Esoteric Computer Terminology
 

There have been times when we've had to enter data and as such have tried to find shortcuts in every way possible to save us the banality of it all and get the end results.

Some of us tend to rely primarily on the keyboard as it saves time greatly as time is wasted in motion using the mouse and the corrective feedback loop taken to search for then click on something with sufficient accuracy (unless one uses mouse gestures for certain applications such as the Opera Browser).

When clicking through menus, for the most part, one can:
[LIST=1][*]Use the Alt modifier key and then the Arrow keys[*]First Letter Accesskey (type first letter/number/symbol, repeat to cycle through items with given first letter/number/symbol)[*]Mnemonics (the underlined letter, arbitrarily or generally accepted)[*]Circumvent Menu (shortcut keys - combinations such as Ctrl+C for copy, AKA Sacred Keybindings for Mac users)[*]?Unknown Term? - Typing the first or up to all characters until intended item is selected (useful for very long lists).[/LIST]
I've been trying to get the term for the last item on the list. Does anyone know the correct term? I suppose it's a type of predictive text type shortcut.

[URL="http://dizionari.corriere.it/dizionario_inglese/Italiano/F/ficata.shtml"]so-so[/URL]

Ctrl - '

[QUOTE=imwithid;259901][*]?Unknown Term? - Typing the first or up to all characters until intended item is selected (useful for very long lists).[/LIST]
I've been trying to get the term for the last item on the list. Does anyone know the correct term? I suppose it's a type of predictive text type shortcut.[/QUOTE][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_completion"]Command-line completion[/URL]

[QUOTE=imwithid;259901]?Unknown Term? - Typing the first or up to all characters until intended item is selected (useful for very long lists).

I've been trying to get the term for the last item on the list. Does anyone know the correct term? I suppose it's a type of predictive text type shortcut.[/QUOTE]"Autocomplete" might be what you seek ([URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocomplete[/URL]). But check "Similar tools" and "See also" in that Wikipedia article.

Anyone ever use a product like this: [url]http://texter.en.softonic.com/[/url] or [url]http://www.extensiblesoft.com/onhand/[/url] for text substitution.

[QUOTE=only_human;259912][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_completion"]Command-line completion[/URL][/QUOTE]

This is close, but applies more to command line interfaces rather than menus or input boxes and requires the Tab key (which in almost all GUIs, changes the focus) or enter key iff the focus is automatically transferred to the predicted output which the latter is more what I'm after. Generally in command line computing, one often has no option but to stick to the keyboard almost entirely (depending on whether the CLI is the primary interface).

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm trying to find the term that pertains to navigating GUIs using the keyboard.

[QUOTE=imwithid;259901]
?Unknown Term? - Typing the first or up to all characters until intended item is selected (useful for very long lists).
[/QUOTE]

I haven't seen the more-than-one-character flavour in a while, but I use the single-character-repetition flavour daily.

E.g. in Firefox, "Alt-B - G - G - G" will select the third bookmark starting with "G".

I have no official term for that, either; if ever, I have referred to it as "(next) match selection".

[QUOTE=cheesehead;259933]"Autocomplete" might be what you seek ([URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocomplete[/URL]). But check "Similar tools" and "See also" in that Wikipedia article.[/QUOTE]

I think this comes closest to helping. I thought there may be a better appropriated term, but I guess not. I would liken it to a progressive or staggered accesskey with reset delay. Say for instance, one has a menu with many entries starting with 'm'. As more consecutive letters are typed (within a predetermined delay, after the delay, key strokes revert to the first initial key again, in case of error), one arrives closer to their intended item.

Perhaps the term I'm trying to find is "Autocomplete" but a more primitive or revertive simplified version (the kind I remember when it first started to appear about a decade ago in Windows applications where mnemonics would not or could not apply).

[QUOTE=ckdo;259968]I haven't seen the more-than-one-character flavour in a while, but I use the single-character-repetition flavour daily.

E.g. in Firefox, "Alt-B - G - G - G" will select the third bookmark starting with "G".

I have no official term for that, either; if ever, I have referred to it as "(next) match selection".[/QUOTE]

This would fall under (2), the restrictive first letter accesskey, as sequential letters revert to the initial letter (almost as if a hidden query input would allow only one input and overwrite upon new input but progress if the same input is entered).

I'm referring to a more complex case. Say for instance, you had a list of hundreds (thousands or more) of elements. Under elements with initial case 'm' you have:

[code]MacGyver
Market-Bellweather
Markham
McClane
McCloud
Murray[/code]

To get to "Market-Bellweather", one would type "mar" in short order and that would arrive at the correct point. If you erroneously typed "mad" or "mas, it would progress no further than "MacGyver" as there is no element with third input match 'd' or 's'. A one second delay would allow one to input "mar" a second time without having to backspace three times (or an unknown number of times if one pressed two keys at the same time and there is no output for displaying a user's key strokes).

However, this one second delay may end up being a bane for one who types slowly or whose response is not quick enough. For instance, if one types "ma" then 'd' after that one second delay, the user would end up with the first element of a list of elements starting with 'd'.

[QUOTE=imwithid;259967]I guess I should have mentioned that I'm trying to find the term that pertains to navigating GUIs using the keyboard.[/QUOTE]But that doesn't seem to be the same as your fifth item in the OP, "Typing the first or up to all characters until intended item is selected (useful for very long lists)."

So, are you adding a sixth item, "navigating GUIs using the keyboard"?

- - -

[QUOTE=imwithid;259969][QUOTE=cheesehead;259933]"Autocomplete" might be what you seek ([URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocomplete[/URL]). But check "Similar tools" and "See also" in that Wikipedia article.[/QUOTE]I think this comes closest. I thought there may be a better appropriated term, but I guess not. I would liken it to a progressive or staggered accesskey with reset delay. Say for instance, one has a menu with many entries starting with 'm'. As more consecutive letters are typed (within a predetermined delay, after the delay, key strokes revert to the first initial key again, in case of error), one arrives closer to their intended item.[/QUOTE]So far, that's just autocomplete with some specific stylistic details listed AFAIK.

[quote]Perhaps the term I'm trying to find is "Autocomplete" but a more primitive or revertive simplified version (the kind I remember when it first started to appear about a decade ago in Windows applications where mnemonics would or could not apply).[/quote]Does "combo box" ([URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combo_box[/URL]) come close?

How about "search suggest drop-down list" ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_suggest_drop-down_list%29?"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_suggest_drop-down_list)?[/URL]