![]() ![]() After installing this lightweight little app, instead of pressing Ctrl + V If, like me, you'd prefer operating system level improvements in the clipboard, there are quite a few options out there. We've long since left the days of applications writing their own quirky little file open dialog behind, but it's somehow OK to implement your own wacky clipboard behaviors in Visual Studio, or Office? It always seemed strange to me that applications had to implement their own oddball per-app clipboard queues to spackle over deficiencies in the operating system's braindead "I can only remember one thing at a time" clipboard implementation. ![]() It's not a crippling limitation, but it does illustrate how fundamental the clipboard is, even for the smallest of computers. ![]() I was surprised how quickly I ran into situations where I wanted to copy and paste something on my Windows Mobile phone, but I couldn't figure out how to. I'm totally with Walt on this one it applies to all smartphones. The clipboard is so important that Walter Mossberg specifically mentioned it as a negative in his iPhone review: There's also no way to cut, copy, or paste text. I find that even when I'm not writing, per se, I rely on my clipboard throughout the day. Granted, we're talking about a word processing program here, but we live in a copypasta culture. Paste itself accounts for more than 11% of all commands used, and has more than twice as much usage as the #2 entry on the list, Save. Together, these five commands account for around 32% of the total command use in Word 2003. There's actually hard data to back this up, at least for Word 2003: Top 5 Most-Used Commands in Microsoft Word 2003 The clipboard isn't some obscure operating system feature, either. Three years later, we're stuck with the same old single-item clipboard model. The only improvement since then, sadly, is in the PC specifications. Copy another item to the clipboard and your previous clipboard item is irrevocably lost. I originally wrote about this in 2005: In this era of 3 GHz processors, 1 GB memory, and 500 GB hard drives, why is the Windows clipboard only capable of holding a single item? Sure, you have fancy multi-level undo and redo in applications like Microsoft Word and Visual Studio. One of the things I always have to change, much to my chagrin, is the default clipboard behavior. For most users the default settings are the only settings. I've learned that if the defaults aren't reasonably close to correct out of the box, then the software is probably doomed anyway. Sure, I'll change a few settings to my liking, but I no longer spend a lot of time customizing my desktop configuration. Over time, I've become something of a desktop mimimalist. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |