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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.
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.
Ctrl2cap is always one of the first things I install on a new machine!
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)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.
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!
(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.)
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.
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.
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 mo…
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.
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).
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.