Caps lock as Control Usefulness?

[Pacifist]

I'm thinking of remapping caps lock as control. for those who have done that, how useful is it? and through what program did you remap the key?

[demik]

if you do this, i will literally destroy my hhkb so i dont have to use control

(but really, it's great. i use it for gaming)

[SpAmRaY]

just cut the traces and hardwire then you don't have to worry about the software.

[dustinhxc]

I use AutoHotKey. I love my HHKBs layout and when I get my Poker X I am going to remap caps to control first thing.

[keymaster]

This is the best relocation of a key I've done. I wish more keycap GBs and sets from vendors include a swappable Ctrl and Control keycap like Topre does for its RF87 line.

The Control key in place of the standard Caps Lock position is much more ergonomic. I use the left Control key very often, mostly when browsing (opening/closing tabs and other shortcuts). It creates for a more comfortable and efficient use of the keyboard.

[Pacifist]

I use AutoHotKey. I love my HHKBs layout and when I get my Poker X I am going to remap caps to control first thing.

if I use ahk will the led still work? and can you show me your ahk code, I'm still a noob at it

[Awful]

I use keytweak to do the same thing, requires no script, super straight forward.

[mooswa]

Do it, seriously.  One of the easiest and most effective tweaks you can do.  I have used a registry editor on windows and on linux it is pretty standard keyboad config option.

Even better is to make single tap to act as Esc, but holding + another key as Ctrl.  For that I am currently using a reprogrammed Frosty Flake.

[metalliqaz]

The LED is set by the PC, not by the keyboard.  It will still work.
(keyboard sends scancode for caps, PC tells keyboard to turn on/off the LED)

[eth0s]

The best thing I've noticed is no more accidental TYPING IN ALL CAPS.

[daerid]

On Windows I use SharpKeys to remap it at the registry level. On OSX I use PCKeyboardHack.

Unless I'm on my ErgoDox, in that case I just don't have CapsLock in the first place

[JPG]

on my XT model F, the control is at the caps lock position. I think they were visionaries!


 I think I used caps lock less than 10 times in my life (not counting the times I did it by error), and it was never a necessity.

[osi]

Love the position of the control key on the HHKB. It feels so natural once you get used to it. Recommend this location!

[SonOfSonOfSpock]

I should probably get off my lazy butt and make this switch. I already have SharpKeys installed to remap some keys.

The only time I've used caps lock is when writing SQL queries so that they look nice and in all caps if I know other people will be reading them at some point.

[swill]

I am using both right now. Home is standard and work is switched. On a Mac I find the switch kind of pointless because I use command for most of what you guys are using control for.

I am undecided yet on the switch. At home I have mapped my caps to a Fn  key to add a numpad on my right hand homerow. That I have been liking.

[riotonthebay]

I love this remapping. A nice variant is treating single presses as escape and chords as control. (Control is almost always used just as a modifier and doesn't do anything by itself.)

[tufty]

I love my M0116.  Ctrl is where god* intended it to be, between Tab and Shift, and the otherwise utterly useless capslock key is remapped to switch layers.

**** capslock.  Waste of ****ing space.

* I'm a coder, and I spend most of my time in emacs, so god == RMS.

[wiredPANDA]

One of my favorite remappings.  I always get annoyed when I use someone else's computer and realize this isn't the default key behavior.

My AHK script is below - and the LED functions when I turn CAPS on/off.  I also run a mapping to turn the Pause key into AppsKey, since this Ducky has a fN key instead of the menu key.

The last mapping for Insert, is just out of my hatred for the key.

Code: [Select]

;Shift + CapsLock = Toggle CAPSLock
+CapsLock::CapsLock

;Turn CapsLock into LControl
CapsLock::LControl

;Turn Pause into AppsKey
Pause::AppsKey

;Disable Insert key
Insert::return


[longweight]

It is the best move that you will ever make!

[spremino]

Why You Should Not Swap {Caps Lock, Control} Keys: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html.

As for me, my text editor is a Vim clone and as a result I have remapped Caps Lock as Esc.

