On the Subject of Customization

Today’s entry presents a shortcut that I feel should really never be used as it raises the important “meta issue” of keyboard customization. Final Cut Pro provides an excellent mechanism for customizing keyboard shortcuts via the Tools>Keyboard Layout>Customize menu. There’s even a shortcut to get to it: OPT H, but please don’t use it!

To customize or not is a thorny issue and there are some who disagree with me on this, but I’ll attempt to make my case for not customizing after the jump…

While keyboard remapping might be a good solution for a long time Avid editor who might find themselves working in a Final Cut Pro shop for a limited time (and I’ve seen this undoubtedly stressful scenario in some special events editing trailers) or perhaps for people with certain disabilities, but I generally think it’s a very bad idea. Why? Because many if not most editors will sometimes have to sit down at a “foreign” editing station at some point and they’ll find themselves utterly lost.

Another reason some people want to customize or change their shortcut keys is that they may feel uncomfortable with the current locations of shortcuts. They might want to relocate the functions of their F9 and F10 keys down lower on the keyboard for example, because they feel its more convenient. The problem with either of these scenarios however, is that you have now become a user base of one. With keyboard shortcuts, you should bear in mind that practice always overcomes initial inconvenience. Virtually all shortcuts take some time to get used to and to become imprinted into your “muscle memory.” Give it a bit of time and the stock layout will work just fine and I contend that its certainly no harder to learn that some arbitrary custom setup.

Years ago, I used to customize my computers extensively and thought myself quite the “power user.” When I started teaching and doing demos or working gigs on other people’s systems however, I was clumsy and slow.  I certainly wasn’t much of a power user then. I came to realize then that to get used to a clean “stock” system, like the ones that producers rent from companies like Bexel was the only way to go. Then you’re a power user at everywhere.

I feel obliged to point out however that yes, you can save your blasted custom shortcuts (Tools>Keyboard Layout>Save Keyboard Layout or Load Keyboard Layout), but then you’ll need to carry these files around on a thumb drive and what happens when you step away and another editor has to work a shift at your station? It just seems like a nuisance to me. At least there is a keyboard shortcut for loading keyboard shortcuts: OPT Y (which you might memorize by thinking of it as “option… why?).

I have similar feelings about those keyboards with all the shortcuts marked on them. While they may be of some use for getting accustomed to shortcuts (and I think that’s questionable), I fear that the color coding might make you overly dependent on them then and, rather than merely pulling out a small thumb drive to discreetly load your crutches shortcuts, you’ve got to travel around with a bulky keyboard in tow and I have never seen a Fox Sports or ABC Sports editor pulling one of those out of their bag in a rented edit trailer and am not sure how I’d react if I did.  Are you aware that some hard core coding geeks actually prefer blank keyboards?

Having said all that, I have to sheepishly admit that there is one (and only one) shortcut that I quickly establish at every workstation I use. At least it’s a shortcut that does not come stock and there’s nothing already programmed for those keys, so I’m not getting rid of an existing shortcut. Finally, it’s such a powerful shortcut and one that I use so often that I guess I’m willing to be a bit of a hypocrite over it and you can read all about it here.