Interactive Web App Makes Sure You Never Forget a Photoshop or Lightroom Shortcut

When it comes to getting the most out your post-processing applications, you really want to know your shortcuts. The problem is, there’s so many within each program that it’s impossible to remember them all.

Of course, you can purchase keyboard overlays to give you a visual queue, but many shortcuts change from version to version, making the $10–40 piece of silicon useless in a year, not to mention the fact that many shortcuts change when combined with the “shift” or “ctrl” keys.

Well forget all that, because a gentleman by the name of Waldo Bronchart is here to save the day with a brilliant web application called the ‘Application Shortcut Mapper.’ Meant to be “a visual shortcuts explorer for popular applications,” this resource is a goldmine for photographers, as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are two of the first three apps implemented into the resource.

As you can see from the GIF above, a keyboard layout is shown with the accompanying program’s shortcuts overlaid on the keys that are used to implement said shortcut. But it gets better, because this app, unlike those keyboard overlays, is interactive. If you press down the “shift” key or “ctrl” key, the keyboard will change, showing you what the shortcuts now do, making sure it’s color coordinated with the key.

Right now, the app can show you the setup for keyboards across the three main operating systems — Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux — while the three programs currently featured are Adobe Photoshop (v14.2), Adobe Lightroom (v5.4), and Blender (v2.70 & v2.68). Also included within the web app is the ability to choose what module you’re in within a program, since the shortcuts will be different if you’re in the “Develop” module of Lightroom as opposed to the “Print” module.

The entire project is Open Source and available on GitHub, making sure that plenty of people can contribute to/update it as time goes on. But enough talk, head on over to the Application Shortcut Mapper and give it a shot for yourself. And if you’re a fan of it and you’re feeling particularly generous, keep in mind that Bronchart allows for donations via Bitcoin.