11 ms·

Moving the Ctrl Key

92 points by susam 4y ago

b5n 4y ago
I have a fairly extensive emacs config, and for the most part I am still using the default keybinds. I find the readline bindings to be ergonomic and easy to use. Assuming average case, most of the complaints in this thread can be solved by using the side of the palm (top of fifth metacarpal) to engage C. Requires no remaps, doesn't take long to get used to, is totally comfortable, and leaves you on the home row.
andreareina 4y ago
I use the heel of my hand to hit ctrl. Unfortunately that only really works with discrete, non low profile keyboards. I’ve thought on and off about adopting an ergodox style keyboard that puts the modifier keys in easy reach.
- lou1306 4y ago
  I bend my pinky onto the palm of my hand and hit the Ctrl (or Shift) key with its 3rd knuckle. Sometimes I stop and think about how deranged that is, but it seems to work!
  - tom_ 4y ago
    I do this too, and have done for years. Doesn't seem to cause a problem! (I'd have to twist my wrist a bit to use caps lock as a control key, so perhaps my hands are just an odd shape. But i do like having symmetrical meta keys anyway, as i can perform the same motions with both hands.)
abudabi123 4y ago
Would love to know the name of the Lenovo genius who put the light indicator on the CapsLk key I use for ctrl that I can't see because my left hand blocks it when I want to see the capslock status. Microsoft Zune grade design thinking.
pzone 4y ago
Ctrl2cap is always one of the first things I install on a new machine!
- nverno 4y ago
  CapsLock being so useless, but conveniently placed turns out to be a feature. I used to bind it to ctrl, but now use it as the root key for all my personal keymaps (remapping it to F2).
- wnolens 4y ago
  Same. Caps lock is such a dumb key, I don't even rebind it. So I have 3 CTRLs.
  - rgoulter 4y ago
    > Caps lock is such a dumb key It's convenient to have a mode for typing in caps for stuff like "MAX_NUM_WORKERS". -- Especially if you're using Shift on the opposite hand from the letters you're typing, rather than just stretching to hold down shift the entire time. But, the standard keyboard design isn't a very practical one. -- I think Caps Lock is better placed behind a Fn key, in the same way that "brightness up/down" is behind a Fn key on most laptops.
    - wnolens 4y ago
      If I wanted to be clever, I'd use software to detect a quick double-tap of shift to be caps lock. Nowadays I have convenient access to it via a mod-key on a programmable keyboard, but still don't use it. Holding shift seems to feel totally fine for my hand geometry, it's the extra distance to CTRL for my pinky (without shifting my forearm down) that gives me wrist pain.
      - rgoulter 4y ago
        With a programmable keyboard & a desire to avoid using the pinky finger with Ctrl, I'd suggest taking a look at home-row modifiers
ledauphin 4y ago
I moved Ctrl to my left thumb, on the inside of the keyboard, about ten years ago. It's still possible to hurt your thumb from overuse, but it's a far stronger finger than the pinky, and no stretching is involved.
- prash_ant 4y ago
  Are you saying you moved it to the traditional left-Alt key? That makes the key on the left of the spacebar as Ctrl and the key on the right of the spacebar as Alt. This is much better, in my opinion, than using the pinky on the Capslock.
  - ledauphin 4y ago
    yep!
psychphysic 4y ago
I have foot pedal ctrl and alt keys. One set at home, one at the office. Some guitar pedals wired as momentary switches wired to a teensy. It's been using it for so long I forget they are there. I haven't even checked on the teensy since I can remember. I instinctive tape my feet even if I'm working away from my desk. If I'm zoned in I can even stamp my foot as though the pedal has become unresponsive... I don't use Emacs as much as I used to but that's why I built them. The very first version I had predate the current setup and was a button on the underside of my desk that plugged into my keyboard with an audio jack and jury rigged internally to ctrl (didn't have alt for some reason). Thats got to be like 25 years ago now. It was so inconvenient as pushing my knee up was hard work (I was convinced this would stop me getting a DVT from long desk hours... But only in my right leg I guess?) esp as I got a new desk that had more clearance, if I moved the keyboard it might unplug or pull the button off the desk. And finally once I got a new keyboard the wire would trigger the button and I couldn't think why so I ditched it. What a blast from the past!
- s4i 4y ago
  What software do you use to make this work? What OS?
  - psychphysic 4y ago
    On Windows it just works \tm. The teensy using the keyboard library just holds ctrl or alt for the duration. Linux is more finiticky but xkb lets you do the same (Linux or x or whatever seems to track which keyboard is which and doesn't mix inputs). No idea bout Mac.
lizknope 4y ago
