5 ms·

Along the same lines: 1. How often do people use 'home' and 'end' keys ? I don't, but I know quite a lot who swear by them. Do they actually increase productiv

by screye 5y ago

Along the same lines: 1. How often do people use 'home' and 'end' keys ? I don't, but I know quite a lot who swear by them. Do they actually increase productivity ? 2. Should caps lock be removed as a large button in the most valuable real-estate-area on the keyboard ? I literally never use it. Even when typing long ALL-CAPS sequences. I just use 'shift' instead. 3. Do you use space bars with both hands ? I only use space with the right, and IMO, it could be shorter.

axiosgunnar 5y ago
I thought everyone remaps CAPS LOCK to ESCAPE?
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  The vast vast majority of people aren't remapping any keys at all.
- grzm 5y ago
  Mapping CAPS LOCK to CONTROL is another popular option. But I suspect when one takes into account the entire population of computer users, CAPS LOCK remains CAPS LOCK and likely largely unused.
  - 3dsynd 5y ago
    I use CAPS LOCK as language switch button.
    - allarm 5y ago
      I use ⌘-1/⌘-2 for English/Russian layouts. It's better than using a switch key because it's deterministic - you don't need to look at the layout indicator or whatnot.
WesleyLivesay 5y ago
As a 60% kB user I use caps as my fN and can’t say I miss it at all.
chaosmachine 5y ago
On my laptops (Windows and Mac) I remap right-ctrl/right-alt to home/end. Couldn't live without it, I use them hundreds of times a day to jump around code and the command line. Also very handy when combined with shift to select everything before/after your cursor.
rileytg 5y ago
1. I use cmd + arrow or alt + arrow ALL the time. to the point where i fumbled around on non macs.
Macha 5y ago
1. I use home/end a lot, both for text editing and jumping to the start/end of lists with keyboard navigation. 2. I've tried rebinding to escape but just got frustrated by inconsistency, so now I just leave it unused. 3. Thinking about it, I have two modes, "gaming" where my right hand is in the mouse and left on wasd, where I tend to use my left thumb for spacebar, and "working" where I have both hands on the keyboard and just use whichever is most free at that point.
RheingoldRiver 5y ago
1. I use home & end a lot! Actually, I've switched the bindings (in ahk) of Page Down & End. So my keyboard is Home-PageUp and then Page Down-End. The reason is that intuitively, I think Home should be to the left of End, and also Page Up should be above Page down. Having them at opposite corners accomplishes this, even if the bindings are...a little bit weird. However, I rarely use PageUp/Down. (I do on occasion, just not often.) I also use Ctrl+Home/end a lot to get to the start or end of a document or textarea or whatever, including coupled with shift followed by backspace. 2. Mine is rebound to Control and has been for over a decade, so yes but not actually, it should be Control. I would probably like the actual Control key to be an alternative modifier key because atm it's useless... 3. Just right hand.
magicalhippo 5y ago
> 1. How often do people use 'home' and 'end' keys ? I don't I'd say, what are you coding where you don't benefit from home and end? I use both a lot while coding, usually in conjunction with ctrl+left or ctrl+right for quickly positioning the cursor where I want it, or ctrl+home or ctrl+end to quickly go to the top or bottom respectively. > 3. Do you use space bars with both hands ? Yes, not often while programming, but often with other applications or games where I have right hand on the mouse.
- screye 5y ago
  > what are you coding where you don't benefit from home and end? The kind where my typing speed does not affect my output. Also, the type who doesn't use command line text editors. I work in ML and mostly use python. Very rarely do I need to be efficient in how I navigate my documents/code, because it is rarely the bottle neck. Lastly, all my laptops have both end/home positioned awkwardly, so I never found it quite ergonomic enough for my purposes.
  - magicalhippo 5y ago
    I guess I picked it up in the back command line era, though code editors haven't changed that much since Turbo Pascal. I use them just as much when writing Python as anything else. But yeah, laptop, I guess that explains it. I don't use home/end any where close to as much when on a laptop. Fortunately I seldom need to use them.
  - BrandoElFollito 5y ago
    This is also my case. I spend all my day on a computer (and then the evening for fun) but a lot is thinking. I always wanted to learn to touch type but never needed it so much that it would be worth to dedicate time for learning. I do code a lot but I am a poor dev so I spend time thinking how to do things out looking at the docs (despite coding for 30 years). It was even more obvious when doing my thesis (physics). 70% time thinking about code, 30 actually typing
- thraxil 5y ago
  > I'd say, what are you coding where you don't benefit from home and end? In emacs, it's just Ctrl+a and Ctrl+e to go to beginning of line and end of line respectively. Those don't involve taking my hands off the home row, so they're much faster than lifting a hand up to go hit Home or End.
3np 5y ago
Maybe you would also be interested in remapping a bit. 1. Almost never. ^$ and Ctrl+ae fill 90% of use-cases. My Home/End and PageUp/PageDown are on a secondary layer. 2. The button itself is useful, the CL function is useless. I remapped mine to be a layer modifier (e.g. hjkl become arrow keys, and the above) 3. Training myself off it atm. I have a split keyboard where left thumb is Space, right thumb is Enter. Layout and keyboard in my other reply [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27961382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27961382
1-more 5y ago
Home and End are available almost everywhere in macOS with Ctrl+a and Ctrl+e. When I use someone else's computer I inevitably end up typing A and E within about 2 minutes since I'm used to caps lock as control. So I guess every two minutes or so?
GnarfGnarf 5y ago
1. I use Home all the time, to get to the beginning of the line. 2. I removed the Caps Lock key from my "Das Keyboard". Kept hitting it by accident.
dhosek 5y ago
1. Never. It doesn't help that they're hidden behind fn-← and fn-→ on my laptop. Years of Emacs usage acclimated me to using ctrl-a/ctrl-e and on the handful of programs that don't support it (like Word), my first step is to make them new shortcuts for that app. 2. Yes, but what should go there? One of my first steps on a new Mac is to go to keyboard/modifier keys and disable caps lock. 3. Yes, although I'm noticing that I favor my left thumb for spacebar usage. I think it's wide because of the variety of ways people use it.
jjice 5y ago
I use home and end a ton, but I didn't until about a year ago. They're fantastic, and it's a bit faster than Esc + Shift-I/A in Vim, plus it works on everything (except on MacOS).
valbaca 5y ago
You might benefit from a Kinesis Freestyle Pro keyboard. The spacebar is split (the whole keyboard is actually) and all the buttons are completely configurable: remap and macros. If you don't use home and end keys, or the left-side spacebar (or any key!) you can bind them to whatever you want.
godot 5y ago
1. I've been using home/end extensively for decades. I had a Windows computer since early 90s and started learning to code on notepad so I never learned ctrl-a/e until later on, so I stuck with home/end. In modern days work laptops are alwasy Macs so in fact I've had to map home/end to work like it does on Windows (go to beginning and end of line). 2. Similarly since I now use a Mac more often than Windows, I just map Caps Lock to Esc. This has been particularly important due to the Esc key having been moved to the touchbar. I've gotten very used to reaching for the location of the Caps Lock key when I need to press Esc. 3. I do use space bars with both hands.
dempedempe 5y ago
Based on the wear on my spacebar, it looks like I only use my left thumb to hit space and now that I'm typing this I can clearly see that this is the case . Dear Apple, please reduce the size of the spacebar.

