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As a counterpoint, at least on a Mac, when I’m using the keyboard I can keep my hands near the home row. I can fire up a text editor or IDE and write a bunch of

As a counterpoint, at least on a Mac, when I’m using the keyboard I can keep my hands near the home row. I can fire up a text editor or IDE and write a bunch of code without moving my hands too much. On Windows, I am constantly moving my right hand over to the INS/DEL/HOME/END/PGUP/PGDN block, because those keys are essential for really simple tasks like moving the cursor to the beginning of the line. And worse yet, I constantly miss the mark and move the cursor to some other part of the document, and have to find my way back again. I find it extremely frustrating. On a Mac, I can ctrl-a to move to the beginning of a line, ctrl-e to move to the end. Nearly anywhere. Losing that convenience is super frustrating.

awakeasleep 6y ago
That is one of the most frustrating aspects of Microsoft software (and websites) on MacOS- Microsoft blocks GNU Readline shortcuts and overwrites many of the more useful ones with the windows conventions. If anyone knows how to turn that 'feature' off and get headline back, I'd love to know
- saagarjha 6y ago
  I used this: https://kbroman.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/emacs-key-bindings-in-ms-word/ https://kbroman.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/emacs-key-bindings-...
dayvid 6y ago
This is one of the main reason I haven’t used Windows for years. AutoHotKey helps: https://www.autohotkey.com/ https://www.autohotkey.com/
alxlu 6y ago
I feel like most IDEs and Text editors I’ve used allow you to rebind keys to move the cursor across text. As someone who also doesn’t moving from the home row, I tend to use Vim for everything and it’s a lot more powerful and flexible than the rudimentary emacs shortcuts macOS provides. Additionally, you can configure Linux to handle system wide emacs shortcuts as well.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  How?
  - alxlu 6y ago
    If you're using gnome, it looks like there's a preset for it in gnome-tweak-tool in the keyboard settings. I use dwm without a DE, so I remap mine manually using xmodmap. I use caps lock as an additional modifier key so I can put these types of shortcuts under the same modifier so it doesn't conflict with control and rebound actual caps lock (which I rarely use) to shift + caps lock.
nottorp 6y ago
I could argue that having dedicated keys for navigation when you spend all your time in the IDE is a feature, not a problem. Most IDEs that work on Mac OS can and will use the home/end/etc keys if you plug in a real keyboard, with the notable exception of ... XCode.
- klodolph 6y ago
  > I could argue that having dedicated keys for navigation when you spend all your time in the IDE is a feature, not a problem. Are you going to make that argument? Or are you just going to say that you “could”? The problem with dedicated keys is that I make more errors and it causes more problems with RSI. Ctrl-a and Ctrl-e are easier and more accurate for touch typists, and put less strain on my hands.
  - nottorp 6y ago
    Dunno, I've been touch typing since forever and i actually prefer the dedicated keys. Bending my left hand to press ctrl+a looks like more stress to me than moving the right to home/end. In conclusion, it's basically what you're used to :) The one thing that baffles me is why Apple won't add the shortcuts for full keyboards into the OS by default. It's not like they're unaware of their existence.
- aasasd 6y ago
  You can map home and end system-wide on Mac. I don't remember the details offhand, so you'll have to search for the method, but it's done with just a config file. Of course, there are Qt apps, which in their faux-crossplatformity ignore what the system does for them, including these bindings.

awakeasleep 6y ago

That is one of the most frustrating aspects of Microsoft software (and websites) on MacOS- Microsoft blocks GNU Readline shortcuts and overwrites many of the more useful ones with the windows conventions. If anyone knows how to turn that 'feature' off and get headline back, I'd love to know

saagarjha 6y ago
I used this: https://kbroman.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/emacs-key-bindings-in-ms-word/ https://kbroman.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/emacs-key-bindings-...

dayvid 6y ago

This is one of the main reason I haven’t used Windows for years. AutoHotKey helps: https://www.autohotkey.com/ https://www.autohotkey.com/

alxlu 6y ago

I feel like most IDEs and Text editors I’ve used allow you to rebind keys to move the cursor across text. As someone who also doesn’t moving from the home row, I tend to use Vim for everything and it’s a lot more powerful and flexible than the rudimentary emacs shortcuts macOS provides. Additionally, you can configure Linux to handle system wide emacs shortcuts as well.

saagarjha 6y ago
How?
- alxlu 6y ago
  If you're using gnome, it looks like there's a preset for it in gnome-tweak-tool in the keyboard settings. I use dwm without a DE, so I remap mine manually using xmodmap. I use caps lock as an additional modifier key so I can put these types of shortcuts under the same modifier so it doesn't conflict with control and rebound actual caps lock (which I rarely use) to shift + caps lock.

nottorp 6y ago

I could argue that having dedicated keys for navigation when you spend all your time in the IDE is a feature, not a problem. Most IDEs that work on Mac OS can and will use the home/end/etc keys if you plug in a real keyboard, with the notable exception of ... XCode.

klodolph 6y ago
> I could argue that having dedicated keys for navigation when you spend all your time in the IDE is a feature, not a problem. Are you going to make that argument? Or are you just going to say that you “could”? The problem with dedicated keys is that I make more errors and it causes more problems with RSI. Ctrl-a and Ctrl-e are easier and more accurate for touch typists, and put less strain on my hands.
- nottorp 6y ago
  Dunno, I've been touch typing since forever and i actually prefer the dedicated keys. Bending my left hand to press ctrl+a looks like more stress to me than moving the right to home/end. In conclusion, it's basically what you're used to :) The one thing that baffles me is why Apple won't add the shortcuts for full keyboards into the OS by default. It's not like they're unaware of their existence.
aasasd 6y ago
You can map home and end system-wide on Mac. I don't remember the details offhand, so you'll have to search for the method, but it's done with just a config file. Of course, there are Qt apps, which in their faux-crossplatformity ignore what the system does for them, including these bindings.