I have remapped the modifiers on either side of the space bar to have Control first, then Alt, and I press Control with my middle fingers or my thumbs, and Alt with my ring fingers.

[longweight]

Why You Should Not Swap {Caps Lock, Control} Keys: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html.

lol

[neunelfer]

Why You Should Not Swap {Caps Lock, Control} Keys: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html.

lol

Yeah, like curling your hand awkwardly in order to press Ctrl with your palm and then C or V or any other key for that matter is more ergonomic.

I remapped Ctrl to Caps on my Filco using Autohotkey in Windows and CMD to Caps on my Macbook using KeyRemap4MacBook.

[daerid]

Why You Should Not Swap {Caps Lock, Control} Keys: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html.

On a typical PC keyboard of today, the Caps Lock is pressed by the weakest finger pinky. The Ctrl key can be easily pressed with palm.

That is completely horrendous advice. I don't know what kind of keyboard the author's been using, but I haven't used a board yet (and I've used quite a lot) where it's "easy" to hit the Control key with the palm. Trying makes my hand curl in a very awkward and uncomfortable way. Even though the pinky might be weak, using it to hit Control (in the CapsLock position), is very relaxed and requires virtually no movement of the left wrist.

It makes the left pinky do 2 pinky's work. (try to pick out your right ⇧ Shift key and type for a week and see how you feel)

Derp? This doesn't even make sense. The right pinky already has the ; / p \ RShift Enter and possibly BackSpace keys to deal with. The left pinky would have Control LShift a q and z to deal with. That's 7 to 5, meaning your right pinky still has more work to do than your left.

It forces the left hand to strain into spider legs. Or, it forces your right hand to fly about wildly if the letter key is near the middle of the
keyboard (example: 【Caps Lock+t】, 【Caps Lock+g】, 【Caps Lock+b】).

Okay, this confirms that the author has hands half the size of any normal adult human. This is insane. Yes, I have long fingers, but I can hit all of those combinations with absolutely PLENTY of reach to spare. A person with a smaller hand should have no problem hitting those combinations.

It renders many 【Ctrl+‹key›】 spots not usable, because now with only one pinky many otherwise good 【Ctrl+‹key›】 spots are hard to use.

BS. One handed Control combinations are easy to hit (see above), and the two handed ones are easier because your hand doesn't have to move around.

The left hand now constantly shift from home position.

Ok, now I just think this person is trolling. You can easily move your pinky one key to the left without moving your left hand from the home position.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read.


Yeah, I probably went over board, but this just got to me for some reason

[neunelfer]

No, you didn't go overboard. It was annoying me too. You basically hit the nail on the head on every point. The guy is an idiot.

In short, yes, you should remap it Pacifist. It is much more comfortable and easier to use, and it is very easy to use Autohotkey.

[eth0s]

Why You Should Not Swap {Caps Lock, Control} Keys: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html.

WTF?

Pressing CTRL with the palm of your hand?  Who does that?  If I saw somebody do that at work, I would fire them immediately for being incompetent or mentally defective.

I can only think that post was some kind of goof/ troll/ joke.

[spremino]

WTF?

Pressing CTRL with the palm of your hand?  Who does that?  If I saw somebody do that at work, I would fire them immediately for being incompetent or mentally defective.

Then you wouldn't be the first pointy-haired boss who hates creative people.

I should have stressed that I didn't agree with all of Xah's article, but only with his criticism against swapping Caps Lock and Control. Also, I skimped over the fact that he is talking about Emacs use, where you are expected to use chords involving Control much more: try doing Control+Shift+<letter> or Control+Alt+<letter> and you'll see what I mean. If you are only after ZXCV and maybe a few more chords involving only Control, then it's not a bad choice.

As usual, vague questions elicit varied answers, because everybody assumes that whomever is asking has the same requirements as him.

[longweight]

I use CTRL+SHIFT+CHAR all the time and it is much nicer with the swap.

[spremino]

I use CTRL+SHIFT+CHAR all the time and it is much nicer with the swap.

