Hacking Gmail

16 Part I — Starting to Use Gmail

FIGURE3-1: The keyboard shortcuts checkbox

Save the settings, and you will find that the bottom of your Inbox screen has

changed to show some of the keyboard shortcut commands, as shown in Figure 3-2.

FIGURE3-2: The bottom of the Inbox with keyboard

shortcuts turned on

To see what keyboard shortcuts are about, press the c key now. Immediately, the

page changes to the Compose Message window, with your cursor in the To:

addressing area. Type an e-mail address, and then press Tab. Your cursor moves to

the Subject line. Type something, and hit Tab again, and you’re in the message

box. So far so good. Now a snag. Hit Tab again, and then Enter, and in Internet

Explorer your message is sent. In any other browser — Firefox, say — the final tab

puts your cursor up into the search box. Hitting Enter brings up a warning box

(shown in Figure 3-3) asking if you are willing to lose the newly typed, and

unsaved, message.

FIGURE3-3: You’re about to lose your work. Eek!

You most likely don’t want to do that.