Bruce Baker

The Esc key has long been the “get me outta here” panacea for many things: canceling a dialog box, getting rid of a button-less splash screen, closing a menu that you clicked open. (Esc is, after all, short for “escape.”) But those are only the obvious things. Here’s a handful of less-than-obvious but just-as-handy solutions the Esc key provides.

By Sharon Zardetto

Thu, October 29, 2009 — Macworld — The Esc key has long been the “get me outta here” panacea for many things: canceling a dialog box, getting rid of a button-less splash screen, closing a menu that you clicked open. (Esc is, after all, short for “escape.”) But those are only the obvious things. Here’s a handful of less-than-obvious but just-as-handy solutions the Esc key provides.

1. Take a shortcut back to your original application

You press Command-Tab to switch to another application, pressing Tab several times (or just holding it down) because you’re moving to a program that’s far away on the Application Switcher’s bar. You get halfway across the line of program icons and realize–whoops!–you forgot to copy the material that you wanted to bring with you. Use the awkward Command-Shift-Tab to move backwards? Use the more convenient Command-tilde (~), still pressing the key repeatedly? No! While the Command key is still down, press Esc to return to the program you were working in before the premature press of Command-Tab.

2. Erase and get out of the Spotlight menu

If you want to erase what you’ve typed in the Spotlight search field, you don’t have to tediously delete it a character at a time: press Esc to instantly wipe the field clean so you can start again. The Spotlight menu stores what you last typed in it unless you erase it so that you can make a second choice from the results list. If your search was fruitless–or mistaken–it’s a good idea to erase the contents of the field before you close the menu so you can start fresh on a new search. Press Esc twice: once to erase the field, and a second time to close it.

3. Hide your browser cursor

For a relatively tiny thing, the mouse cursor can be an annoying distraction when it happens to be in the wrong spot on your screen while you’re viewing a Web page. It’s like a fly landing on your TV screen. Whether you’re in Apple’s Safari or Mozilla Firefox, press Esc and the cursor disappears instantly, cooperatively reappearing as soon as you move the mouse.

4. Reverse your “make this tab a window” drag

I’m a tab junkie in Safari: a window just looks wrong without a half-dozen tabs (each containing a separate Web page) arrayed across its top. But when dragging a tab off the bar to create a separate window (and a new tab colony), it’s easy grab the wrong one and take it off the tab bar before you realize the mistake. You don’t have to drag a nascent window back into the bar: press Esc before you let it go, and it snaps back into its original tab position. This trick works in Firefox, too, as well as in other programs that provide tear-off tabbed windows, such as Adobe’s Photoshop CS4 and InDesign CS4.

5. Switch to InDesign’s selection tool from within a text box

This is currently my favorite Esc key trick because it triggers a feature I’ve wanted desperately for a long time and didn’t realize until recently was already available. In InDesign, a press of a single key selects a tool: V for the selection arrow, T for the text tool, and so on. This one-key access is great–except when you forget you’re in a text box and hit V or T or some other tool shortcut and you type the letter instead of get the tool. I just want switch to the selection tool with a single key, without having to deselect the text first (and not just temporarily, as with the Command key). As it turns out, I can: Esc deactivates the text box you’re in and activates the Selection tool.

Sharon Zardetto has been writing Mac books and articles since the twentieth century. Visit her MacTipster blog.

via Five Unexpected Uses for the Esc Key – CIO.com – Business Technology Leadership.

by Don Reisinger

As a frequent Twitter user, there’s nothing more appealing to me than checking out the photos and videos that the people I’m following publish in their Twitter timelines. It makes the experience a little more rich.

That’s precisely why I wanted to write this roundup. Why only write text in Twitter? Why not share multimedia content? If you’re like me, you’ll want to do just that. So take a look at some of these services and let’s work together at making Twitter just a little more fun to use.

Be entertained

Ffwd Video-sharing site Ffwd allows people to share their favorite videos with Twitter followers.

When you get to Ffwd, you can view a host of videos on several topics. When you find something you like, Ffwd provides a “Share to Twitter” option. When you click that, your update box will be populated with a standard tweet and a link to the video. You can change it before you send it out. It’s a nice service, but given the fact that there are many more videos on YouTube (which also lets you share content on Twitter), it might not be your first option.

Ffwd

Ffwd populates your update box with a link and message.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Flickr If you’re a Flickr user, the Yahoo-owned site allows you to show off your images on Twitter with the help of a unique Flickr URL.

In order to syndicate your content to Flickr, you first need to authorize it on your account through the “blog this” pane. Once Twitter is authorized, you can share any of your Twitter images with Flickr. I tried out the service, and it worked relatively well. The site provides users with a unique shortened Flickr URL for an image. That said, Flickr hides the “tweet” button under the “blog this” option. It’s a little annoying. I would have liked to have more convenient access to it. Either way, it might be worth trying out if you’re a frequent Flickr user.

Flickr

Flickr makes it somewhat difficult to add photos to Twitter.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

TwitPic If you’re looking for the most popular way to share your favorite photos on Twitter, TwitPic is the way to do it.

When you first start using TwitPic, you’ll need only to input your Twitter credentials. From there, upload an image, add some text to go along with it, and send a tweet to your followers. That tweet will then show up in your timeline, allowing users to click on the TwitPic link to view your image. The site gives you a tally of how many people have viewed your images, as well as a place for folks to comment. TwitPic is simple, it’s convenient, and thanks to its popularity, it’s trusted by Twitter users. It’s a must-see.

TwitPic

TwitPic shows off your pics and lets you see a tally of viewers.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

TwitVid When photos just aren’t enough, you can try out TwitVid. That service allows you to upload videos to the site and share them on Twitter.

TwitVid works just like TwitPic. Simply go to the site, input your Twitter credentials, and upload your video. In my experience, it does take a little while for videos to upload, so beware of that. Once the video is uploaded, you can input a message and send that tweet over to Twitter. Your followers will see your tweet and a TwitVid link, which they can click on and view the video clip. It’s one of the best ways to share video content on Twitter.

I should also note that the site lets you record video from your computer’s Webcam, which is a welcome addition. (See more information on TwitVid here.)

via Third Day Web Designs.