Most of the keyboard shortcuts for a particular application are right next to the menu item. The command palette I’m talking about is clearly visible in the help menu: my theory is that people no longer browse the menus of a new application the way I would back in the NT 4.0 days.
The system-wide shortcuts are a bit less discoverable but, they’re there if you know where to look: either search “keyboard shortcuts” in the os help system or go to system preferences > keyboard > shortcuts.
Thanks for this, I'll be sure to check out the keyboard preferences next time. I was referring to the "command-shift-/" key combo you mentioned when asking how to discover things in Mac OS, since it really feels that power-user functionality is hidden.
I'm not exactly a Windows fan, but (generally speaking) in a standard windowed program, just hitting alt focuses the menu. Windows is almost entirely navigable by keyboard by default, without a mouse. It's much more discoverable and efficient.... although that's been tanking since Win 95 :)
That command-shift-/ shortcut is listed in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.
Also, if I use the Finder help menu to search "keyboard shortcuts", it gives me a local help article "Use macOS keyboard shortcuts". This article talks about a bunch of ways to find keyboard shortcuts and also links to this knowledge base article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236 (This is actually a sort of step backwards, from when I did exactly this around '07: at that point, the Mac Help system actually listed a bunch of handy keyboard shortcuts and didn't rely on online resources for them).
Perhaps I'm biased, but I find navigating application menus on MacOS infinitely easier due to the fact that it's location is constant and dictated by Apple. On Windows (or even Linux) I have to go searching for the menu items for each new application I'm using, and some feature (like quitting) seems to often be purposefully hidden away. Infuriating if you ask me.
The system-wide shortcuts are a bit less discoverable but, they’re there if you know where to look: either search “keyboard shortcuts” in the os help system or go to system preferences > keyboard > shortcuts.