# Please Help This Ignorant Keyboarder
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 17, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053 "2002-04-17T01:59:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/1 "2002-04-17T01:59:34Z")
There must be a simple keystroke for this. For example when I log into Straight Dope, I have to enter my username, ::FISH FOR MY MOUSE:: then click on the next place I want to enter information in this case, my password.
It seems some information blanks can be accessed by hitting enter, but please tell me there is a foolproof way to get to the next field.
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/2 "2002-04-17T02:12:09Z")
The tab key will do the trick.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/3 "2002-04-17T02:26:03Z")
And one of the slightly lesser knowen shortcuts is that SHIFT+TAB will move backwards across fields.
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### Author:  [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/4 "2002-04-17T03:06:58Z")
Yay! It works. Thanks folks, that’s gonna save me lots of time and frustration. Gonna have to have a word with Miz Beacon though. Oh, wait, maybe I skipped that lesson.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/5 "2002-04-17T03:17:07Z")
The Tab key is a standard Windows shortcut. It works in other Windows programs as well, when there are multiple input boxes. Also if one of the inputs is a checkbox or button, you can get to that with the tab key and use the space bar to press the button or select/deselect the checkbox. So after you type the password, press tab again to go to the OK button and press space. That might save you a few extra milliseconds.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/6 "2002-04-17T03:20:14Z")
But what bugs the hell out of me is when web designers put something between the password field and the OK box, ie “forgot your password?”. Then when I hit tab space (like second nature) and I go to some other screen.
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### Author:  [@ScottHaneda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScottHaneda)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/7 "2002-04-17T06:47:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Joey P \*
> \*\*But what bugs the hell out of me is when web designers put something between the password field and the OK box, ie “forgot your password?”. Then when I hit tab space (like second nature) and I go to some other screen. \*\*
thats because the designers do not know about the html tabindex attribute 🙂
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### Author:  [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/8 "2002-04-17T07:36:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ScottHaneda \*
> \*\*
>
> thats because the designers do not know about the html tabindex attribute 🙂 \*\*
FUCKERS!!! Grrrr!!! 😉
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-this-ignorant-keyboarder/104053/9 "2002-04-17T12:52:06Z")
And in case you haven’t noticed it, you can also usually tab between hyperlinks on a web page. This sometimes helps save a few seconds reaching for the mouse.
Other useful keyboard shortcuts for web surfing (IE only as far as I know, I’ve forgotten almost everything I ever knew about Netscape):
Alt + left arrow = Back
Alt + right arrow = Forward
Esc = Stop
F5 = Refresh
Alt + Home key = Home
Ctrl + scroll wheel = change text size