To begin with, one should have a firm understanding of the HOME and END keys located on the right side of the keyboard between the numberic keypad and the common alphanumeric keyboard, just above the arrow keys. The HOME key takes the cursor or point of focus to the beginning of a line, the END does just the opposite, the end of a line. When surfing the internet, the HOME and END keys take you to the beginning and end of the document, that is because a web page is not editable but is browsable.

     Click in the box below and use the HOME and END keys to move from the beginning of the line to the end of the line.



Before proceding, click in the box above, if your cursor is at the beginning of the line, hit the END key, if in the middle, hit the END key, make sure your cursor is at the end of the line.
Hold down the SHIFT key and hit the HOME key. You just highlighted the entire line of text. That was much faster than a mouse drag, wasn't it. Now, hit the END key again, now hold down the SHIFT key and use the left arrow key to move the cursor, see how the SHIFT key is used to select or highlight text. If you work with text often, this is an invaluable shortcut.

     The next concept is the keyboard shortcut to cut, copy, and paste text with the keyboard. In the box below, click in and either go HOME or to the END of the text with the coresponding keys. Now, highlight the text by holding down the SHIFT key and hitting HOME if at the end of the line, or END if at the begining of the line. With the text highlighted, keep holding the SHIFT key and hit the DELETE key (to the left of the END key).



     Now, click in the box below if it does not already have the cursor. Hold the SHIFT key in and hit the INSERT key (to the left of the HOME key). You just cut and pasted text with the keyboard.

Now that you have learned the concept, highlight and cut the text from box 1 and paste the text into box 2 using only the keyboard.




     This is how I would do it: click in the box anywhere, hit the END key. Hold down the SHIFT key and hit the HOME key. While still holding the SHIFT key, I move my fingers over and hit the DELETE key. Next, hit the TAB key, hold the SHIFT key and hit INSERT. Finished.

Editing many text documents, this can improve my efficiency by around 70 percent. That is how I format this web-page when working with the source code. It takes me only seconds what used to take me minutes using the keyboard AND mouse.

     You should open a text file in Microsoft Notepad and experiment with this concept. You will never use it efficiently unless you practice for a short period. Try combining the ARROW keys with the SHIFT key to select only certain parts of text instead an entire line. Use the UP ARROW key to select multiple lines of text, SHIFT+DELETE, move w/arrow to desired inserition point and SHIFT+INSERT. You can move paragraphs this way in less than one second. That operation may take up to 8 seconds with the mouse and keyboard movements.

     Have you ever tried to right-click and paste a password into a password field? It will not allow you. But, you can still SHIFT+INSERT a password into a password field. That is something you cannot do without even knowing this shortcut! I cannot even imagine how far behind this helpdesk would be if I didn't use this concept; this concept is one of the major steps in allowing me to document features such as these in a timely manner. Take the text boxes above, while duplicating multiple boxes of the same makeup, I simply used keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste each additional box.

You can use the textarea below to practice paragraph cutting and pasting with the ARROW keys.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. The TET offensive during the vietnam war was an attack by the North Vietnam soldiers on many major South Vietnamese cities during the Vietnamese holiday known as TET. That would be similiar in shock if the North attacked many Southern cities on Christmas or Easter during the Civil War. This caught many unprepared. Thus it is known as the TET offensive. Due to much urban war experience gained during WWII, the US ARMY dealt well with the urban warefare and quickly re-seized the areas. Actually, I used Christmas as an example for the modern reader. During the Civil war and that time, Christmas, just as in all cultures, was not as widely "celebrated" as it is today. The Americans created Santa Claus and the celebration and money spending spree that it is today. Other Christian countries and communities liked the idea and thus was born one of the most popular holidays in the Modern world.