Typing and Keyboards
lzon.ca9 points by jpmitchell 43 minutes ago
9 points by jpmitchell 43 minutes ago
I type 120 wpm using a bizarre method I acquired through trial and error as a kid. It uses mostly my thumbs and index fingers and has been described by observers as "disconcerting". But it works great for me, and about perfectly matches the speed of my thoughts. My typing teachers hated it.
It does mean that I can't use "ergonomic" or split hand keyboards easily, though.
I never learnt how to touch-type, until I moved to a different keyboard layout (namely bepo [0]).
I recommend finding a good keyboard you enjoy using, but it's a bit annoying if you need to carry it around. Whatever you do, don't be afraid to try some ortholinear versions or split ones!
I sometimes like to use dictation nowadays, but I found out I tend to be much more concise when I type, compared to when I dictate (but thank god for easily available great dictation systems nowadays! [1]).
[0]: https://bepo.fr/wiki/Accueil
[1]: although, dictating terminal commands or code is too much of a hassle
Does anyone here use a numpad? What for? I made my own macropad[1] but I struggle to find a use, the only thing I use it for is CAD shortcut keys. Any ideas are welcome!
[1] https://immich.home.stavros.io/share/GE_noaUx1_cayK9WDVvzutr...
I've personally replaced keymacros by things like Alfred's workflows (or Raycast's): aka a universal command palette.
It's usually very fast to type "cmd-space", and then type 3-4 letters to find the macro I want.
Yeah, I use a similar utility, plus I've built a custom QMK-based keyboard that has extra shortcut layers. I think macropads might still be useful for per-app shortcut layers, but in practice I don't find myself using it that much.
My all time favorite was the Wang 724 keyboard.
http://blog.komar.be/wang-724-teardown/
Since then, it does not really matter which keyboard I use. Now I have a reddragon keyboard. I picked that up because it does not use much space on the table/desk I have.
What, an article on typing and keyboards, and no mention of Dvorak or Colemak? Let's have that eternal discussion again!
Swap Caps and Ctrl, use Emacs or vi keybindings, and save your wrist from moving to the arrow keys!
>no mention of Dvorak or Colemak? Let's have that eternal discussion again!
I prefer Workman. Used to use Dvorak. Did not see much point to Colemak or its Mod DH variant by the time I was open to switching again, Workman set out to solve those issues in its original design. To anyone coming from Qwerty these days (Workman only came out in 2010), I would just recommend skipping over Dvorak and Colemak. You can find even more esoteric layouts, but Workman is in a bit of a goldilocks zone where it's available in some OSes/keyboards by default and isn't impossible to find keycaps for (often the "colevrak" kits cover it).
>Swap Caps and Ctrl
I never liked binding caps to Ctrl or Esc, but I do bind it to Compose in my OS these days. What I'd instead recommend is getting an ergonomic keyboard with a thumb cluster, like the Pinky4 or Iris, and putting your modifiers there. My Ctrl, Alt, and Super keys are all thumb keys now and even the leftmost of them is offset a similar amount to where Alt is on a traditional keyboard, so all very comfortable to press. I also have backspace, space, and enter on thumb keys.
>use Emacs or vi keybindings,
Strongly agreed, this is huge. Vi especially as you can avoid most chords, a bit like Sticky Keys in Windows, except not awful and not something you activated by accident. I spent considerable time with Spacemacs as well as evil-mode in my own config at one point. Back to (neo)vim now, but all great choices, all better than using nano or a CUA binds editor.
I could never see the need to rebind Ctrl to Caps Lock (and I do use Emacs). Whenever it's time to press Ctrl, I curl my pinky and press that key with my pinky's distal joint. I did, however, swap Fn and the Global key on my Mac.
I think that's reason enough to rebind Ctrl to Caps Lock. I used to do the same, but why go to the trouble when I can remap Caps Lock once and be done with it?