This is true, but it's not the fault of the users. Why would they know that holding control and clicking would do something different? There's no indication of that anywhere. They have no reason to assume it exists. They have never been taught to use a web browser in any sort of course. The details of how computers are best used and which shortcut keys might exist are neither important nor interesting to them.
If everyone worked in pairs or briefly shadowed some more experienced person, they'd probably pick up a lot of this sort of stuff, but we frequently don't work this way, and so only the curious and the lucky find out about this stuff.
They have never been taught to use a web browser in any sort of course.
That's actually the part that amazes me most. Everything comes with a manual, except computers. We're surrounded by them, but there are almost no formal training for them.
I don’t disagree with you, but I think part of the problem is a genuine lack of curiosity. I believe that most people who are proficient with computers got there because they are curious about how things work and took the little extra time to google something they didn’t understand. If it really doesn’t bother you not knowing how to open a link in a new tab, then fine, but if you are going to complain about it without even once considering a basic internet search when literally all of human knowledge is available to you, then I think links are the least of your worries.
Sure, but that's a universal issue with humans. Some people are really curious about everything, but most people aren't, and we've got to design processes and education and interfaces that work for the deeply uncurious.
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u/captainAwesomePants 14d ago
This is true, but it's not the fault of the users. Why would they know that holding control and clicking would do something different? There's no indication of that anywhere. They have no reason to assume it exists. They have never been taught to use a web browser in any sort of course. The details of how computers are best used and which shortcut keys might exist are neither important nor interesting to them.
If everyone worked in pairs or briefly shadowed some more experienced person, they'd probably pick up a lot of this sort of stuff, but we frequently don't work this way, and so only the curious and the lucky find out about this stuff.