Then your hands are more dexterous than mine. Another aspect that we failed to take into account.

[eth0s]

WTF?

Pressing CTRL with the palm of your hand?  Who does that?  If I saw somebody do that at work, I would fire them immediately for being incompetent or mentally defective.

Then you wouldn't be the first pointy-haired boss who hates creative people.

I should have stressed that I didn't agree with all of Xah's article, but only with his criticism against swapping Caps Lock and Control. Also, I skimped over the fact that he is talking about Emacs use, where you are expected to use chords involving Control much more: try doing Control+Shift+<letter> and you'll see what I mean. If you are only after ZXCV and maybe a few more chords, then it's not a bad choice.

As usual, vague questions elicit varied answers, because everybody assumes that whomever is asking has the same requirements as him.

LOL.  I brook no creativity from my drones.  They have a job to do, and I don't need any of them to think outside the cubicle.  I tried it, and believe it or not, most "creative" solutions are born out of the coition of laziness and stupidity.

As for using the palm for pressing CTRL, that's just ridiculous.  If you don't like swapping CTRL with CapsLock, don't do it.  But don't make up some ridiculous reason like Xah did in that "article". 

[osi]

Why You Should Not Swap {Caps Lock, Control} Keys: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html.

WTF?

Pressing CTRL with the palm of your hand?  Who does that?  If I saw somebody do that at work, I would fire them immediately for being incompetent or mentally defective.

I can only think that post was some kind of goof/ troll/ joke.

Hitting the CTRL key on traditional layouts was always done with my palm. Personally, it's the very back of my palm, closer to my wrist.

My hand rests on the key and whenever I need to hit it, I just squish the left side of my hand down. Didn't realize I was doing it like an ******* all of these years

[mooswa]

I think the description is wrong.  You do not use *palm* to press Ctrl (or Fn, like I do) - you use the side of the palm, at the point where pinky finger connects to the palm.  This way you do not need to curve your hand, you just tilt it slightly, keeping rest of your finger on the home row, ready to strike the next key in the cord.  It is very convenient, to me at least.  It also helps a lot if you have a clicky switch.

I still do not have tolerance for a CapsLock key.  Caps functionality should be available via Fn+Shift or something, not a dedicated key.

[spremino]

LOL.  I brook no creativity from my drones.  They have a job to do, and I don't need any of them to think outside the cubicle.  I tried it, and believe it or not, most "creative" solutions are born out of the coition of laziness and stupidity.

I do believe it. It takes a lot of both talent and experience to be productively creative. Also, many people wouldn't want to think outside the cubicle anyway, thus you are providing a social service by providing them with a job. When I was a corporate drone, I attracted hostility because of my creative streak, yet when people didn't know how to deal with some issue, they always came to me. I have escaped the cubicle now, so that's history.

[Pacifist]

So I changed up the caps lock. It takes time getting used to. THe only probs is doing ctrl w, the distance is so short I keep on hitting ctrl 2. If I could remap shift instead, it would be slightly easier to get used to. But then shift would be caps and I dont know how I would handle that....

[neunelfer]

So I changed up the caps lock. It takes time getting used to. THe only probs is doing ctrl w, the distance is so short I keep on hitting ctrl 2. If I could remap shift instead, it would be slightly easier to get used to. But then shift would be caps and I dont know how I would handle that....

I think that was the only issue I had at first. You get used to it quickly.

[mooswa]

So I changed up the caps lock. It takes time getting used to. THe only probs is doing ctrl w, the distance is so short I keep on hitting ctrl 2. If I could remap shift instead, it would be slightly easier to get used to. But then shift would be caps and I dont know how I would handle that....

I think that was the only issue I had at first. You get used to it quickly.

For ctrl w, IMHO, you better of using right ctrl.  Kind of like right shift for W, and left shift for O.  Combine that with 'palm' pressing ctrl key, and you fingers never need to leave the home row... except for that pesky mouse...

[daerid]

Ring finger up one, pinky left one. Voila: Ctrl+W. Takes a bit of getting used to, but a much more relaxed motion once you do.

