Using Shortcuts

Using Sketchpad’s shortcuts can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend navigating the menus and manipulating tools in the Toolbox. Menu command keyboard shortcuts are listed in the menus next to the commands themselves, but be sure to review the Keyboard Reference section for a list of keyboard shortcuts beyond those that correspond to menu commands.

Two shortcuts are worth special mention to the expert.

· The Esc key is a general-purpose shortcut for “escaping from” any special program activity and returning the program to a more basic state. Use the Esc key to deselect all objects and to revert to the Arrow tool without using the mouse. If you are animating or displaying the traces of animated objects, Esc can stop your animations and erase their traces as well. Repeatedly pressing Esc causes Sketchpad eventually to revert to its most basic state, with no objects animating or selected, no traces visible, and the Arrow tool active in the Toolbox.

· The Context menu is a general-purpose shortcut for displaying only the menu commands that are available and appropriate to a clicked-on program element. Use the Context menu to display commands appropriate to a single sketch object by clicking on that object or to a single document by clicking in blank space within that document’s window. When you click on a sketch object, Sketchpad displays the Context menu for that object with Properties as the default command choice. When you click in a document’s blank space, Sketchpad displays the Context menu for that document with Preferences as the default command choice. These default choices make the Context menu the most convenient way to access these two powerful dialog boxes, each of which allows you to modify the appearance and behavior of your chosen object or document.

To display an element’s Context menu when clicking on that element, click with the right mouse-button in Windows, or click while holding down the Ctrl key on a Macintosh.