As I say in the video below, it does amaze me how many people are not aware of the simple shortcuts one can use to navigate though text quickly – and in many cases faster than you would with a mouse.

For some of you, what’s listed here will make you say to yourself, "Okay, who doesn’t know these keyboard shortcuts?" Quite a few, actually. You’d be surprised.

I label these as keyboard shortcuts everybody should know because if you rely too much on your mouse, it can prove to be a huge time waster. It can mean the difference between taking five minutes to type up something and thirty.

Using myself as an example, what I used to do to save time was memorize the keyboard shortcuts from the context menus in Windows applications. Using something like Notepad, what I used to do for copying years ago was – and I kid you not – ALT+E, C. For cut I used to do ALT+E, T. (These commands do in fact still work, even in Windows 7.) I wasn’t stuck on the mouse. I was stuck on context menus, as odd as that sounds. Fortunately I got out of that nasty habit and started copy/cut/pasting the proper way.

Here are the shortcuts mentioned in the video below. Some of these are very obvious, but bear in mind what’s obvious to you may not be to another.

HOME

Go to beginning of line.

END

Go to end of line (insert lame TRON reference here).

Left/Right Arrow

Move left or right, character by character.

SHIFT + Left/Right Arrow

Move left or right, character by character, highlighting text as you move.

CTRL + Left/Right Arrow

Move left or right, word by word.

CTRL + SHIFT + Left/Right Arrow

Move left or right, word by word, highlighting text as you move.

SHIFT + CTRL + HOME/END

Selects all text before (HOME) or after (END) the current position of the cursor.

CTRL + A

Select all text

CTRL + X

Cut text

CTRL + Z

Undo a cut

CTRL + C

Copy text

CTRL + V

Paste text

Flickr, the ever popular photo sharing service, has had video available for some time but only for Pro (i.e. paid) members. I’ve used it a few times and it’s pretty decent. Granted, they only allow 90-second videos, but for many people that’s just about right.

Recently it was announced that anyone – including the free members – can now upload videos too. The only hitch is that freebie members can’t upload HD. But considering most people don’t do HD video at present, that’s okay.

Being that I’ve actually tried Flickr’s video sharing option myself, this is what I can say about it:

First, the load time is almost always faster compared to other video sharing sites.

Second, the interface is a whole lot cleaner.

Third, the way in which Flickr encodes videos does put emphasis on quality before speed (I personally appreciate this), yet still loads quickly.

Fourth, the Flickr community is above and beyond better than YouTube’s ever could be. And yes, this matters. If you want to be in the company of people more on the adult side, Flickr definitely trounces YouTube in that respect.

Give Flickr video a try, you might like it.