[yearn4]

There is less stress on your fingers if you use your pinky for capitalizing letters instead of shift and it's also faster though.

[mooswa]

Ring finger up one, pinky left one. Voila: Ctrl+W. Takes a bit of getting used to, but a much more relaxed motion once you do.

How do you press Ctrl-A?

I understand a lot of it just personal preferences, but to me, it just makes more sense to stay uniform.  If it is a right hand letter, I use left hand modifier, be it shift, alt or ctrl.  The same finger is used for the same letter all the time with or without the mod.  I hate the moment of pause where my fingers need to come back to the home raw and fingers as scanning for homing bumps.  I hate to take my eyes of the monitor.  It just kills the flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

[mooswa]

There is less stress on your fingers if you use your pinky for capitalizing letters instead of shift and it's also faster though.

Sir, how do you use pinky instead of shift?  Do you use leap motion to detect a raised pinky and that translates into capital letters? Wow, wouldn't that be awesome?

[riotonthebay]

Ring finger up one, pinky left one. Voila: Ctrl+W. Takes a bit of getting used to, but a much more relaxed motion once you do.

How do you press Ctrl-A?

I understand a lot of it just personal preferences, but to me, it just makes more sense to stay uniform.  If it is a right hand letter, I use left hand modifier, be it shift, alt or ctrl.  The same finger is used for the same letter all the time with or without the mod.  I hate the moment of pause where my fingers need to come back to the home raw and fingers as scanning for homing bumps.  I hate to take my eyes of the monitor.  It just kills the flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

I don't believe you've given it a fair shot. There is far more movement involved in Ctrl-A using the standard layout. Also, you only need a point of reference to efficiently move back to the home row. Depending on how quickly I'm typing, I use pinky+ring to do Ctrl-A while leaving my index finger on F, or I lift up all my fingers and just have to slide them all one key to the right after Ctrl-A to get back to the home row. This soon becomes second nature and involves absolutely no looking at the keyboard.

[spremino]

I understand a lot of it just personal preferences, but to me, it just makes more sense to stay uniform.  If it is a right hand letter, I use left hand modifier, be it shift, alt or ctrl.  The same finger is used for the same letter all the time with or without the mod.

Me, too.  Although I don't have any issues with finding the home keys without looking at the keyboard.

However, I guess that those who use Caps Lock as Control just memorize the movement without thinking of the key. Something like "Close Window is this chord" instead of "Close Window is Control+w".

[mooswa]

Ring finger up one, pinky left one. Voila: Ctrl+W. Takes a bit of getting used to, but a much more relaxed motion once you do.

How do you press Ctrl-A?

I understand a lot of it just personal preferences, but to me, it just makes more sense to stay uniform.  If it is a right hand letter, I use left hand modifier, be it shift, alt or ctrl.  The same finger is used for the same letter all the time with or without the mod.  I hate the moment of pause where my fingers need to come back to the home raw and fingers as scanning for homing bumps.  I hate to take my eyes of the monitor.  It just kills the flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

I don't believe you've given it a fair shot. There is far more movement involved in Ctrl-A using the standard layout. Also, you only need a point of reference to efficiently move back to the home row. Depending on how quickly I'm typing, I use pinky+ring to do Ctrl-A while leaving my index finger on F, or I lift up all my fingers and just have to slide them all one key to the right after Ctrl-A to get back to the home row. This soon becomes second nature and involves absolutely no looking at the keyboard.

My spock-fu is pretty low, I couldn't possibly use pinky+right and keep index finger on F ;-)


And like I said, moving my whole hand irritates me.  It is not that it is too hard to find the home row - it just feels so unnecessary.   Especially after I have developed a heavy VIM addiction.  To each his own I guess.  Amazing how human brain can adapt in so many different ways given the same problem.

[vivalarevolución]

I do it for all my keyboards on both Windows and Mac.  Its a bit of transition, but I ultimately prefer the setup.

[daerid]

How do you press Ctrl-A?