4 years of college on Sun workstation keyboards and then another 4 years in the late 90's at work and my hand and brain are hardwired to expect control being where caps lock is on traditional PC keyboards. In vi/vim I never hit the escape key, because the old terminals I used in high school didn't have an escape key or arrow keys. ctrl and left curly bracket is escape and h, j, k, l are to move the cursor. The muscle memory is too strong to change after 30+ years so change the keyboard mappings instead!
- petepete 4y ago
  This is the main reason I use a HHKB. I'd support any other keyboard makers who put the CTRL in the right place too.
wrs 4y ago
Tip for vi users on Mac: get Karabiner-Elements and use the “complex modifier” that makes the Caps Lock key into ESC when you just press it, but Control when you use it with another key.
- ashton314 4y ago
  This is the best piece of advice there is. I use Emacs with vim bindings. I also have a Moonlander and I absolutely love it. I've got my QMK set up so that the key just below my left thumb (I press space with my right hand, so left is best for this—you might switch it depending on how you hit the space bar) is ESC on tap and Control on hold. This is the single-biggest improvement to ergonomics from a software side. Spend the time to figure out how to get this done, and then get used to it. Your hands will thank you until you breath your last breath.
  - keybored 4y ago
    Massive overstatement but okay. Hitting the escape key isn’t that much of a chore.
- patrec 4y ago
  Indeed. And you can do the same thing with AutoHotKey on Windows and xcape or interception-tools on linux. Interception-tools has the big advantage that it doesn't just work under X (but also the console and wayland).
  - spapas82 4y ago
    For windows i recommend uncap https://github.com/susam/uncap https://github.com/susam/uncap
    - patrec 4y ago
      Does this allow overloading capslocks to both control (as modifier) and esc (when pressed in isolation)?
ListenLinda 4y ago
I _believe_ remapping ctrl breaks ctrl+shift+f in VS Code. Not 100% sure.
- bananadonkey 4y ago
  I think you are referring to this? From the wiki at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Keybinding-Issues https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Keybinding-Issues: Are you customizing keyboard mappings via setxkbmap or equivalents? symptoms: customizations done via setxkbmap or equivalents have no effect in VS Code. solution: use "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" in your settings and restart VS Code.
mandw 4y ago
Yes, it's a good move for people using control a lot. I am using evil mode in emacs so I have the escape in the same place. I also use homerow mods which i find really great. With the homerow mod, the homerow keyas 'asdf' and 'jkl;' are mirrors of 'gui, alt, ctrl, shift' So the a key is an a except of you hold it down and press another key, in that case it is the gui key. It works really well in emacs as well as on my tiling window manager where there is a lot of use of the combinations. (I have no idea why my font appears different)
BeetleB 4y ago
I've had a lot of ergo issues from typing, and I'm always disappointed that Emacs users focus on remapping the Caps Lock key while ignoring the advice most ergonomists give: There are two Alt and Ctrl keys on the keyboard. Use both, and use both halves of the keyboard If you're doing a combination like Ctrl F, use the right control key. If you're doing Ctrl-l, use the left control key. In general, when using these modifier keys, make sure both your hands are being utilized. Also, there's simply no rule that says one must use the pinky for the Ctrl key. Use some other finger. In fact, insisting on using the pinky is a sign you are also insisting on using one hand to enter the key combination.
- convolvatron 4y ago
  or, if you're really that much a dedicated emacs user, get a split keyboard with modifiers on the thumb. as you suggest, you can also double-map modifiers, so that C-M-x is just two thumbs and a finger. you can go really fast this way.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    That's fine advice, but I will note that twice in my career I've had bad RSI issues due to overuse of my thumb. I learned the wisdom of trying to utilize as many fingers as possible. Perhaps it slows me down a little, but my performance is not correlated with typing speed.
  - nine_k 4y ago
    Modifiers on the home row are easier. Thumbs are good for layer switching, keys like Tab and Enter, etc, which are important but not very-very frequent.
- pwiecz 4y ago
  Unfortunately both Alts are not equivalent. The right one, the AltGr is uaef in many languages to type letters with diacritics. E.g. in Polish AltGr+Z is Ż, while AltGr+X is Ź. Still using both Ctrls itself helps a lot, and one may have a right Windows to remap as Meta.
phoebefactorial 4y ago
Back in college I saw that all of my professors were suffering from varying degrees of RSI, and resolved not to succumb myself. My final changes were, in order of effectiveness: - Put Ctrl on Alt, next to the space bar. Use thumb to press. This saves a huge amount of pinky and wrist contorting. - Put Alt on Win, next to the now Ctrl key. Also use thumb to press. With both of these my pinkies have way less to do. - Put Backspace on CapsLock. Though this does use a pinky finger, it is much easier to type than the normal backspace location requiring a hand full stretch. - Use the Dvorak layout. Much less finger travel since more is on the home row compared to Qwerty. - In Vim, use Ctrl+C instead of Escape to leave insert mode. Though not exactly identical, Ctrl+C is almost the same as escape and especially with the above changes is much easier to type than hitting the actual escape key. I have been typing for 15 years since and I have zero hand pain.
