Infinite Digression

Copy and Paste, Shortcuts, CUA

modified:Jan 08, 20253 min read

created, $=dv.current().file.ctime & modified, =this.modified tags:computershistory

Copy and paste was invented by Larry Tesler and his colleague, Tim Mott, while they were working at Xerox PARC in the 1970s to develop the Gypsy word processor. Larry Tesler, who passed away in 2020, is credited with inventing copy and paste, among other important contributions to the field of computer science.

Copy and pasting was used before digital (in traditional physical craft).

IBM Common User Interface

CUA was a set of standards for UIs to operating systems and computer programs. The aim was to bring about a harmony to the operation of these programs, which previously required specific application knowledge to be memorized.

Thus every program had to be learned individually and its complete user interface memorised. It was a sign of expertise to have learned the UIs of dozens of applications, since a novice user facing a new program would find their existing knowledge of a similar application either of no use or actively a hindrance to understanding as learned behavior might need to be unlearned for the new application.

CUA influenced the early MS Windows OS and a number of shortcuts (such as Alt+F4 to close a window) originate from it.

CUA Hallmarks:

  • All operations can be done with either the mouse or the keyboard;
  • If applicable to the page/screen in question F5 provides a refresh function;
  • Menus are activated/deactivated with the F10 key;
  • Menus are opened by pressing the Alt key plus the underlined letter of the menu name;
  • Menu commands that require parameters to proceed are suffixed with an ellipsis (”…”);
  • Options are requested using secondary windows (often called dialog boxes);
  • Options are divided into sections using notebook tabs;
  • Navigation within fields in dialog boxes is by cursor key; navigation between fields is by pressing the Tab ↹ key; ⇧ Shift+Tab ↹ moves backwards;
  • Dialog boxes have a ‘Cancel’ button, activated by pressing the Esc key, which discards changes, and an ‘OK’ button, activated by pressing Return, which accepts changes;
  • Applications have online help accessed by a Help menu, which is the last option on the menu bar; context sensitive help can be summoned by F1;
  • The first menu is to be called ‘File’ and contains operations for handling files (new, open, save, save as) as well as quitting the program; the next menu ‘Edit’ has commands for undo, redo, cut, copy, delete, paste commands;
  • The Cut command is ⇧ Shift+Del; Copy is Ctrl+Ins; Paste is ⇧ Shift+Ins;
  • The size of a window can be changed by dragging one of the 8 segments of the border.

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