I understand a lot of it just personal preferences, but to me, it just makes more sense to stay uniform.  If it is a right hand letter, I use left hand modifier, be it shift, alt or ctrl.  The same finger is used for the same letter all the time with or without the mod.  I hate the moment of pause where my fingers need to come back to the home raw and fingers as scanning for homing bumps.  I hate to take my eyes of the monitor.  It just kills the flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

I've been typing so long that Ctrl+A just requires that I move my left pinky and ring finger. My middle and index fingers stay on D and F, respectively. Playing guitar for 20 years probably has helped with my finger dexterity, though. I don't even consciously scan for the home row anymore, my fingers just naturally find them without even thinking about it.

I agree that moving the hand is a royal PITA. One of the biggest reasons I got into VIM, as moving my hands over to the arrow cluster/six-pack was the only part of typing that I hated. Nowadays, with the ErgoDox, when I type I have the bottom of the palm of my hand (just above the wrist) resting on a wrist wrest of some sort, and I don't move it at all. I might have an unfair advantage in that my fingers are fairly long (my ring finger is almost 4") and I can reach any key on my board without moving my wrists at all.

[Travellerr]

just cut the traces and hardwire then you don't have to worry about the software.

I do it for the same reasons, it makes crouching much easier while gaming and for other commands in games, like mmo's where you have key combinations as alternative spells, like 1-10 active spells, then control + 1-10, buffs and debuffs. And I also got use to it as in typing and using with my computer it feels more normal to the point when I am not using my Leo 660c and I am using say my rapid I have an easy time forgetting that I am back to normal positioning of the caps and control. As far as remapping software, and I am sorry to say I do not know of any really because I have the DIP switch option on the back that switch control and caps for me( which they come with replacement keys which is a nice little touch) but best to luck in finding a decent one.

[joneslee85]

I am using both right now. Home is standard and work is switched. On a Mac I find the switch kind of pointless because I use command for most of what you guys are using control for.

I am undecided yet on the switch. At home I have mapped my caps to a Fn  key to add a numpad on my right hand homerow. That I have been liking.

I agree with you. I tried swap the Command key but did not like the location at all

[davkol]

I do it only for gaming, because AoE2 is quite control-heavy (pun not intended), while other home-row keys except spacebar aren't used.

Only for gaming, though. I used to use Caps Lock remapped to Backspace, because it was one of the great things about stock Colemak, but I don't use this remapping on my ergo boards, because Backspace is in the middle on all of them (middle column on typematrix, left thumb cluster on ergodox and kinesis advantage). Thanks to this, I can enjoy Shift on the home row, it's awesome. Meanwhile, I got used to pressing Control with the part of my hand, where pinkie connects to palm... I really miss it on the Kinesis Advantage... Control in thumb clusters isn't bad either though, thus I use Caps Lock as Esc there.

Note that I'm aiming for symmetry of modifiers, because I alternate hands as much as possible in this case. Caps Lock remapped to Control breaks it on standard staggered layout.

[angelic_sedition]

I used to do it but found it to be pretty useless. I use caps as another layer, which I find a lot more useful since I hardly ever use control. Someone mentioned browsing with keyboard shortcuts, but if you're going to use the keyboard to browse, I think that it's a much better idea to use something like vimium.

I have yet to see a good reason to stop at control. If you're using it for copy and paste, you can do that with a caps layer as well and have even greater functionality than just a control key. I personally would find even backspace more useful than control.

[davkol]

Do you use Vim-like modes in your window manager?

[angelic_sedition]

Do you use Vim-like modes in your window manager?

Me? Is there a window manager that is modal? Seems like an interesting concept though I'm not sure how well it would work. I'm currently just using a prefix key which is similar in a way if that's what you mean.

[davkol]

Then it's modal in actuality I guess.

[neun_sechs_zwei]

Do you use Vim-like modes in your window manager?

