On Apr 25, 2010, at 0:58, Adam Sharp wrote:
As a point of interest, it seems that the Fn key doesn't behave like the standard modifier keys, Cmd, Option and Ctrl. For example, forward delete doesn't appear as Fn-Delete on that list you linked to, but has its own glyph; whereas, the other modifier keys all appear explicitly. Anyone know if this behaviour is global for the Fn key, or whether it is special for delete? I'm just curious :)
The Fn key is best thought of not as a Modifier Key but rather as a low-level switch to a virtual alternate set of keyboard keys. Applications generally don't (can't?) make distinctions based on it; the alternate functions (return/enter, delete/fwd delete, arrows/page keys, F-keys/special functions) are selected at the operating system level.
At least, that's how it feels based on using it; I haven't looked into the actual technical details.
By the way, a useful difference between ⌘← ⌘→ and ⌃A ⌃E:
⌃A ⌃E go to the ends of the text line: "stop before the newline". They ignore soft wrapping.
⌘← ⌘→ go to the left and right ends of the *screen display*. They treat soft wrapping just like hard wrapping.
I find that ⌃A ⌃E are more often what I want, but ⌘← ⌘→ can be useful when the problem is less "navigate to a significant point in the text" than "how can I get the cursor to *that spot right there* with the fewest keystrokes?"