- throwaway0x7E6 4y ago
  just type with your index fingers everything else is a meme
- bjoli 4y ago
  I have had this idea as well but for me there is too much space wasted by the space bar. I feel I have to get the thumb to far in under my hand for that setup to be comfortable. I would like a 3-4 unit space-bar.
- ris58h 4y ago
  When I switched to MacOS I was amazed how convinient is the mac layout: cmd and option under thumbs. I do the same for Linux immediately: win/alt/ctrl instead of ctrl/win/alt. And esc on caps of course.
Wistar 4y ago
For me, the key I’d move is Caps Lock. I inadvertently hit that dang thing dozens of times a day.
QIYGT 4y ago
Strongly recommend using a keyboard with modifiers under your thumbs like Kinesis Advantage.
- layer8 4y ago
  Not recommended fir everyone, I already struggle with thumb joint pain with a regular keyboard layout.
Waterluvian 4y ago
Does anyone else experience the sensation of feeling like you’re six years old again, when working on someone else’s PC because you’ve so heavily customized yours?
- arh68 4y ago
  Or you're hunt-and-pecking at 30wpm on your coworker's QWERTY keys, and they start to look at you funny as you stammer something about "I'm not used to ..." and "... Dvorak"? Yeah.
  - Waterluvian 4y ago
    I was once helping troubleshoot and issue and I politely said, “can I drive?” “You can try” he said with a smile. His keyboard keys were all blank and he was in Dvorak. “…maybe it’s best that you drive.”
amelius 4y ago
I never use Caps Lock. I'd move it to the area of the Pause/Break/Scroll-lock/SysReq keys if I were a keyboard designer (I wouldn't mind if these keys were removed even). However, give me some easily accessible Copy/Paste and Undo/Redo buttons.
- ttyprintk 4y ago
  The Sun type 6 usb keyboards have a cluster of keys with those. Sorrowfully, it’s keymap is probably not universally supported.
User23 4y ago
Modifier keys all belong under the thumb. Keyboard designers absolutely need to read John Napier’s masterpiece Hands and design to account for this anatomical reality. The thumb works in opposition with the fingers.
TacticalCoder 4y ago
On many keyboard there's only one Ctrl key and it's at the left and hence it makes Emacs's "C-x" really painful. You're supposed to hit 'x' on a QWERTY keyboard with your ring finger. One trick, not mentioned in the linked doc, is to move C-x to something else using Emacs' very special "ctl-x-map". Check one of the mapping using "Ctrl + one finger of the right hand" which is a functionality you don't use much and map that to ctl-x-map.
rgoulter 4y ago
The most comfortable for typing is "home row modifiers". With tap-hold functionality, the key behaves the same when tapped, but as the modifier key when held. So, you can put Shift/Ctrl/Gui/Alt as tap-hold underneath asdf and jkl; on the home row. This can be achieved on a fancy keyboard, or with cross-platform software like kmonad.
- nine_k 4y ago
  I wish more people knew about KMonad. It allows you to have many advantages of "fancy keyboards" on regular keyboards, most importantly, on laptops.
- lawn 4y ago
  I've been experimenting with home-row combos instead. So you press multiple keys at once, enabling the use of one-shot mods so you don't have to hold keys down for modifiers and can instead tap them A one-shot shift under one thumb is also amazing, if you have such a keyboard.
shashurup 4y ago
The answer to the "Ctrl question" is quite obvious - just take a look at the space cadet keyboard. Just swap Ctrl and Alt so thumbs could be used for a busy Ctrl. This also dramatically improve the experience in other "Ctrl heavy" applications. P.S. I also use Caps Lock for switching layouts and never been happier.
- ris58h 4y ago
  This is the way. I've remapped ctrl/win/alt to win/alt/ctrl and esc to capslock.
tareqak 4y ago
Tangentially related, the PowerToys Keyboard manager allows for key remapping on Windows: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/keyboard-manager https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/keyboard...
chadlavi 4y ago
First thing I do on any computer is remap caps lock to be a Ctrl key
max182 4y ago
Remapping Control to Caps is my secret weapon. One feature I can't live without either on MacOS or Gnome is the Emacs keybindings for moving around text. Ctrl-A to move to the beginning of line, Ctrl-E to the end, ctrl-n for next line etc. I generally use emacs when I'm doing quick edits and don't want to open a GUI, or if I want to take notes. After I got used to the bindings for movement I realized I was able to do them globally. This pretty much allows me to have great keybindings (when Ctrl is remapped) on any editor or application I am using. If you don't already do this I highly recommend trying it for a week over the arrow keys. Just be careful. It may be hard to go back.
