The whole ⌥ Option key vs. Alt thing...

[Russ Johnson]

(This comes largely from a PM I had with a member who exhorted me to post it on the forum.  Since the Questions board is the closest thing to a general discussion area, I figured this would be the place to post it.  On the off-chance this gets me in some kind of trouble, I'm not going to try to throw him under the proverbial bus by using his name.)

 

One of our members expressed some confusion over the ⌥ Option key.  Wasn't it just another name for Alt?  After all, both Alt and ⌥ are labeled on the physical key anyway.  Or did it mean Alt was the same as ⌥⇧ (Shift)?

 

From a purely technical standpoint, ⌥ and Alt do send the same key code back to the system.  One still shouldn't use the term “Alt” to refer to the ⌥ Option key, however, since the buttons perform completely different functions.

 

The best analogy might be if I (an American) went to London, and asked where to buy pants, wanting to pick up some new khakis.  Technically, “pants” always refers to a unit of clothing covering the body from the waist down.  But I would find no khakis, for in the UK, “pants” means “underwear.”

 

The actual, functional difference between ⌥ and Alt, then, is thus:  On Windows, Alt is used in Ctrl-Alt-Delete, Alt-tab, and Alt-F4.  It also navigates on-screen menus, which keeps it from being used for much else, unless it's accompanied by Ctrl (the most common modifier) or Shift.

 

On the Mac, ⌥ is used to enter international characters and special symbols.  And while Windows Ctrl-shortcuts generally map to ⌘ (Command) on the Mac, ⌥ is very often used by itself as a modifier, especially in programs where typing is just another sometimes used feature.  Additionally the ⌥ Option key has been used for decades on the Mac to tell the computer to resize a selection while keeping it centered.  This was even implemented in the windowing UI itself when the Resize from Any Edge feature was added.

 

As for the reason the Mac keyboard often has “Alt” labeled on the ⌥ Option key, it's because the ⌥ Option/Alt and Command/Windows keys are wired backwards between Windows and Mac machines.  This isn't meant to imply that the names are interchangeable; it's meant to rescue the poor sucker who loads Windows on his Apple just to find it crashes so badly even Ctrl-Cmd-Del doesn’t work.

 

Hope that helps!

 

[A_B_C]

Thanks for that, Russ …  :)

[bpedit]

Dang! That's been (somewhat!) annoying me as well. Mostly from the perspective that this key has been the Option key on the Macintosh platform since inception. Only in later years did they add the small print "alt". I don't know if this is for the benefit of emigres from Windows or for the sake of apps developed for both platforms but provide only one set of instructions.

 

It seems ironic that an app developed solely for the platform that uses Option would consistently use the term Alt instead.

 

Signed,

Mac User Since 1986

[Andy Somerfield]

Hello all,

 

Where do we say "Alt"? Other than in response to questions in the forum :)

 

As far as I know, we say "Option" or "⌥" in the app / help!

 

If this is not the case, it's a bug!

 

Andy.

[Russ Johnson]

@Andy: You’re right; this was a question that came up in the context of discussion on this forum.  I haven't found “Alt” used anywhere in AD's UI.

 

@ A_B_C, @bpedit: You're welcome.

[bpedit]

Ugh, gulp here too. I guess I've seen in in forum posts but doesn't seem endemic to the design. Sorry.

 

On the other hand, "Welcome to Mac, all you ex-windows users!".

[robertkeaghan]

@Russ Johnson that's a great explanation. I'm always discovering new stuff about Macs (tried the option-resize stuff in Sierra and it still does all sorts of neat stuff. I would add that the key is also used to access hidden/administrative preferences and utilities or different right-click menus.

 

What's annoying is that many current Macs have "alt" written on the keyboard and the "option" symbol, but do not have "option" written on it. This is the case on my Canadian multilingual keyboard (I do a lot of translation) and others I have seen.

 

I think many people read official and non-official forums and help files are left searching for the "option" key when following instructions—it's not intuitive.

[R C-R]

Just as an historic aside, there is nothing recent about Mac keyboards having "alt" printed on the key. I still have a Mac USB keyboard that came with a 1st generation 1998 iMac (back when they used CRT displays & the case had "Bondi Blue" translucent plastic parts). Its Option/Alt key has both items printed on it. The command key has the ⌘ symbol & the Apple logo printed on it but not the word "Command."

 

But even before that, the circa 1990 "Apple Extended Keyboard II" that used the now obsolete ADB interface had the same markings. (I have a couple of those too ... somewhere.)

[richard gold]

Okay, I have read this entire thread and still do not know what key on a Windows keyboard comports to an Option command.

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