>>> Obviously you haven't used many mainframe systems. A vast majority use tab to move from field to field and reserve Enter to mean
> "I'm done with this screen". j<<
>
>Correct. I guess you learn something new every day. I suppose I will perform a tactical retreat to the claim that my own DOS experience leaves me prejudiced against the use of the TAB key. I think the ENTER key is a closer and more intuitive analog to its use on the typewriter. It is on the home row and does not require any "reaching" with the pinkie.
>
>Not that anyone is listening to us, most likely <s>.

Last time I complained about this (and I did, several times), I got the answer I shouldn't worry, the users have already got used to "data tabby" instead of "data entry".

But then, I'm amazed that there's only one Tab key, and it's to the far left, while there are two Enter keys. One would expect the Tab to be more frequently used (once per field) than Enter (once per form), and therefore a far better candidate to exist in two places.

And yes, I've worked on a PDP and on a VAX (using Cobol, Basic and script languages) and talked with few guys who worked on Honeywell (aka Hanibal) and NCR mainframes, and I've never heard of Tab being used to leave the field until I saw it could be used in a Browse. In fact, the operators on mainframes spent most of their data-Entry time typing single-handed. Just numbers and Enter, and left hand on the papers.

BTW, who wrote the famous SF story "Press TAB"... or was it "Press Enter"?