ulrikrasmussen 4y ago
I remap CapsLock to Esc and use that as my toggle key in god-mode: https://github.com/emacsorphanage/god-mode https://github.com/emacsorphanage/god-mode This makes the Ctrl sticky, thus emulating the modal behavior of vim, but using emacs bindings. It also has some clever escape sequences that let you input complex chords without ever having to press more than one button at a time. I have gotten so used to it that I have started looking into a way to make a solution that is global across my whole system (Linux). So far I can emulate some of the behaviour using something like kmonad (https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad) although some things like repeated keystrokes cannot easily be expressed using the configuration language and requires a more low-level approach.
bigpeopleareold 4y ago
I have done this for years, specifically because of using Emacs, and now get frustrated now when on a non-mapped keyboard. :) It works out good for CUA bindings for other applications also. However, since I am left-handed, the experience might be a little different for me, since I bias towards the left for all modification keys (that includes the Alt key.) The idea of having those keys comfortably near the thumb is interesting though, as some have mentioned, like having a trackpoint so close by when typing (I also remap the top buttons to favor me using my left hand more.)
Caitlynbranson 4y ago
[dead]
- bombolo 4y ago
  I own fingers and I can say it's not better at all. It's much more comfortable to not keep the pinky so curled so often.
- p_l 4y ago
  Personally found that simply using the other hand for modifiers, moving whole hand laterally without bending the wrist and using thumb to hit the modifier, works much better for me, and afaik that (using the opposite hand) was the original design that impacted Emacs modifiers (with mirrored bucky bits on Knight and Space Cadet keyboards). A bit of problem due to non-mirrored Alt/Meta (I unfortunately need that AltGr) and problem with laptops that often cut important keys on the right hand side, but reasonably good on full keyboard.
woolion 4y ago
An alternative approach is to have good shortcuts, Spacemacs being my favourite take on it. The idea is to have shorcuts like `<SPACE> f e d`. The shortcuts tend to be logically organized in levels (f for files, e for editor, d for dotfile, so this opens your emacs dotfile). No need to remap the keys and no issue with painful key combinations at all.
incompatible 4y ago
I'd feel a bit guilty about remapping somebody's Windows keyboard if I was using their machine for some reason, since even if I had my own user account, the key mapping solutions tend to be global. They'd end up mystified about why the caps lock wasn't working, and it would be basically impossible for them to fix.
virogenesis 4y ago
I am surprised there are not more people here that hit the CTRL key with the left part of the palm of their hand rather then twisting the pinky. I don't think I could even bend my pinky comfortably to do this action.
- orwin 4y ago
  I thought the reason why Ctrl was on the bottom left was to use your palm to press it. All my CS1.6 teammates used this. Learned in compsci classes it wasn't as ubiquitous as is first thought.
- omegabravo 4y ago
  I hit CTRL with my palm too. I often perform cut/copy/paste with CTRL+Insert,SHIFT+Delete,SHIFT+Insert which is fine on a full sized keyboard. It's why I can't buy so many keyboards that have "optimised" the layout.
- sph 4y ago
  I have a ZSA Moonlander split keyboard and for better Emacs ergonomics, I have Ctrl under my right thumb, and Alt under my left thumb. But twisting the palm to hit Ctrl always struck me as a terrible idea, maybe because I have large hands. Better remap Capslock.
djtango 4y ago
An aside, but I get sad when I see how much tension people have in their hands when they are typing. As a pianist this is the cardinal sin! Hand size and posture do vary a lot so looking for the right setup is important but learning to be ultra relaxed and effortless in your typing (and chording) is much more portable
bullen 4y ago
Or you get a HHKB and solve all your keyboard problems peramanently, personally I use the HHKB JP because I simply need the arrows. How fujitsu have not made a HHKB with american layout AND arrows is beyond me.
_odey 4y ago
OK, so I was thinking of editing that wiki page to add this command which I use on Gnome Wayland: dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/input-sources/xkb-options "['ctrl:swapcaps']" But I'm not sure where it fits; in the Gnome section, or the xkb section? NOTE: this overwrites the value, you should do a `read` first
- loa_in_ 4y ago
  I believe it goes into your .profile
throw-ru-938 4y ago
On all of my machines, Caps Lock has to get mapped to switching between keyboard layouts. Saves me so much time every day, not having to do the Alt+Shift dance dozens of times every hour. If only there were more non-US people making decisions in tech, we could have had a dedicated key for that, the way Japanese keyboards have a bunch of Japanese-specific keys, but alas.