I used 'set -o vi' in my shell for a long while. Then I came to my senses

But anyway I will try to remap tilde to esc, ctrl to tilde, and esc to caps on my next keyboard (picking out keycap colors with that expectation anyway)

Always found caps lock as ctrl the better way since using Sun machines in the 90s, isn't it called Sun-style still? Your pinky doesn't have to fold down awkwardly. For ctrl-X ctrl-C, etc of course... Also if you use GNU Screen you're hitting ctrl-A all the time.

On a MacBook where you only have one ctrl key (left) the caps lock is also bigger and more accessible.

[adder]

Using emacs for many many years, my pinky was seriously suffering. With a bad case of carpal tunnel syndrome now, and I use vi bindings everywhere (including emacs). Swapping Ctrl with caps has improved my typing speed but, more importantly, is much less painful for my hands. If you use Ctrl for a couple of basic shortcuts, e.g., copy/paste, left bottom is fine. If you interact with your computer mainly (or exclusively) through the keyboard and rely heavily on shortcuts, swapping ctrl with caps will help you greatly.

[CJNE]

It's a great move, especially if you spend a lot of time in the terminal and/or in vim! I especially like Ctrl-c to exit insert mode instead of reaching for Esc.

[smferris]

I've been using emacs for decades so turning capslock into a control key is an old habit.  There are built-in options for it in the keyboard settings on both MacOS and Linux, and on Windows I usually google up a registry entry to change it.

On my Macbook Pro I've started using KeyRemap4MacBook, which also has an option to turn the return key into a control key when you chord it with another key.  It's nice to have another control key on the right side in a fairly symmetrical position to capslock.  keyremap4macbook also has many other useful remaps built-in, such as making a press of both shift keys be capslock, and various ways of making letter keys into arrows.  Definitely a program worth looking into if you're running MacOS.

[CJNE]

On my Macbook Pro I've started using KeyRemap4MacBook, which also has an option to turn the return key into a control key when you chord it with another key.  It's nice to have another control key on the right side in a fairly symmetrical position to capslock.  keyremap4macbook also has many other useful remaps built-in, such as making a press of both shift keys be capslock, and various ways of making letter keys into arrows.  Definitely a program worth looking into if you're running MacOS.

KeyRemap4MacBook is really great, it has A LOT of options. I had missed the return as ctrl feature, thanks for that!
Another useful feature, especially if you have weird arrow key placement like on the HHKB-Pro, is simultaneous vi mode, hold down S and D and then use H J K L to move around (like in vi).

[n0rvig]

On my Macbook Pro I've started using KeyRemap4MacBook, which also has an option to turn the return key into a control key when you chord it with another key.  It's nice to have another control key on the right side in a fairly symmetrical position to capslock.  keyremap4macbook also has many other useful remaps built-in, such as making a press of both shift keys be capslock, and various ways of making letter keys into arrows.  Definitely a program worth looking into if you're running MacOS.

KeyRemap4MacBook is really great, it has A LOT of options. I had missed the return as ctrl feature, thanks for that!
Another useful feature, especially if you have weird arrow key placement like on the HHKB-Pro, is simultaneous vi mode, hold down S and D and then use H J K L to move around (like in vi).

+1 KeyRemap4MacBook is awesome. I love CAPS as CTRL. You can even make CAPS double as both ESC and CTRL. If you tap it works as ESC. If you hold it down and press another key its CTRL. You'll need PCKeyboardHack by the same guy to get the dual role caps lock working. Of course there is so much more you can do too!

[minium]

I've been using emacs for decades so turning capslock into a control key is an old habit.  There are built-in options for it in the keyboard settings on both MacOS and Linux, and on Windows I usually google up a registry entry to change it.

On my Macbook Pro I've started using KeyRemap4MacBook, which also has an option to turn the return key into a control key when you chord it with another key.  It's nice to have another control key on the right side in a fairly symmetrical position to capslock.  keyremap4macbook also has many other useful remaps built-in, such as making a press of both shift keys be capslock, and various ways of making letter keys into arrows.  Definitely a program worth looking into if you're running MacOS.

I was reading the thread to see if anyone had posted the return-as-control meme. Buckle up, it's time to breathe deep of the spice Melange and become a guild navigator.

