4 ms·

Or start remapping caps lock to escape, which is now possible in the keyboard preferences as of MacOS 10.12.1, which the leaked images are from.

by wffurr 10y ago

0mp 10y ago
Assuming that you've not remapped caps lock already to something else like control.
- chongli 10y ago
  I've remaped caps lock to control. I use vi and press caps-[ to achieve my escape to command mode.
  - weaksauce 10y ago
    why not something like jj or jk? inoremap jj <Esc> also, mapping the leader to spacebar is great mapleader=" " and finally nnoremap Q @@ map the Q key to replay the last macro you used... much nicer than using @r or @g or whatever every time you want to replay the macro.
    - duckfruit 10y ago
      I tried mapping jj to esc, but even after a few days I couldn't really get used to it. Always drove me crazy when it would switch modes when I just intended to type 'jj' as a variable name in loops. At least it got me to use more meaningful names! Your latter suggestions are brilliant, I'm going to steal them right away.
      - dmlittle 10y ago
        You could map it to both 'jk' and 'kj' and then you don't have to worry about the order of the keypress, just press both 'j' and 'k' together.
        duckfruit 10y ago
        I like that suggestion. Thank you!
      - weaksauce 10y ago
        If you like the space bar leader you might want to try spacevim or something like that. (I switched to spacemacs and I love it... Vim is a great style of editing but the plugins are bad and feel broken and half assed. Spacemacs fixes that by combing the best of vim with the best of Emacs. That feels dirty to type but it's true.)
      - WildUtah 10y ago
        Try mapping kj instead of jj. I use jj and jk often enough (quaternions, don't you know) but kj is a really obscure sequence.
- cauthon 10y ago
  You can have the best of both worlds with Karabiner. After remapping caps lock to Control, you can add a Karabiner setting to send Escape when you tap Left Control. Holding caps lock in combination with another key will still act as ctrl-<key>
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Fiahil 10y ago
Wait, what? That's amazing! I've been waiting for this feature forever!
- ethanbond 10y ago
  It's been available forever. You need two apps: Seil and Karabiner, both made by the same person. Check out this guide: http://brettterpstra.com/2012/12/08/a-useful-caps-lock-key/ http://brettterpstra.com/2012/12/08/a-useful-caps-lock-key/
  - dantiberian 10y ago
    Sadly neither of those work in macOS 10.12: https://github.com/tekezo/Seil/issues/68 https://github.com/tekezo/Seil/issues/68
    - pbardea 10y ago
      It works (kinda) with Karabiner Elements: http://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2016/remapping-caps-lock-key-escape-macos-sierra http://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2016/remapping-caps-lock-ke... -- Edit: but it's very nice to see this supported by default :)
vhost- 10y ago
I genuinely don't understand why there is still a caps lock key on most keyboards. Can someone fill me in on actual use cases of having this key still? I have been binding caps lock to escape for many many years.
- sejordan 10y ago
  The fact that you haven't had it enabled for years is probably why you can't understand its usefulness. It's just not part of your workflow because its not available. It does in fact provide a lot of value. As an example, entering uppercase alphanumeric codes is annoying without capslock (switching from holding shift for uppercase letters to remembering to let go of shift to enter a number really slows down entry).
  - vhost- 10y ago
    That's not really an example of why something in all caps is useful, though. The only time I've seen anyone using caps lock is in a call center where people think it's the proper way of entering data into a form (my opinion is it's totally not).
- simias 10y ago
  It's a political thing: if they replaced Caps Lock by Escape by default then emacs users would scream murder. If they replaced it with Control then vim users would probably start looting nearby stores. And thus, the status quo is maintained. But seriously, like with almost everything keyboard layout-related it's just there because people are used to it.
  - lygaret 10y ago
    One of my favorite things: map caps to escape on tap, and control when used as a modifier. I've got it set up that way on my linux machine and it's amazing. I'm sure you can do it on OS X with Karabiner or something.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
dwc 10y ago
But then I'd have to give up mapping caps lock to control.
legulere 10y ago
>which is now possible in the keyboard preferences as of MacOS 10.12.1, which the leaked images are from. And remapping it to backspace still isn't possible without additional software (Karabiner Elements) :/

Or start remapping caps lock to escape, which is now possible in the keyboard preferences as of MacOS 10.12.1, which the leaked images are from.

by wffurr 10y ago

Or start remapping caps lock to escape, which is now possible in the keyboard preferences as of MacOS 10.12.1, which the leaked images are from.