92 points by susam 4y ago

b5n 4y ago

I have a fairly extensive emacs config, and for the most part I am still using the default keybinds. I find the readline bindings to be ergonomic and easy to use. Assuming average case, most of the complaints in this thread can be solved by using the side of the palm (top of fifth metacarpal) to engage C. Requires no remaps, doesn't take long to get used to, is totally comfortable, and leaves you on the home row.

andreareina 4y ago

I use the heel of my hand to hit ctrl. Unfortunately that only really works with discrete, non low profile keyboards. I’ve thought on and off about adopting an ergodox style keyboard that puts the modifier keys in easy reach.

lou1306 4y ago
I bend my pinky onto the palm of my hand and hit the Ctrl (or Shift) key with its 3rd knuckle. Sometimes I stop and think about how deranged that is, but it seems to work!
- tom_ 4y ago
  I do this too, and have done for years. Doesn't seem to cause a problem! (I'd have to twist my wrist a bit to use caps lock as a control key, so perhaps my hands are just an odd shape. But i do like having symmetrical meta keys anyway, as i can perform the same motions with both hands.)

abudabi123 4y ago

Would love to know the name of the Lenovo genius who put the light indicator on the CapsLk key I use for ctrl that I can't see because my left hand blocks it when I want to see the capslock status. Microsoft Zune grade design thinking.

pzone 4y ago

Ctrl2cap is always one of the first things I install on a new machine!

nverno 4y ago
CapsLock being so useless, but conveniently placed turns out to be a feature. I used to bind it to ctrl, but now use it as the root key for all my personal keymaps (remapping it to F2).
wnolens 4y ago
Same. Caps lock is such a dumb key, I don't even rebind it. So I have 3 CTRLs.
- rgoulter 4y ago
  > Caps lock is such a dumb key It's convenient to have a mode for typing in caps for stuff like "MAX_NUM_WORKERS". -- Especially if you're using Shift on the opposite hand from the letters you're typing, rather than just stretching to hold down shift the entire time. But, the standard keyboard design isn't a very practical one. -- I think Caps Lock is better placed behind a Fn key, in the same way that "brightness up/down" is behind a Fn key on most laptops.
  - wnolens 4y ago
    If I wanted to be clever, I'd use software to detect a quick double-tap of shift to be caps lock. Nowadays I have convenient access to it via a mod-key on a programmable keyboard, but still don't use it. Holding shift seems to feel totally fine for my hand geometry, it's the extra distance to CTRL for my pinky (without shifting my forearm down) that gives me wrist pain.
    - rgoulter 4y ago
      With a programmable keyboard & a desire to avoid using the pinky finger with Ctrl, I'd suggest taking a look at home-row modifiers

ledauphin 4y ago

I moved Ctrl to my left thumb, on the inside of the keyboard, about ten years ago. It's still possible to hurt your thumb from overuse, but it's a far stronger finger than the pinky, and no stretching is involved.

prash_ant 4y ago
Are you saying you moved it to the traditional left-Alt key? That makes the key on the left of the spacebar as Ctrl and the key on the right of the spacebar as Alt. This is much better, in my opinion, than using the pinky on the Capslock.
- ledauphin 4y ago
  yep!

psychphysic 4y ago

I have foot pedal ctrl and alt keys. One set at home, one at the office. Some guitar pedals wired as momentary switches wired to a teensy. It's been using it for so long I forget they are there. I haven't even checked on the teensy since I can remember. I instinctive tape my feet even if I'm working away from my desk. If I'm zoned in I can even stamp my foot as though the pedal has become unresponsive... I don't use Emacs as much as I used to but that's why I built them. The very first version I had predate the current setup and was a button on the underside of my desk that plugged into my keyboard with an audio jack and jury rigged internally to ctrl (didn't have alt for some reason). Thats got to be like 25 years ago now. It was so inconvenient as pushing my knee up was hard work (I was convinced this would stop me getting a DVT from long desk hours... But only in my right leg I guess?) esp as I got a new desk that had more clearance, if I moved the keyboard it might unplug or pull the button off the desk. And finally once I got a new keyboard the wire would trigger the button and I couldn't think why so I ditched it. What a blast from the past!

s4i 4y ago
What software do you use to make this work? What OS?
- psychphysic 4y ago
  On Windows it just works \tm. The teensy using the keyboard library just holds ctrl or alt for the duration. Linux is more finiticky but xkb lets you do the same (Linux or x or whatever seems to track which keyboard is which and doesn't mix inputs). No idea bout Mac.