by screye 5y ago

axiosgunnar 5y ago

I thought everyone remaps CAPS LOCK to ESCAPE?

chrisseaton 5y ago
The vast vast majority of people aren't remapping any keys at all.
grzm 5y ago
Mapping CAPS LOCK to CONTROL is another popular option. But I suspect when one takes into account the entire population of computer users, CAPS LOCK remains CAPS LOCK and likely largely unused.
- 3dsynd 5y ago
  I use CAPS LOCK as language switch button.
  - allarm 5y ago
    I use ⌘-1/⌘-2 for English/Russian layouts. It's better than using a switch key because it's deterministic - you don't need to look at the layout indicator or whatnot.

WesleyLivesay 5y ago

As a 60% kB user I use caps as my fN and can’t say I miss it at all.

chaosmachine 5y ago

On my laptops (Windows and Mac) I remap right-ctrl/right-alt to home/end. Couldn't live without it, I use them hundreds of times a day to jump around code and the command line. Also very handy when combined with shift to select everything before/after your cursor.

rileytg 5y ago

1. I use cmd + arrow or alt + arrow ALL the time. to the point where i fumbled around on non macs.

Macha 5y ago

1. I use home/end a lot, both for text editing and jumping to the start/end of lists with keyboard navigation. 2. I've tried rebinding to escape but just got frustrated by inconsistency, so now I just leave it unused. 3. Thinking about it, I have two modes, "gaming" where my right hand is in the mouse and left on wasd, where I tend to use my left thumb for spacebar, and "working" where I have both hands on the keyboard and just use whichever is most free at that point.

