1

I recently started using Google Calendar a lot more, and one of the first things I did was look for keyboard shortcuts to speed up my planning. I found this:

k is back, j is forward

I'm wondering whether there's some motivation behind choosing those particular shortcuts, because intuitively, I would expect j to go back and k to go forward, given that k is on the right.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

The j/k keys come from the Vi text editor and ADM3A computer terminals, where they originally were used for vertical navigation – they mean "cursor down" and "cursor up" respectively. See HJKL keys for the full set.

(Nowadays you'll also find these hidden hotkeys in various other webapps, such as Twitter timelines or Ars Technica comment threads.)

Because j moves the cursor down in this keymap, it makes sense for it to scroll down to the next item – and it used to be an obvious choice in earlier Google Calendar UI versions, which used vertical scrolling for the month view. (If I remember correctly, that is.)

The only problem is that the "Material 2" redesign for Google Calendar switched to sideways scrolling for months, which no longer matches the hotkey choice. (And, IMHO, is completely unintuitive for a calendar in general – even when I'm swiping left/right on the Android app.)

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.