lizknope 4y ago

4 years of college on Sun workstation keyboards and then another 4 years in the late 90's at work and my hand and brain are hardwired to expect control being where caps lock is on traditional PC keyboards. In vi/vim I never hit the escape key, because the old terminals I used in high school didn't have an escape key or arrow keys. ctrl and left curly bracket is escape and h, j, k, l are to move the cursor. The muscle memory is too strong to change after 30+ years so change the keyboard mappings instead!

petepete 4y ago
This is the main reason I use a HHKB. I'd support any other keyboard makers who put the CTRL in the right place too.

wrs 4y ago

Tip for vi users on Mac: get Karabiner-Elements and use the “complex modifier” that makes the Caps Lock key into ESC when you just press it, but Control when you use it with another key.

ashton314 4y ago
This is the best piece of advice there is. I use Emacs with vim bindings. I also have a Moonlander and I absolutely love it. I've got my QMK set up so that the key just below my left thumb (I press space with my right hand, so left is best for this—you might switch it depending on how you hit the space bar) is ESC on tap and Control on hold. This is the single-biggest improvement to ergonomics from a software side. Spend the time to figure out how to get this done, and then get used to it. Your hands will thank you until you breath your last breath.
- keybored 4y ago
  Massive overstatement but okay. Hitting the escape key isn’t that much of a chore.
patrec 4y ago
Indeed. And you can do the same thing with AutoHotKey on Windows and xcape or interception-tools on linux. Interception-tools has the big advantage that it doesn't just work under X (but also the console and wayland).
- spapas82 4y ago
  For windows i recommend uncap https://github.com/susam/uncap https://github.com/susam/uncap
  - patrec 4y ago
    Does this allow overloading capslocks to both control (as modifier) and esc (when pressed in isolation)?

ListenLinda 4y ago

I _believe_ remapping ctrl breaks ctrl+shift+f in VS Code. Not 100% sure.

bananadonkey 4y ago
I think you are referring to this? From the wiki at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Keybinding-Issues https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Keybinding-Issues: Are you customizing keyboard mappings via setxkbmap or equivalents? symptoms: customizations done via setxkbmap or equivalents have no effect in VS Code. solution: use "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" in your settings and restart VS Code.

mandw 4y ago

Yes, it's a good move for people using control a lot. I am using evil mode in emacs so I have the escape in the same place. I also use homerow mods which i find really great. With the homerow mod, the homerow keyas 'asdf' and 'jkl;' are mirrors of 'gui, alt, ctrl, shift' So the a key is an a except of you hold it down and press another key, in that case it is the gui key. It works really well in emacs as well as on my tiling window manager where there is a lot of use of the combinations. (I have no idea why my font appears different)

BeetleB 4y ago

I've had a lot of ergo issues from typing, and I'm always disappointed that Emacs users focus on remapping the Caps Lock key while ignoring the advice most ergonomists give: There are two Alt and Ctrl keys on the keyboard. Use both, and use both halves of the keyboard If you're doing a combination like Ctrl F, use the right control key. If you're doing Ctrl-l, use the left control key. In general, when using these modifier keys, make sure both your hands are being utilized. Also, there's simply no rule that says one must use the pinky for the Ctrl key. Use some other finger. In fact, insisting on using the pinky is a sign you are also insisting on using one hand to enter the key combination.

convolvatron 4y ago
or, if you're really that much a dedicated emacs user, get a split keyboard with modifiers on the thumb. as you suggest, you can also double-map modifiers, so that C-M-x is just two thumbs and a finger. you can go really fast this way.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  That's fine advice, but I will note that twice in my career I've had bad RSI issues due to overuse of my thumb. I learned the wisdom of trying to utilize as many fingers as possible. Perhaps it slows me down a little, but my performance is not correlated with typing speed.
- nine_k 4y ago
  Modifiers on the home row are easier. Thumbs are good for layer switching, keys like Tab and Enter, etc, which are important but not very-very frequent.
pwiecz 4y ago
Unfortunately both Alts are not equivalent. The right one, the AltGr is uaef in many languages to type letters with diacritics. E.g. in Polish AltGr+Z is Ż, while AltGr+X is Ź. Still using both Ctrls itself helps a lot, and one may have a right Windows to remap as Meta.

phoebefactorial 4y ago

Back in college I saw that all of my professors were suffering from varying degrees of RSI, and resolved not to succumb myself. My final changes were, in order of effectiveness: - Put Ctrl on Alt, next to the space bar. Use thumb to press. This saves a huge amount of pinky and wrist contorting. - Put Alt on Win, next to the now Ctrl key. Also use thumb to press. With both of these my pinkies have way less to do. - Put Backspace on CapsLock. Though this does use a pinky finger, it is much easier to type than the normal backspace location requiring a hand full stretch. - Use the Dvorak layout. Much less finger travel since more is on the home row compared to Qwerty. - In Vim, use Ctrl+C instead of Escape to leave insert mode. Though not exactly identical, Ctrl+C is almost the same as escape and especially with the above changes is much easier to type than hitting the actual escape key. I have been typing for 15 years since and I have zero hand pain.

