> I like to get recommendations for > 1. which finger for these key. > 2. which two fingers for chord modkeys like > ctrl-alt shift-win
Standard touch typing in English only really deals with shift, as it's the only key used to type standard text. The rule is that you use your smallest finger of the opposite hand to the letter key you are typing to hold the shift key. So to type that capital T at the beginning of the last sentence, I hold shift with my right hand 'pinky', and type T with my left hand index finger. To type I, it is my left hand 'pinky' and right hand 'middle' finger. I imagine it takes quite a bit of getting used to, but it is very natural and efficient once mastered. I learnt to type, and properly, when I was about 7 years old, and I'm sure that helps. As far as other modifiers go, it's all a bit of a kludge, I think. For Command (I'm on a Mac), I tend to always use the thumb of my right hand, if I need it while typing. It barely needs to move at all to reach the command key, and is not used to type any letter key, leaving whichever finger usually types it free to do so. I think I do the same for Option, though it's a bit more of a stretch. However, since I use 'laptops' almost exclusively, I don't have the option (no pun intended!) of using my right hand for that key anyway. For control, I use my left pinky mostly, and it's horrible, usually, which is why I have my caps lock mapped to control. I find it much easier to dive for Esc, usually hitting it with my left 'ring' finger, than to do the contortions necessary to type keys with control in its usual position. It drives me absolutely nuts when I use a PC and all the common keyboard shortcuts use Control, not Command, because Control is heaps harder to type. Alt is essentially in the equivalent position to Command. If I were designing/remapping a keyboard, I'd put Control where Alt currently is, Alt where the Windows key currently is, and the Windows key where Control currently is, so that the keys are ordered from left-to-right in least-to-most used order. Then I could use my thumb for Control often, for Alt a little less often, but still quite regularly, and undergo the contortions for the Windows key only occasionally. I imagine it would take a little getting used to if you're already used to them in their standard positions, but I am firmly convinced in the long run it would be heaps easier. Whether you can do it, of course, depends on the software you use, too. For combinations with shift, I use a combination of the touch-typing rule and my 'thumb' habit. For Control+Alt, I think I usually just type them both together with my thumb, since on my keyboard Control and Option are beside each other; but I rarely need that either. When not typing regular text, e.g. while using the mouse with one hand, I often just use a convenient one-handed method to type a key sequence. It doesn't really matter what you use when you're not in the flow of normal typing; anything you can find quickly is pretty efficient, and probably more so than getting your hands back into home position and starting from there. In the 'professional' apps I use, I have keys mapped in such a way that most/all the keys I need to type while using the mouse, I can type with my left hand. Then I don't need all that backwards and forwards from mouse to keyboard with my right hand which slows things down a lot. Hopefully that helps a bit and doesn't confuse issues! Ben. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
