When I was redesigning Figma’s keyboard panel in 2018, I introduced a special first tab called Essential. It’s still there today, very similar to what it was back then:

The notion was for this panel to be a welcome committee for people who don’t use keyboard shortcuts at all, a nice onramp before the avalanche of all the other shortcuts. The panel tried to say “These are the best three shortcuts we have. You might find them useful, maybe rewarding, maybe fun. If we did our job well, they will make you feel awesome. Maybe you’ll get hooked on these, then the others.”

I didn’t invent this idea, although I do not remember where I stole it from. But I added – or, remixed – a few things. The panel was at the bottom so you could actually try these shortcuts when looking at them. There was also an animation that played whenever you pressed them, both feedback for you and light “gamification” so that perhaps you were more inclined to “complete” the entire the panel:

(Today, I’d steal this idea from Linear, too.)

Since then, it has always warmed my heart to see a version of “essential shortcuts” elsewhere. Here it is in Arc:

The first one teaches you that Arc’s “new tab” is a richer experience than you might expect, the next three are bona fide crowd (and motor memory) pleasers, and the last one is Arc’s unique invention.

(If I had one design note, it would be that the last two shortcuts feel kind of complicated – anything with two modifier keys starts getting tricky. I also believe ⌃⇧= could be presented as ⌃⇧+ for a better mnemonic.)

And, I also just spotted a similar thing in a new terminal app called Rex:

Both Arc’s and Rex’s panels are better than Figma’s in the sense that they show the shortcuts as part of first-run onboarding, without you having to even ask.

Needless to say, I like this “essential keyboard shortcuts” pattern a lot. Let me know if you see it elsewhere!