random computer grumbling

aka: Why the tab key and the enter key shouldn’t be considered interchangeable.

At work we use a program for data entry that uses the enter key instead of the tab key to move between fields. I would really love to meet the person who made that decision, so I could shake their hand and then say, “WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU EVER DO SUCH A THING ARE YOU CRAZY?!”

There was a point when we were told that both keys would work, which turned out to be untrue. The tab key works about half the time, and the rest of the time it does something completely unexpected, like closing the screen, or resorting the data. (Shift-Tab still works to go backwards, always, which is baffling to me.)

And it’s fine to just get used to using the enter key all the time, except that EVERY OTHER PROGRAM and online site (many of which we use at work!) use the tab key to move around and enter to actually submit the form, and that’s a problem. I’ve gotten more error messages from sites thinking I’m submitting an incomplete form than I’d really like to admit.

Ah, technology.

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