Tip: Keyboard Shortcuts

On discourse sites like this one, many actions can be performed with the keyboard. Press ? to see a list of keyboard shortcuts.

Some of these are two key combinations. You won’t see anything after typing the first key, until you have typed the second as well.

When viewing a topic, press j or k to ensure one of the posts is selected, showing a red line on the left. Then you can use post-specific keys.

Some favourites

? to list keyboard shortcuts

j / k to select next/previous topic or post

g j / g k to move to next/previous topic

u to go up/back

c to create a new topic (or resume a previous draft).

r to reply to a topic or post (or resume a previous draft).

l to like a post

e to edit a post (after j to select it)

g h to go home

ZZ to log out

TAB and SHIFT-TAB to move the browser’s focus

ENTER to activate the selected/focussed thing

CMD-ENTER or CTRL-ENTER to save when there’s an obvious save button (or occasionally: TAB, ENTER)

While composing/editing

SHIFT-F11 to maximise the edit area. Maximising your browser window may give more horizontal space also.

TAB TAB TAB TAB (four tabs) to quickly get to the body text

ESC (or reload the page) to save the draft for later and return to the page

TAB TAB ENTER ENTER to abandon the draft

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