throwaway0x7E6 4y ago
just type with your index fingers everything else is a meme
bjoli 4y ago
I have had this idea as well but for me there is too much space wasted by the space bar. I feel I have to get the thumb to far in under my hand for that setup to be comfortable. I would like a 3-4 unit space-bar.
ris58h 4y ago
When I switched to MacOS I was amazed how convinient is the mac layout: cmd and option under thumbs. I do the same for Linux immediately: win/alt/ctrl instead of ctrl/win/alt. And esc on caps of course.

Wistar 4y ago

For me, the key I’d move is Caps Lock. I inadvertently hit that dang thing dozens of times a day.

QIYGT 4y ago

Strongly recommend using a keyboard with modifiers under your thumbs like Kinesis Advantage.

layer8 4y ago
Not recommended fir everyone, I already struggle with thumb joint pain with a regular keyboard layout.

Waterluvian 4y ago

Does anyone else experience the sensation of feeling like you’re six years old again, when working on someone else’s PC because you’ve so heavily customized yours?

arh68 4y ago
Or you're hunt-and-pecking at 30wpm on your coworker's QWERTY keys, and they start to look at you funny as you stammer something about "I'm not used to ..." and "... Dvorak"? Yeah.
- Waterluvian 4y ago
  I was once helping troubleshoot and issue and I politely said, “can I drive?” “You can try” he said with a smile. His keyboard keys were all blank and he was in Dvorak. “…maybe it’s best that you drive.”

amelius 4y ago

I never use Caps Lock. I'd move it to the area of the Pause/Break/Scroll-lock/SysReq keys if I were a keyboard designer (I wouldn't mind if these keys were removed even). However, give me some easily accessible Copy/Paste and Undo/Redo buttons.

ttyprintk 4y ago
The Sun type 6 usb keyboards have a cluster of keys with those. Sorrowfully, it’s keymap is probably not universally supported.

User23 4y ago

Modifier keys all belong under the thumb. Keyboard designers absolutely need to read John Napier’s masterpiece Hands and design to account for this anatomical reality. The thumb works in opposition with the fingers.

TacticalCoder 4y ago

On many keyboard there's only one Ctrl key and it's at the left and hence it makes Emacs's "C-x" really painful. You're supposed to hit 'x' on a QWERTY keyboard with your ring finger. One trick, not mentioned in the linked doc, is to move C-x to something else using Emacs' very special "ctl-x-map". Check one of the mapping using "Ctrl + one finger of the right hand" which is a functionality you don't use much and map that to ctl-x-map.

rgoulter 4y ago

The most comfortable for typing is "home row modifiers". With tap-hold functionality, the key behaves the same when tapped, but as the modifier key when held. So, you can put Shift/Ctrl/Gui/Alt as tap-hold underneath asdf and jkl; on the home row. This can be achieved on a fancy keyboard, or with cross-platform software like kmonad.

nine_k 4y ago
I wish more people knew about KMonad. It allows you to have many advantages of "fancy keyboards" on regular keyboards, most importantly, on laptops.
lawn 4y ago
I've been experimenting with home-row combos instead. So you press multiple keys at once, enabling the use of one-shot mods so you don't have to hold keys down for modifiers and can instead tap them A one-shot shift under one thumb is also amazing, if you have such a keyboard.

shashurup 4y ago

The answer to the "Ctrl question" is quite obvious - just take a look at the space cadet keyboard. Just swap Ctrl and Alt so thumbs could be used for a busy Ctrl. This also dramatically improve the experience in other "Ctrl heavy" applications. P.S. I also use Caps Lock for switching layouts and never been happier.

ris58h 4y ago
This is the way. I've remapped ctrl/win/alt to win/alt/ctrl and esc to capslock.

tareqak 4y ago

Tangentially related, the PowerToys Keyboard manager allows for key remapping on Windows: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/keyboard-manager https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/keyboard...

chadlavi 4y ago

First thing I do on any computer is remap caps lock to be a Ctrl key

max182 4y ago

Remapping Control to Caps is my secret weapon. One feature I can't live without either on MacOS or Gnome is the Emacs keybindings for moving around text. Ctrl-A to move to the beginning of line, Ctrl-E to the end, ctrl-n for next line etc. I generally use emacs when I'm doing quick edits and don't want to open a GUI, or if I want to take notes. After I got used to the bindings for movement I realized I was able to do them globally. This pretty much allows me to have great keybindings (when Ctrl is remapped) on any editor or application I am using. If you don't already do this I highly recommend trying it for a week over the arrow keys. Just be careful. It may be hard to go back.