0mp 10y ago

Assuming that you've not remapped caps lock already to something else like control.

chongli 10y ago
I've remaped caps lock to control. I use vi and press caps-[ to achieve my escape to command mode.
- weaksauce 10y ago
  why not something like jj or jk? inoremap jj <Esc> also, mapping the leader to spacebar is great mapleader=" " and finally nnoremap Q @@ map the Q key to replay the last macro you used... much nicer than using @r or @g or whatever every time you want to replay the macro.
  - duckfruit 10y ago
    I tried mapping jj to esc, but even after a few days I couldn't really get used to it. Always drove me crazy when it would switch modes when I just intended to type 'jj' as a variable name in loops. At least it got me to use more meaningful names! Your latter suggestions are brilliant, I'm going to steal them right away.
    - dmlittle 10y ago
      You could map it to both 'jk' and 'kj' and then you don't have to worry about the order of the keypress, just press both 'j' and 'k' together.
      - duckfruit 10y ago
        I like that suggestion. Thank you!
    - weaksauce 10y ago
      If you like the space bar leader you might want to try spacevim or something like that. (I switched to spacemacs and I love it... Vim is a great style of editing but the plugins are bad and feel broken and half assed. Spacemacs fixes that by combing the best of vim with the best of Emacs. That feels dirty to type but it's true.)
    - WildUtah 10y ago
      Try mapping kj instead of jj. I use jj and jk often enough (quaternions, don't you know) but kj is a really obscure sequence.
cauthon 10y ago
You can have the best of both worlds with Karabiner. After remapping caps lock to Control, you can add a Karabiner setting to send Escape when you tap Left Control. Holding caps lock in combination with another key will still act as ctrl-<key>

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Fiahil 10y ago

Wait, what? That's amazing! I've been waiting for this feature forever!

ethanbond 10y ago
It's been available forever. You need two apps: Seil and Karabiner, both made by the same person. Check out this guide: http://brettterpstra.com/2012/12/08/a-useful-caps-lock-key/ http://brettterpstra.com/2012/12/08/a-useful-caps-lock-key/
- dantiberian 10y ago
  Sadly neither of those work in macOS 10.12: https://github.com/tekezo/Seil/issues/68 https://github.com/tekezo/Seil/issues/68
  - pbardea 10y ago
    It works (kinda) with Karabiner Elements: http://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2016/remapping-caps-lock-key-escape-macos-sierra http://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2016/remapping-caps-lock-ke... -- Edit: but it's very nice to see this supported by default :)

vhost- 10y ago

I genuinely don't understand why there is still a caps lock key on most keyboards. Can someone fill me in on actual use cases of having this key still? I have been binding caps lock to escape for many many years.

sejordan 10y ago
The fact that you haven't had it enabled for years is probably why you can't understand its usefulness. It's just not part of your workflow because its not available. It does in fact provide a lot of value. As an example, entering uppercase alphanumeric codes is annoying without capslock (switching from holding shift for uppercase letters to remembering to let go of shift to enter a number really slows down entry).
- vhost- 10y ago
  That's not really an example of why something in all caps is useful, though. The only time I've seen anyone using caps lock is in a call center where people think it's the proper way of entering data into a form (my opinion is it's totally not).
simias 10y ago
It's a political thing: if they replaced Caps Lock by Escape by default then emacs users would scream murder. If they replaced it with Control then vim users would probably start looting nearby stores. And thus, the status quo is maintained. But seriously, like with almost everything keyboard layout-related it's just there because people are used to it.
- lygaret 10y ago
  One of my favorite things: map caps to escape on tap, and control when used as a modifier. I've got it set up that way on my linux machine and it's amazing. I'm sure you can do it on OS X with Karabiner or something.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

dwc 10y ago

But then I'd have to give up mapping caps lock to control.

legulere 10y ago

>which is now possible in the keyboard preferences as of MacOS 10.12.1, which the leaked images are from. And remapping it to backspace still isn't possible without additional software (Karabiner Elements) :/