I use a Kinesis Advantage Pro keyboard wherever possible because I really enjoy the way that it feels to type on, and I believe that it's important to look after your hands. I'm principally a Unix/Linux user, and use vi as my primary editor. In addition, other software that I use regularly such as Google mail (the gmail web interface) uses vi keystrokes (specifically j and k) for navigating. This has lead me to make a couple of customizations to the key layout on all my keyboards.
Customizing the Kinesis keyboard is much easier than creating a custom keymap on Linux or Windows. The keys are remapped in the keyboard itself, which means that in the event somebody needs to use your computer, they can plug in a regular USB keyboard and it will function as they expect.
Firstly, I swap the Escape and Delete keys. The Escape key is used heavily with vi, but is a tiny rubber key which is prone to being ignored when pressed by your pinkie. In contrast, the Delete key is rarely used in Unix, and is a huge key with a proper switch operated by your left thumb. Swapping the role of these two causes no loss of functionality, but makes using vi much easier as you no longer have to take your left hand off the keyboard to press Esc after every edit.
The second swap is the up and down arrow keys. The reason for this is a little more subtle. By default, the 'Up' arrow key is in line with the 'j' key, which in vi is used to move down. The 'Down' arrow key is in line with the k key, which is used to move up. Switching between vi and software that uses the arrow keys becomes very difficult, certainly for me. By swapping the arrow keys, the same fingers are used to move up and down in both vi and every other application, so you don't have to mentally remap the functions every time you switch application.
One site that I've found very useful for stuff like this is RSIguy. There's a bunch of info there regarding selecting the best ergonomic keyboards for your needs.
No comments:
Post a Comment