Key combinations for a Hot key

Question

We are developing a hot key for one of our application.

A key combination that is

• easy to remember

• easy to press (especially for people with small fingers)

• certainly not ctrl - alt - del ;)

Which key combination do you suggest for a hot-key?

EDIT: Please suggest any specific character instead of generic ones.

Answer 1

How about Ctrl + ?

The Ctrl key is right next to the ? key. Also the question mark makes sense since none of us has any idea what the hot key is supposed to do.

Answer 2

It should depend on the keyboard layout, qwerty or dvorak and language configuration, of your main user. It also depends on the usage of the application when the user should trigger it. Is s/he using the mouse or the keyboard for instance.

On the topic of remembering a hotkey, using Ctrl + S for a save action or Ctrl + O for open is pretty much standard for GUI applications nowadays, so users would remember those. If the shortcut is used many times or is important in the application the user will remember it, even if it's as silly as pressing Shift 5 times in a row.

If it's not used often, it should be presented to the user in a way that it does not interrupt the work flow, as a shortcut is often displayed in a menu item for instance.

And as a final note, don't make a keyboard shortcut to remove your changes and place it next to your Save shortcut. :-)

Answer 3

Scroll Lock - it's not being used for anything else. But seriously, it will only be easy to remember if it has something to do with the application or people use it all the time.

Answer 4

What does the hotkey do?

Any combination with Ctrl or Alt will do, excluding the ones used by the windows UI( Ctrl + A for select-all, Ctrl + S for save, etc)

Give us more info.

Answer 5

Jay Riggs said:

How about Control + ?

The Ctrl key is right next to the ? key. [...]

That's how it is on a American/British (I don't know how these layouts are called.) keyboard. But on German/French etc keyboards ? is right next to 0 . So it's not the best choice when you are planning to publish your application in several countries.

I think it's not that easy to decide, what a good hot key is as long you doesn't give us a some more details.