[HN Gopher] Moving the Ctrl Key
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Moving the Ctrl Key
Author : susam
Score : 32 points
Date : 2022-12-25 10:50 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.emacswiki.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.emacswiki.org)
| abudabi123 wrote:
| 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.
| BeetleB wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| pwiecz wrote:
| 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 Z, while AltGr+X is Z.
| Still using both Ctrls itself helps a lot, and one may have a
| right Windows to remap as Meta.
| msla wrote:
| Another possible solution is to define a compose key (I use
| SysRq) to type characters not on the keyboard, such that (for
| example) the three-key sequence "SysRq . Z" is Z.
|
| Here's the XCompose file I use:
|
| https://github.com/kragen/xcompose
| ledauphin wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| yep!
| Wistar wrote:
| For me, the key I'd move is Caps Lock. I inadvertently hit that
| dang thing dozens of times a day.
| wrs wrote:
| 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.
| patrec wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| For windows i recommend uncap https://github.com/susam/uncap
| ashton314 wrote:
| 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.
| phoebefactorial wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| just type with your index fingers
|
| everything else is a meme
| mandw wrote:
| 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)
| psychphysic wrote:
| 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!
| QIYGT wrote:
| Strongly recommend using a keyboard with modifiers under your
| thumbs like Kinesis Advantage.
| pzone wrote:
| Ctrl2cap is always one of the first things I install on a new
| machine!
| nverno wrote:
| 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).
| andreareina wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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_ wrote:
| 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.)
| lizknope wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| ListenLinda wrote:
| I _believe_ remapping ctrl breaks ctrl+shift+f in VS Code. Not
| 100% sure.
| bananadonkey wrote:
| I think you are referring to this? From the wiki at
| 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.
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