This probably isn't specifically related to the shader editor only, but it's something that I've only just noticed.
It's probably also a straightforward answer.
I'm adding a screenshot to help explain my Q.
When Jonathan goes to add a node with Shift + A, the options provided each have an underscored letter. I figure this is a quick hotkey to open up a subsequent list of options. This function, however, doesn't appear to be present in the current version of Blender. Eg when I hit n for converter as seen in the screenshot, it instead opens up a list of things as if I were typing in something that begins with n.
Was the underscored shortcuts function changed to this 'type to search' function as Blender was updated? Can it be reverted or changed in any settings to be like this? Or is the new funtion just simply superior?
I'm only asking as while doing these courses, I'm also working on ways to speed up my workflow and flex my muscle memory. I have changed my preferences so that the spacebar action is set to search too.
Added note: Actually in saying all this, I know preferences are personal preferences, but is there a guide online that perhaps might have a list of preferences/changes/settings etc that are commonly tweaked because they are generally considered to be better? eg: enabling the Node Wrangler in the addons.
Cheers
As far as I know all those menus (shader, add menu etc) have been changed that you can now just open them and start typing what you want without hitting search first. Not sure if you can change it back, but I find it much faster now to just press shift+a and type first couple of letters of lets say color ramp and it pops right up and I can click it without going through the menus first. Once you're used to it you might find it very convenient. Same goes for the modifiers for example.
As for speeding up workflow. There are a few options and key maps I setup. The real power of pie menus is if you hold the key down. For example press and hold Ctrl+tab to get mode pie menu. Now you only have to move the mouse cursor towards the option when you hit the circle it will be highlighted. Let go of the key and it select that item. As you gain muscle memory the pie menu becomes faster. Now with that said. In preferences->keymap- there is an option for pie menu on drag. This makes pressing tilde(technically the grave accent) gives you fly/walk mode. Hold tilde down and move mouse give view pie menu. Tab toggles edit mode. Hold tab and drag get mode pie menu. Z toggles wireframe. Hold Z and drag get shading pie menu. If you choose to check extra shading pie menu items it will add 2 options to the shader pie menu. Toggle X-ray mode and toggle overlays. That's 15 hotkeys made into 3 and a mouse movement just by checking 2 boxes.
Then you can click key-binding button and in search field type grave. Then in key maps below under 3D view you have view and view navigation(the first one since there are 2). On view click the assign key box. It's the one to the left of the x button. Type d. On the first view navigation expand it. Where it says click. Click that and change it to double click. Then click in assign key box and press d. Why d? It's on the home row for typing. This is closer to other common hotkey. So that's d does nothing. D and drag gives view pie. Hold d and hold left mouse button gives you draw annotations. Hold d and right mouse button to erase annotations. Double pressing d to enter fly/walk mode.
In preferences under themes expand 3D Viewport and find face orientation front click the color and change the alpha to 0. This way you can leave face orientation checked under overlays drop-down. The blue won't show, but if you see red then you know you are looking at the back of the face. Then again you may not run into that problem as much as I do.
A few Hotkeys that I think are really useful, but aren't talked about much are. Shift+Ctrl+Tab to bring snapping options to your cursor. Shift+Tab to toggle snapping. Ctrl+Alt+q for quad view. I like to check lock on n-panel, view tab, quad view panel. Also when animating, in dopesheet and graph editors I like to check Show Sliders under view menu. You can also switch between dopesheet/timeline editor and graph editor by pressing ctrl+tab with mouse cursor over those editors. If you are dealing with a lot of objects that you need to organize into collection the Collections manager addon that comes with Blender is very helpful. Same with Material utilities addon.
Also in shader editor you can drag from an output or input to the background and it will give you a list of nodes that can be used for that output/input. Sometimes this is faster than using the shift+a.
Those underscored letter shortcuts were not very practical, I think; you'd have to look them up (every time?) in the submenu and by the time you'd found them, you could just as well just click on them (unless you have an extremely good memory!).
The one shortcut that hasn't been mentioned yet, is Q, for the quick favorites...this is extremely handy!
Furthermore, I wouldn't change too much in the Preferences to begin with, you'll find out what works best over time...everybody is different and what one person likes, might not be good for you! For example, the drag search that Dwayne mentioned is loved and used by many, but I absolutely hate it and it slows me down, because it activates every time I miss a connection...
