say "a" when you mean "a" and "A" when you mean "A"

[jidanni]

You have a big problem.

All thought the documentation you refer to
e.g.,
D as Shift+D.

That is fine. Except then what does D mean?
Well it means d.

100% of first time users will try typing "A" when reading
https://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/Help/Action/Draw
and wonder why something doesn't work,
when in fact they should type "a".

So please just say "a" when you mean "a" and "A" when you mean "A".
Thank you. Same problem on
​http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM/Basic_editing

In fact just never say Shift again. Just say D.

Only when you mention CTRL is there still a need.
Then you can say CTRL+d to be perfect.

[stoecker]

All keyboards I know have upper case letters on them. So <CTRL+A> even is correct looking at them, not <CTRL+a>. For uppercase it is <SHIFT+A>, not <A>. That's a common notation for all software packages, we wont introduce a new description style which nobody will understand.

[jidanni]

Let's just hope that nobody one day will use a CELLPHONE keyboard.

[stoecker]

It still is a description of key presses, not of logical functions. <SHIFT>+<A> means pressing two keys, not using an uppercase A. That's a difference, which probably matters not often, but it exists.

[jidanni]

All I know is if users out of the blue see

Please press [A]

vs.

Please press [a]

statistically they will be more likely to press...

​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Nielsen_(usability_consultant%29 would surely agree.

[stoecker]

Maybe you should ask an usability expert and not a consultant. He will tell you, that following standards is better than inventing your own wheels again all the time, as users follow existing patterns. Try tools like gimp or KDE or others and you see they do what we do.

If the people you know aren't able to understand such a simple pattern maybe you should educate them that they are using a computer and a minimum of learning and understanding is required to do so.