What is Apple's logic behind this?

Question

I open a file (any kind will do) and make some changes. After I'm done, I hit CMD + W to close the file and the program correctly asks if I want to save my changes, close without saving, or cancel closing the file. The Save button is highlighted on the button and outside the button. If I hit the tab button, the outside highlight moves to the different buttons, but the button highlight remains on the Save option, so when I hit enter, it thinks I'm saying to Save.
Can anyone explain the logic behind this? I just don't get why Apple thinks this is an efficient/right way to do things. Thanks for any helpful answers.

Answer 1

Hi--
To actually select the button that has focus (the outside highlight), hit the space bar.
I suspect the rationale is something like this: they don't want to override the usual functionality of the buttons, but just offer a second or third way to select buttons.
Many, if not most apps, particularly in the situation you describe, already have pretty solid keyboard shortcuts for the three buttons. Of course, "enter" for "Save", "esc" for "Cancel", and "command"-"d" almost always works for "Don't Save". From observation, of those people who use keyboard shortcuts in dialogs, this is by far the most common way they do it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone use the tab key in dialog boxes (and I think it's off by default except for navigating between text boxes).
charlie