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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.
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"Preventing RSI" isn't the reasoning behind where to put Ctrl, though. People don't like it in the corner because it's (much) faster and less error-prone to put it next to A. Moving your whole arm is going in entirely the wrong direction. FWIW: if you are RSI prone, you to be minimizing time spent on a keyboard in the first place, and heavy editor use is probably just a bad idea in general.
I touch type with my pinkies always on the control keys, not sure why you would have it any other way as a programmer. That might be suboptimal for typing text, but programming has so many special characters, and interacting with editors, browsers and such is usually better done with mouse and shortcut setup, so pinky on ctrl makes switching to mouse seamless. And before you say I'd be faster with a typical home row…
I lost the speed because I wasn't doing as much documentation as I used to with qwerty. For development, that loss of speed hasn't made any difference because I type just as fast for development purposes.
But my main point is the people I know have not optimised things for speed, they have done it for comfort. A ten hour trip in a plane takes the same time in business class as it does in economy but one is a nicer way to travel.
I wouldnt run out and tell everyone to change their setup, people are usually driven to it for one reason or another, either just curious or have an issue they need to address but on a topic of ergonomics, thats exactly what ergo keyboards are about.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?
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.
Ctrl2cap is always one of the first things I install on a new machine!
Same. Caps lock is such a dumb key, I don't even rebind it. So I have 3 CTRLs.
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.
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…
I think the recommendation to remap control onto caps lock is fundamentally misguided and based on poor typing practice. Many Control bindings are on the left (C-x, C-c) and using caps lock for them (without sticky keys) would be very unergonomic.
What I do is remap control, alt and windows key such that control is closest to the space key (like windows, alt, ctrl space ctrl alt windows). Then I can use my thumbs (symmetrically on both sides) to type any control key sequence.
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Your comment assumes everybody is using a "normal" keyboard. Since then a great many have come up with actually ergonomic keyboards and they virtually all have something in common: modifiers easily reached with the thumbs while the hands are in their home position. No crazy "moving the entire left hand to not hit ctrl with the pinky" . That's not ergonomic. At all. If the layout is QWERTY, left hand on asdf, right an…
> No crazy "moving the entire left hand to not hit ctrl with the pinky". That's not ergonomic. At all. Sorry, but ergonomists disagree. Moving your whole hand + arm, as long as you are not twisting your wrist , is in general recommended . I've asked them about keeping the fingers on the home row, and the response has always been: "No good research to support it, nor any to disrecommend it."
That's actually kind of nice to hear - I'm self-taught when it comes to typing (having to get chat messages out fast in StarCraft online multiplayer waaaay back), and naturally fell into a style that kind-of hovers my hands on the edges of the keyboard, using my shoulders and elbows to push my hands inwards when the center keys are needed. Relevant to the topic: Pinky on ctrl requires no twisting, just bending the finger down.
Whenever people (mostly co-workers) realize how I type, they almost always think it's kinda crazy, since I can hit keys without feeling from the home row..
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.