Key, in sight – A guide, of sorts, to keyboard customization (opens in new tab)

As a vim, linux, shell guy, I still love my mapping of Caps Lock pressed to CTRL und Caps Lock released to ESC.

Being able to reach CTRL and ESC with the little finger while keeping your hands on the home row keys is great.

The website crashed my firefox (149.0.2 android) 3 times in a row. How to reproduce: open the website, start scrolling

The only keyboard customisation that I want is to include a trackpoint (or any poiting device) in my TKL keyboard. Such a common sense requirement for devs, but literally zero solutions that are actualy affordable.

Nice post.

For any linux folk who haven't tried something like this yet, keyd and wtype are what I settled on, having tried the kmonads, interceptiontools, xscapes, kanatas, etc. (though I've been meaning to try kanata out again now it's a bit more mature)

Two notes:

For buying new keys, there are many inexpensive (non-mechanical) USB number pads you can get for $10 or less. It's a good way to get started before committing to something more expensive. Or you can even just use an entire second keyboard; most software will let you bind shortcuts to a specific keyboard.

For software, Hammerspoon [0] is a free option that can handle arbitrary key mappings/macros; however, you'll have to program it yourself, it's more of a hacker's tool than something with a friendly UI.

0: https://www.hammerspoon.org/

Remapping a few things can make a full day at the computer much more comfortable. I struggle with RSI in my right thumb and index finger, so it helps a ton to have other ways to click the mouse button. I have a dedicated key for mouse click, as well as using Mod+Caps Lock as double-click. Don't be afraid to move shortcuts around if it makes sense. Brains are more adaptable than we tend to give them credit for.

Was always mystified about custom keyboards - until I got the idea to do an emoji layer: https://poggers.institute/@j/the-emoji-layer/

Also: swapping colon/semicolon, using fn+hjkl for arrow keys and having Enter at my right thumb.

Once you open that door.

> I know my keyboard looks weird, but stripped of its strange moments, it’s a pretty standard QWERTY.

I'd like to hear you say that once you've searched for a replacement for that 4.5u spacebar, or for Justin's mini-ADA profile f-key keycaps :)

I'd love to have 3 extra keys to assign to Ctrl-c, Ctrl-v and Alt-tab, but I keep bumping into these issues: RGB lights and other typical gaming design; proprietary app to install; huge real estate occupied on the desk.

OT: this is the first time Ive encountered a branching article. Awesome. The ability has been there for decades, but never used. Guess going from print to digital is not only a change of tools but a mindset.

By way of examples, I my favourites were a button to toggle light/dark mode, and the context dependant bit button.