[hotnvicious5]

If you are doing a lot of typing it will probably be better to map Caps Lock to Backspace, Colemak-style. If you'll be Vimming/Emacs-ing try xcape.

[angelic_sedition]

+1 KeyRemap4MacBook is awesome. I love CAPS as CTRL. You can even make CAPS double as both ESC and CTRL. If you tap it works as ESC. If you hold it down and press another key its CTRL. You'll need PCKeyboardHack by the same guy to get the dual role caps lock working. Of course there is so much more you can do too!

If you are doing a lot of typing it will probably be better to map Caps Lock to Backspace, Colemak-style. If you'll be Vimming/Emacs-ing try xcape.

If you are doing a lot of typing it will probably be better to map Caps Lock to Backspace, Colemak-style. If you'll be Vimming/Emacs-ing try xcape.

I'll add again that you can do all these things simultaneously. Why settle for just backspace, control, or escape on release when you can do all of them and much more with a layer? If you're going to take the time to remap it, why stop with that? Am I missing something?

I have backspace and escape on my caps layer. Furthemore I have navigation keys (left, right, up, down, home, end, page up, and page down) easily accessible from the home row. I have modifiers for use with them (alt, shift, control, etc.). This can come in handy for non vim like programs, for example when I have to use word processor. I also have symbols remapped to more easily reachable places.

As for control functionality, I will again add that there is no reason that I know of to use a lot of control keybindings. If you're trying to browse with just your keyboard, use something like vimium or pentadactyl. A bunch of ctrl+t, ctrl+w, ctrl+tabs can really hurt your fingers.

As for basic copy, cut, and paste, you can easily add that to caps+c, caps+x, and caps+v. You can put whatever you want on the layer. You could probably even have a layer that worked essentially as control for any combinations you wanted to use and then add symbols or anything you wanted. You could do all this and have escape on release as well. If you want to do more complicated things, it gets more complicated, but for the most part, this is easy stuff.

Then it's modal in actuality I guess.

Interestingly enough, I've just switched to bspwm and sxhkd which allows for an actual window management mode instead of repetitive prefix key presses.

[mljs54]

Does anyone know of a trick to remap on a machine that does not have admin rights (I can't really edit the registry it seems or install any 3rd party program)?

Thanks

[angelic_sedition]

Does anyone know of a trick to remap on a machine that does not have admin rights (I can't really edit the registry it seems or install any 3rd party program)?

Thanks

Using windows? Either you need pkl (which can be run portably without installation), an ahk script turned into an exe (which would be the simplest option probably), or another portable program..   or a hardware programmable keyboard.

[Pacifist]

An update since I made this thread.

Caps lock is now control and has been for a while. Control has stayed control, because I don't use caps lock at all, and when i do its by accident.

I like it. I have the option of doing both styles when I feel like it, and its awesome.

[angelic_sedition]

Does anyone know of a trick to remap on a machine that does not have admin rights (I can't really edit the registry it seems or install any 3rd party program)?

Thanks

Using windows? Either you need pkl (which can be run portably without installation), an ahk script turned into an exe (which would be the simplest option probably), or another portable program..   or a hardware programmable keyboard.

[neunelfer]

Does anyone know of a trick to remap on a machine that does not have admin rights (I can't really edit the registry it seems or install any 3rd party program)?

Thanks

A quick Google search came up with this.

Looks like you just run that script and then it will associate and run any .ahk file.

[kod]

keyremap4macbook to use return as control is almost a necessity on mac laptops imho.  With capslock as control, it gives you symmetrical contorl keys for each hand.

Only problem is when you have to use someone elses macbook, and are wondering why there are extra newwlines all over the place

[nomaded]

keyremap4macbook to use return as control is almost a necessity on mac laptops imho.  With capslock as control, it gives you symmetrical contorl keys for each hand.

Only problem is when you have to use someone elses macbook, and are wondering why there are extra newwlines all over the place

I seem to only ever use control on the left side, so only mapping capslock to control works fine for me.