> Mac OS doesn't have access keys for the menu bar. Either someone assigns a keyboard shortcut, which you can use, or you have to use the key combo that focuses the menu bar and then arrow through the menus.
Try Cmd+Shift+/ (aka Cmd+?) and typing a few letters of the command you want to invoke. It's pretty much the same mechanism that Emacs uses (C-x followed by the command name).
I'll admit it's not very discoverable.
> In contrast, the IBM Common User Access guidelines established that you can press Alt plus another key indicated by an underlined letter associated with a given menu option in order to open/select that option
First, Macs don't have an "Alt" key ;) But more importantly, CUA dates back to 1987, which is predated by the original 1984 Macintosh - which by that time already had established quite a few conventions of its own. I wouldn't blame it on Apple that they've stuck with their own conventions, their OS is arguably the most consistent one on the market thanks to that. Some people (hi) greatly value that consistency.
I think it could be argued either way about which convention is better, I'd say it boils down to preference.
O[1] RLY?[2][3] (Whether they have one or not is beside the point.)
> more importantly, CUA dates back to 1987, which is predated by the original 1984 Macintosh - which by that time already had established quite a few conventions of its own. I wouldn't blame it on Apple that they've stuck with their own conventions
Irrelevant. The Mac OS isn't the same as the one that shipped in 1984. It certainly didn't have Spotlight then, for example. Supporting CUA-style menu access keys would be an additive change—the same way that importing the benefits of the UNIX userspace by way of NeXTStep was additive (but far less invasive than that one); no one said to stop supporting other menu access methods.
> Supporting CUA-style menu access keys would be an additive change [...].
As I said, Macs don't have an Alt key; there's an Opt key, which (depending on context) can work like AltGr or Alt (the latter usually when combined with Cmd). You can't draw a 1:1 comparison with a PC keyboard, because they're just different things.
Overloading Opt to access menus is not an additive change. Opt-e in my keyboard layout produces "ę"; Opt-x produces "ź". You'd take away my ability to type in my native language.
Introducing new modifier keys (say OptGr+e would produce "ę" but Opt-e would access the menu) would be a drastic and unwelcome change. I would equate it with changing the meaning of "Shift" when pressing number keys. It's something you just don't do to your users, no matter how much more sensible it appears to you.
Again, it's all platform conventions. When you travel to Italy, you don't bitch that nobody speaks German - even if German is standardized, and officially spoken in three different countries.
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Try Cmd+Shift+/ (aka Cmd+?) and typing a few letters of the command you want to invoke. It's pretty much the same mechanism that Emacs uses (C-x followed by the command name).
I'll admit it's not very discoverable.
> In contrast, the IBM Common User Access guidelines established that you can press Alt plus another key indicated by an underlined letter associated with a given menu option in order to open/select that option
First, Macs don't have an "Alt" key ;) But more importantly, CUA dates back to 1987, which is predated by the original 1984 Macintosh - which by that time already had established quite a few conventions of its own. I wouldn't blame it on Apple that they've stuck with their own conventions, their OS is arguably the most consistent one on the market thanks to that. Some people (hi) greatly value that consistency.
I think it could be argued either way about which convention is better, I'd say it boils down to preference.