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Mid September newsletter comments

Alexander Bisset

Alexander Bisset

Administrator
Staff member
Good tip on browser font sizes but you missed a trick that makes it far far easier for users.

Press and hold CTRL then press + to zoom in and - to zoom out. This is so much easier than users trying to find the option in their browser menu.

Second investing. Santander has their 1-2-3 account which offers 3% interest on balances up to £20,000 this allows you to have instant access and earn 3% on balance. I also have their basic savings account so I can move surplus cash that I also want instant access to back and forth so as to keep my balance at £20,000 to earn the 3%. Unfortunately the basic savings only pays 1%. Santander have an easy to use app I have on my iPad which I can use to move money between the two as my daily balance fluctuates. If my current account is over 20k I move money to the 1% account if my current account is under 20k I move money from 1% account back into current account to keep it at 20k.

Having my cash reserves in a decent instant access account my medium/long term investments in Zopa and my ISAs I have a reasonable balance of risk/reward.
 
Alexander Bisset said:
Good tip on browser font sizes but you missed a trick that makes it far far easier for users.

Press and hold CTRL then press + to zoom in and - to zoom out. This is so much easier than users trying to find the option in their browser menu.
Click to expand...
I deliberately didn't give the short cuts because anyone who doesn't know about the zoom function is unlikely to know how to access the browser menu - so it's 2 lessons in 1.
 
Alexander Bisset said:
Hmmm in my 30 years experience giving users too much info rarely ends well. It usually just serves to confuse.
Click to expand...

That's another reason why I gave then the simplest solution rather than offering shortcuts which depend on remembering keyboard combinations.

In any case the keyboard shortcut isn't necessarily quicker - when members are reading my newsletter they're likely to have their right hand on the mouse, not the keyboard.
 
REALLY sorry Peter but that is utter nonsense. You cannot seriously be saying that one key press is more difficult than finding a menu, searching through it to find the option, changing the option, remembering to click save, seeing how that looks, opening options again and rinse repeat until happy.

Even if they do have their hand on the mouse moving their hand a few centimetres to click a button if far far FAR quicker than using the menus buried in different places in different programs. Why try to learn where the options are buried in different programs when the same key press works across most applications. By all means learn to use options in programs if that was your point I'd agree. However your point is that it's quicker and simpler to plough through multiple menu items searching for the option, no that's just so easily demonstrably wrong.

Ok I know you like to defend your positions but seriously you don't have a leg to stand on this one. A key press that works across multiple windows applications and is a built in standard to windows SIMPLY MUST be easier than fiddling with menus. Once you learn that key press once you have learned it for all supported applications.
 
Maybe Alexander is thinking with a youthful, elastic mind, and Peter is having due consideration for the average age of the readership. My husband goes rigid with frustration when we are trying to encourage my 90+ year old mother to do something differently on her computer. It seems obvious to us (striplings in our 50s) that she is going a long way round, but it is what she is used to, and it works.
 
I'm pretty sure Peter told us in a past newsletter about ctr + to zoom ?
I've used it ever since .....so simple ....even for me !
 
emjay said:
I'm pretty sure Peter told us in a past newsletter about ctr + to zoom ?
I've used it ever since .....so simple ....even for me !
Click to expand...

It is simple - provided you can remember it, and at my age that's touch and go. But whether it saves time is debatable, and even when it does save time it's only going to be a second or two. Is it really worth the effort of remembering something extra just to save a couple of seconds now and again?

I was introduced to the KISS principle over 40 years ago, but it still holds good today.
 
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