Is there a keyboard shortcut for “follow observation”? I saw there was an old feature request that, in part, asked for such a shortcut, but I don’t know if it has been implemented.
I don’t know if there is or not, but you can create one using this browser extension:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/official-release-of-the-inaturalist-metadata-tool-by-megachile/79300
It also allows you to create buttons/shortcuts for many other functions, and apply them in “bulk” when needed. It works very well and has completely changed my identification workflow (for the better).
Thank you for bringing this up. Afaik, there is no keyboard shortcut for “follow observation”. Like you, I’ve wished for this many times. The current menu-driven approach is clumsy. In the Identify web app, there’s a bug (intended as a feature, I suppose) that requires an extra click to close the menu (at least on the Chrome browser). At most one click should be required to follow an observation. A keyboard shortcut (no clicks) would be even better.
As far as I know there is not only no keyboard shortcut to follow/unfollow an observation in Identify, but also no button for this option anywhere in the Identify interface.
Yes, it takes two clicks to follow, and one additional click to dismiss the menu. That’s three clicks plus the time and effort it takes to find the menu. Even if you know the menu is there, it takes time (and effort) to move the mouse pointer to the menu, and more time (and effort) to scroll the menu. All this before you can execute the required three clicks. Any way you quantify it, it is an expensive user operation for an often-needed function.
Is there a reason you need to close the menu before performing whichever next action? In Chrome, if the menu is open, I can hit → to go to the next observation and then a or i to start identifying it for example without manually closing the menu.
Thanks. I’ll look into the browser extension. I hope a quick keyboard shortcut will be added in the future.
This is another one of those things I’d rather not see implemented. Top right, two clicks to follow or unfollow, and if you’ve participated in the ID or comments you’re already following anyway.
I don’t see any reason to implement a keyboard shortcut to do that, and all it would really seem to do is to open up the opportunity for accidentally triggering it when it’s not wanted.
I have to regularly go through my favorites and unfavorite all the ones which I accidentally managed to favorite when I intended to annotate observations (s-f for female) but did not manage to hit both keys in the right sequence at the right pace.
I am not in favor of shortcuts which are active everywhere on the Identify interface instead of specific tabs, and I think at a minimum a two-character solution is preferable in most cases because it reduces the likelihood of accidental actions.