Keyboard shortcuts provide alternative ways of issuing commands, and in most cases, using a keyboard shortcut is faster than using the mouse. Using the mouse requires moving the hand from the keyboard to the mouse, moving the mouse to the target, clicking the target, and then moving the hand back to the keyboard. In contrast, when a user uses a keyboard shortcut, their hands need not leave the keyboard.
Examples of keyboard shortcuts:
Giving users control over how their computer looks and behaves allows users to tailor their environment to suit their preferences. This gives users a sense of being in charge that has an overall positive effect on their experience. It also allows users with special needs to adapt their computing environment to meet their needs. For example, a user with difficulty using their left hand can move important keyboard shortcuts to the right side of the keyboard. Some other examples are
HE9 - Good Feature
"OK" and "Apply" buttons have keyboard shortcuts.
Heuristic: Flexibility and efficiency of use: keyboard accelerators.
Interface aspect:
The buttons at the bottom of the screen labeled "OK" and "Apply" have keyboard accelerators, as shown in the picture below. The "OK" button is in focus, so pressing the ENTER key will activate that command. And, notice that the "Apply" button has a keyboard shortcut: typing ALT-A (as indicated by the underlined "A " in "A pply") will activate that command.
OK and Apply are the actions the users will most frequently want to take (assuming that Cancel is used only for undoing errors and changing courses of action - both of which should be relatively rare in comparison to other actions people choose and carry out.)
The OK button is the default, indicated in the standard way (with a bold outline). The Apply button can be activated by typing ALT-A, also indicated in the standard way: by underlining the "A " in "A pply". Both of these interaction techniques can be found in the Design Guide. (See the following sections in Chapter 8: "Characteristics of Secondary Windows/Default Buttons" and "Characteristics of Secondary Windows/Navigation in Secondary Windows" respectively.)
Users who are skilled at using Windows will be able to operate these two commands without their hands leaving the keyboard (which is faster than using the mouse - see "1.1.3 Basic Psychology Needed for Interface Design"). Since the commands are indicated visually in standard ways, skilled users will see these indications and know them for what they are - clues to the keyboard shortcuts.
I cannot think of any drawbacks to using the standard button labels and actions at this time.