"7. Cmd+Down to open the selected file! Why not Enter?!"
Consistency. Cmd+Up moves you up one level in the file system, Cmd+Down down one level.
Also, at least historically, there was a consistency in that a key stroke is a command if and only if it contains the command key.
The reason the Finder did not have copy-paste for years, and why it doesn't have cut till this day is that it is hard to implement. A proper cut would immediately delete the file from the file system, and a later paste would paste the file with the contents it had when the file was cut or copied (Excel is also notoriously bad at this; cut a range, close the file, and try pasting)
>The reason the Finder did not have copy-paste for years, and why it doesn't have cut till this day is that it is hard to implement. A proper cut would immediately delete the file from the file system, and a later paste would paste the file with the contents it had when the file was cut or copied (Excel is also notoriously bad at this; cut a range, close the file, and try pasting)
Huh? That's the strangest reasoning I've ever seen - all other file managers on platforms (including 3rd party file managers on OS X) do this well and delete original file only after the paste command is done. It works, is very useful and doesn't confuse users any more than the cut functionality does. So I'm not sure where your reasoning comes from.
I know that, but that is inconsistent and that inconsistency _is_ the reason the Finder resisted implementing it for years, and why it doesn't have cut-paste to this day, but does have move.
The Apple Human Interface guidelines also are fairly clear on the fact that the clipboard behaves like a real object. My 1987 edition says (page 81):
The Clipboard holds whatever is cut or copied from a document. Its contents stay intact when the user changes documents, opens a desk accessory, or leaves the application.
That certainly is not the way Excel behaves.
Also,on page 83, discussing the Cut menu item:
When the user chooses Cut, the application removes the current selection from the document and puts it in the Clipboard, replacing the Clipboard's previous contents.
[...]
If the user chooses Paste immediately after choosing Cut, the document is just as it was before the Cut.
1) A cut without a paste deletes stuff, except in file explorers and in ?some/most/all? cut actions in Excel.
2) A copy or cut puts stuff in the clipboard. It stays there until you copy or paste again, except in Excel, where entering new data between copy and paste clears the clipboard.
Thanks. Reminds me that various file explorers do not call it a cut, but a move. They just reuse the same keyboard shortcut as the cut found in text editors.
Consistency. Cmd+Up moves you up one level in the file system, Cmd+Down down one level.
Also, at least historically, there was a consistency in that a key stroke is a command if and only if it contains the command key.
The reason the Finder did not have copy-paste for years, and why it doesn't have cut till this day is that it is hard to implement. A proper cut would immediately delete the file from the file system, and a later paste would paste the file with the contents it had when the file was cut or copied (Excel is also notoriously bad at this; cut a range, close the file, and try pasting)