RheingoldRiver 5y ago

1. I use home & end a lot! Actually, I've switched the bindings (in ahk) of Page Down & End. So my keyboard is Home-PageUp and then Page Down-End. The reason is that intuitively, I think Home should be to the left of End, and also Page Up should be above Page down. Having them at opposite corners accomplishes this, even if the bindings are...a little bit weird. However, I rarely use PageUp/Down. (I do on occasion, just not often.) I also use Ctrl+Home/end a lot to get to the start or end of a document or textarea or whatever, including coupled with shift followed by backspace. 2. Mine is rebound to Control and has been for over a decade, so yes but not actually, it should be Control. I would probably like the actual Control key to be an alternative modifier key because atm it's useless... 3. Just right hand.

magicalhippo 5y ago

> 1. How often do people use 'home' and 'end' keys ? I don't I'd say, what are you coding where you don't benefit from home and end? I use both a lot while coding, usually in conjunction with ctrl+left or ctrl+right for quickly positioning the cursor where I want it, or ctrl+home or ctrl+end to quickly go to the top or bottom respectively. > 3. Do you use space bars with both hands ? Yes, not often while programming, but often with other applications or games where I have right hand on the mouse.

screye 5y ago
> what are you coding where you don't benefit from home and end? The kind where my typing speed does not affect my output. Also, the type who doesn't use command line text editors. I work in ML and mostly use python. Very rarely do I need to be efficient in how I navigate my documents/code, because it is rarely the bottle neck. Lastly, all my laptops have both end/home positioned awkwardly, so I never found it quite ergonomic enough for my purposes.
- magicalhippo 5y ago
  I guess I picked it up in the back command line era, though code editors haven't changed that much since Turbo Pascal. I use them just as much when writing Python as anything else. But yeah, laptop, I guess that explains it. I don't use home/end any where close to as much when on a laptop. Fortunately I seldom need to use them.
- BrandoElFollito 5y ago
  This is also my case. I spend all my day on a computer (and then the evening for fun) but a lot is thinking. I always wanted to learn to touch type but never needed it so much that it would be worth to dedicate time for learning. I do code a lot but I am a poor dev so I spend time thinking how to do things out looking at the docs (despite coding for 30 years). It was even more obvious when doing my thesis (physics). 70% time thinking about code, 30 actually typing
thraxil 5y ago
> I'd say, what are you coding where you don't benefit from home and end? In emacs, it's just Ctrl+a and Ctrl+e to go to beginning of line and end of line respectively. Those don't involve taking my hands off the home row, so they're much faster than lifting a hand up to go hit Home or End.

3np 5y ago

Maybe you would also be interested in remapping a bit. 1. Almost never. ^$ and Ctrl+ae fill 90% of use-cases. My Home/End and PageUp/PageDown are on a secondary layer. 2. The button itself is useful, the CL function is useless. I remapped mine to be a layer modifier (e.g. hjkl become arrow keys, and the above) 3. Training myself off it atm. I have a split keyboard where left thumb is Space, right thumb is Enter. Layout and keyboard in my other reply [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27961382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27961382

1-more 5y ago

Home and End are available almost everywhere in macOS with Ctrl+a and Ctrl+e. When I use someone else's computer I inevitably end up typing A and E within about 2 minutes since I'm used to caps lock as control. So I guess every two minutes or so?

GnarfGnarf 5y ago

1. I use Home all the time, to get to the beginning of the line. 2. I removed the Caps Lock key from my "Das Keyboard". Kept hitting it by accident.

dhosek 5y ago

1. Never. It doesn't help that they're hidden behind fn-← and fn-→ on my laptop. Years of Emacs usage acclimated me to using ctrl-a/ctrl-e and on the handful of programs that don't support it (like Word), my first step is to make them new shortcuts for that app. 2. Yes, but what should go there? One of my first steps on a new Mac is to go to keyboard/modifier keys and disable caps lock. 3. Yes, although I'm noticing that I favor my left thumb for spacebar usage. I think it's wide because of the variety of ways people use it.

jjice 5y ago

I use home and end a ton, but I didn't until about a year ago. They're fantastic, and it's a bit faster than Esc + Shift-I/A in Vim, plus it works on everything (except on MacOS).

valbaca 5y ago

You might benefit from a Kinesis Freestyle Pro keyboard. The spacebar is split (the whole keyboard is actually) and all the buttons are completely configurable: remap and macros. If you don't use home and end keys, or the left-side spacebar (or any key!) you can bind them to whatever you want.

godot 5y ago

1. I've been using home/end extensively for decades. I had a Windows computer since early 90s and started learning to code on notepad so I never learned ctrl-a/e until later on, so I stuck with home/end. In modern days work laptops are alwasy Macs so in fact I've had to map home/end to work like it does on Windows (go to beginning and end of line). 2. Similarly since I now use a Mac more often than Windows, I just map Caps Lock to Esc. This has been particularly important due to the Esc key having been moved to the touchbar. I've gotten very used to reaching for the location of the Caps Lock key when I need to press Esc. 3. I do use space bars with both hands.

dempedempe 5y ago

Based on the wear on my spacebar, it looks like I only use my left thumb to hit space and now that I'm typing this I can clearly see that this is the case . Dear Apple, please reduce the size of the spacebar.