Not sure why there aren’t built-in hot keys to apply formatting for headings, normal text, etc. Or at least some way to write a hotkey macro to do all the clicking needed to format.
There are some semi hot keys for scripters, but not for other types of writing.
Sure wish there were.
This is something we’re thinking about for the future. As you may have read elsewhere, this system will eventually become a more powerful stylesheet system—along the same lines (although not nearly as over-engineered and complicated to use) as programs like OpenOffice, where you can change your heading style once and the whole thing updates automatically. As a part of that overhaul (which is a long-term and massive project, to be clear, don’t expect it in the next update!) a better shortcut system is something we have considered. We totally agree that being able to hotkey styles or presets is important. We’ve been able to get away without on the Mac because the Mac itself has universal menu customisation features—but it’s more difficult with Windows, and that has in part been the impetus toward a better built-in system.
As an aside, some people have taken to co-opting the scripting system as a surrogate “style” system. So long as your formatting does not require any formatting not addressed within the ample settings available to you in the Script Settings panel, you may find that to be a good approach! In addition to just handling formatting for you, and giving your hotkeys, it also provides support for cascading from one style to another—similar to how traditional stylesheet-based word processors work, where if you hit enter off of a heading it goes to body text automatically.