ulrikrasmussen 4y ago

I remap CapsLock to Esc and use that as my toggle key in god-mode: https://github.com/emacsorphanage/god-mode https://github.com/emacsorphanage/god-mode This makes the Ctrl sticky, thus emulating the modal behavior of vim, but using emacs bindings. It also has some clever escape sequences that let you input complex chords without ever having to press more than one button at a time. I have gotten so used to it that I have started looking into a way to make a solution that is global across my whole system (Linux). So far I can emulate some of the behaviour using something like kmonad (https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad) although some things like repeated keystrokes cannot easily be expressed using the configuration language and requires a more low-level approach.

bigpeopleareold 4y ago

I have done this for years, specifically because of using Emacs, and now get frustrated now when on a non-mapped keyboard. :) It works out good for CUA bindings for other applications also. However, since I am left-handed, the experience might be a little different for me, since I bias towards the left for all modification keys (that includes the Alt key.) The idea of having those keys comfortably near the thumb is interesting though, as some have mentioned, like having a trackpoint so close by when typing (I also remap the top buttons to favor me using my left hand more.)

Caitlynbranson 4y ago

[dead]

bombolo 4y ago
I own fingers and I can say it's not better at all. It's much more comfortable to not keep the pinky so curled so often.
p_l 4y ago
Personally found that simply using the other hand for modifiers, moving whole hand laterally without bending the wrist and using thumb to hit the modifier, works much better for me, and afaik that (using the opposite hand) was the original design that impacted Emacs modifiers (with mirrored bucky bits on Knight and Space Cadet keyboards). A bit of problem due to non-mirrored Alt/Meta (I unfortunately need that AltGr) and problem with laptops that often cut important keys on the right hand side, but reasonably good on full keyboard.

woolion 4y ago

An alternative approach is to have good shortcuts, Spacemacs being my favourite take on it. The idea is to have shorcuts like `<SPACE> f e d`. The shortcuts tend to be logically organized in levels (f for files, e for editor, d for dotfile, so this opens your emacs dotfile). No need to remap the keys and no issue with painful key combinations at all.

incompatible 4y ago

I'd feel a bit guilty about remapping somebody's Windows keyboard if I was using their machine for some reason, since even if I had my own user account, the key mapping solutions tend to be global. They'd end up mystified about why the caps lock wasn't working, and it would be basically impossible for them to fix.

virogenesis 4y ago

I am surprised there are not more people here that hit the CTRL key with the left part of the palm of their hand rather then twisting the pinky. I don't think I could even bend my pinky comfortably to do this action.

orwin 4y ago
I thought the reason why Ctrl was on the bottom left was to use your palm to press it. All my CS1.6 teammates used this. Learned in compsci classes it wasn't as ubiquitous as is first thought.
omegabravo 4y ago
I hit CTRL with my palm too. I often perform cut/copy/paste with CTRL+Insert,SHIFT+Delete,SHIFT+Insert which is fine on a full sized keyboard. It's why I can't buy so many keyboards that have "optimised" the layout.
sph 4y ago
I have a ZSA Moonlander split keyboard and for better Emacs ergonomics, I have Ctrl under my right thumb, and Alt under my left thumb. But twisting the palm to hit Ctrl always struck me as a terrible idea, maybe because I have large hands. Better remap Capslock.

djtango 4y ago

An aside, but I get sad when I see how much tension people have in their hands when they are typing. As a pianist this is the cardinal sin! Hand size and posture do vary a lot so looking for the right setup is important but learning to be ultra relaxed and effortless in your typing (and chording) is much more portable

bullen 4y ago

Or you get a HHKB and solve all your keyboard problems peramanently, personally I use the HHKB JP because I simply need the arrows. How fujitsu have not made a HHKB with american layout AND arrows is beyond me.

_odey 4y ago

OK, so I was thinking of editing that wiki page to add this command which I use on Gnome Wayland: dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/input-sources/xkb-options "['ctrl:swapcaps']" But I'm not sure where it fits; in the Gnome section, or the xkb section? NOTE: this overwrites the value, you should do a `read` first

loa_in_ 4y ago
I believe it goes into your .profile

throw-ru-938 4y ago

On all of my machines, Caps Lock has to get mapped to switching between keyboard layouts. Saves me so much time every day, not having to do the Alt+Shift dance dozens of times every hour. If only there were more non-US people making decisions in tech, we could have had a dedicated key for that, the way Japanese keyboards have a bunch of Japanese-specific keys, but alas.