by Nick
Friday, December 29, 2006 10:45 AM
It all started with Jeff Atwood, and then I saw another one from Omar Shahine, so I'll add my own to the mix. Instead of talking about simplifying the login process, or going to a .com site faster, I'm going to talk about opening up Windows Explorer. Hopefully Jeff won't take offense to stealing this format, and helping to start a dreaded blog meme.
Every computer with Windows has Windows Explorer, that everyone has to use to manage their files. It's pretty much unavoidable that you'll have to use it most every day.
As much as we see Windows Explorer every day, you'd think we would have mastered it by now. Unfortunately, we haven't. Here's what I've observed users doing, over and over again:
-
Click the mouse on the Start button.
-
Click the mouse on Program Files.
-
Click the mouse on Accessories.
-
Click the mouse on Windows Explorer.
Every time I watch someone do this, a little part of me dies inside. And I see it all the time*.
I'm not just talking about casual users like our parents. I'm talking about our fellow software developers, and other users who work with the computer for most of the day. People who really should know better.
What kills me about this is all the needless, painful mouse clicks. You've needlessly clicked your mouse and waited for menus millions of times-- just add a little Windows Logo+E to the mix! I'm no keyboard Nazi. All I want is to save users a few precious seconds of their day as they slog through their computer files during their work day. And it's so darn easy:
- Press the Windows Logo button + E
See? Wasn't that nice? Now it's your turn to play Keyboard Appleseed and spread the word so your fellow coworkers can spend less time opening programs - and more time getting actual work done.
* A variation I also see is when people right click on the Start button and click Explore from the context menu. Although it's fewer mouse clicks, it needlessly takes you deep into your directory structure where your Start menu shortcuts are stored, and so is also a waste of time.