand side of the keyboard (which all of these require), or shift your hand from its natural position on the left and reposition it on the right to perform this action.
Anyone who has ever learned touch typing will know the virtue of not sliding your hands randomly all over the keyboard, but instead keeping the same basic configuration of your hands at all times.
There is no question in my mind that zoom should be on the left-hand side of the keyboard and that it should not require a modifier key.
My preference has long been (where possible) to map zoom to fit to F1, zoom in to F2 and zoom out to F3, but depending on what other functions you are happy to sacrifice to accommodate them, any other left hand keys will do. (ProTools uses R and T, in addition to the horribly clunky Cmd[ and Cmd], and this works pretty well too.)
I am in principle all in favour of using the default keyboard layout of your NLE, rather than trying to map it to the layout of a different NLE, or simply to scramble things up at random because you think it might be fun. (I’ve see some jaw-droppingly shocking keyboard layouts from editors who only half-thought through the consequences of their plan.)
But in this case, there is simply no argument about it. Zoom shortcuts situated on the right of the keyboard are fundamentally wrong for right-handed users.
Or have I just become terminally cranky? (More than possible.)
What other keyboard defaults do you think are wrong? (Trust me, my list is much, much longer than this, but I’m not going to burden you with the full extent of it.)
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
52 Replies
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In FCPX you can simply pinch in/out with the trackpad which I find ulta-useful….. and it zooms around the pointer…..
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[Gregor Queck] “In FCPX you can simply pinch in/out with the trackpad which I find ulta-useful….. and it zooms around the pointer…..”
Rule one of the keyboard is never take your hand off the keyboard.
There are no quicker input devices, and I’m far from convinced that a trackpad might be one of them.
Fun maybe, but that’s a different story.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
[Simon Ubsdell] “If you are right-handed, and surely all keyboard shortcuts are designed (rightly or wrongly) with right-handed people in mind, the worst possible thing you can do for a shortcut that is so fundamental to the editing process is to have to either take your hand off the mouse in order to use the right hand side of the keyboard (which all of these require), or shift your hand from its natural position on the left and reposition it on the right to perform this action. “
First world problems candidate?
That said, I retired all mouse use years ago.
When I use a desktop level machine, I use a Magic Trackpad which I position below center of the keyboard to mimic my Laptop experience.
Voila – Mouse completely unnecessary and my fingers hardly leave the home row during editing.
Problem long since solved.
FWIW.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Bill Davis] “Voila – Mouse completely unnecessary and my fingers hardly leave the home row during editing. “
That sounds fun though I can’t exactly visualise it.
However, it doesn’t address my point which is that NLE manufacturers including Apple persist in very poor keyboard layouts, reflecting the fact that nobody is actually thinking hard enough about this stuff.
(For me, trackpads and touch bars and Magic This and Magic That are total anathema [my aged hands ache whenever I try to use them for any length of time above 1 minute], but that’s again another story and not the subject I was raising here.)
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
My favorite unique shortcut in FCPX is Command-S.
Noah
FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops
XinTwo – FCPX Training -
[Bill Davis] “First world problems candidate?”
I have to say I love this.
I mean it’s not as if this whole forum or indeed the whole world of digital editing isn’t a first world problem of the highest order.
But is’s good to know that using a Magic Something Or Other returns it to a real world issue.
😉
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
Hold down Z (your left hand should reside right thee anyyway) and keep your hand on your mouse and draw a marquee around what you want to zoom on. To zoom back out press shift Z.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
Doesn’t work for zooming out.
Plus it means your right hand is having to collaborate in the zooming process instead of being able to be performing some parallel action.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
But worse by far than bad keyboard defaults are operations that you can’t map to the keyboard at all.
FCP X has probably the most shocking example of this of any NLE.
I’m sure you know what it is.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
My general pet peeve is layouts based on phonetics (ex. B is for Blade, D is for Distort, P is for Pen). Yes, it’s a bit easier to learn, but it’s typically slow and awkward from a usability standpoint because you hand(s) is constantly sliding all over the place. Is the Distort tool really so popular that it deserves a top level shortcut by default? While some are better than others, I usually find default layouts to be very inefficient (PPro’s is probably the worst out of the Big Three, IMO).
I ditched the keyboard as a primary UI tool a couple of years ago and replaced it with a Logitech G13 and a 6 button mouse (I only use the KB for text entry and some rarely used commands). I mapped my most used commands to both of these devices based on priority and by trying to keep similar commands grouped together. For example, on my G13 Mark In, Go To In and Clear In are all on the same key (located right above my middle finger, similar to “I” on a keyboard if your hands are on the home row) and the specific function depends on what modifier is being used. I mapped the modifiers (Shift, Command, Option) to keys that are easily pressed by my thumb which leaves my fingers free to hit any other key on the G13. It’s basically like keeping your left hand on home row but having access to 88 commands (22 keys plus shift/command/option for each key). Using the it with Avid isn’t quite as flexible because Avid only supports Shift as a customizable modifier, but it’s still better than a regular KB, IMO.
It took a while to get it mapped how I liked it, but it really forced me to evaluate what commands I used and how often. Many times when using a keyboard I would leave most of the commands as default because it was just easier even though it wasn’t very efficient. Switching to the G13 is easily one of the best things I’ve done in terms of speed and comfort while editing. It’s not quite as life changing as using a control panel for grading instead of a KB/M, but it’s close.
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