- #Placing typing fingers on home row key manual
- #Placing typing fingers on home row key mods
- #Placing typing fingers on home row key software
- #Placing typing fingers on home row key windows
The other benefit of having all the modifiers lined up in a row and each dedicated a specific finger is that you can trigger ANY keyboard shortcut with ease.Ĭtrl+ Shift+ GUI+ Alt, also sometimes called Hyper, This rapid access to modifier chords is very comfortable and allows to blend the execution of keyboard shortcuts in the typing flow, whereas it previously required a context switch to stop composing text, move the hands to the corner(s) of the keyboard, trigger the desired keyboard shortcut and then find back the homing position to continue touch typing text. Isn’t it great to have ALL the modifiers at our finger tips? No motion, stretching or strain required. We can put a modifier right under each finger and mirror it on both hands. The fact that there are four modifiers, each coming with a left and a right version perfectly matches the eight fingers resting on the home row.
#Placing typing fingers on home row key mods
Home row mods are about the best solution to this modifier problem. Though any power user of any application, not just programmers in their text editor, uses keyboard shortcuts extensively. This is especially important for programmers as most of their keyboard usage isn’t actually typing symbols but triggering commands with a plethora of different keyboard shortcuts. It is in your best interest to find a solution at the risk of maybe getting RSI and Emacs pinky one day.
#Placing typing fingers on home row key manual
All of which can lead to cumulative trauma disorders, as explained by Vern Putz-Anderson in his book titled “Cumulative trauma disorders: A manual for musculoskeletal diseases of the upper limbs”, published in 1988. These chords may require hyper-extending, hyper-flexing, or splaying the fingers, and may necessitate uncomfortable static muscular loads on top of awkward hand position, especially wrist deviation. This approach to keyboard shortcuts presents some biomechanical issues. Not only are you playing Twister with your fingers, you’re straining the weakest finger the most in order to hold the necessary modifiers. On some typewriters, the spacebar was ｒｉｄｉｃｕｌｏｕｓｌｙ ｗｉｄｅ.Īs a consequence, you need to do all sorts of finger gymnastics in order to trigger keyboard shortcuts. It was decided to reduce the width of the spacebar in order to make space for the modifier keys that were needed for the computer age. The modifier keys that we use so much now were added afterwards, kind of as an afterthought, over the classic typewriter layout which plagues us to this day. Obviously, typewriters did not have any of those functions. Modifiers play a big role in those functions. It is also used to navigate and operate a computer, launch programs, format text, execute macros, zoom in and out, change input language and so much more which goes beyond simply typing letters. A keyboard is no longer used exclusively for text input. The reason why would anyone choose to use home row mods are quite simple. We have yet to figure out why use home row mods. We now know what home row mods are it is the practice of turning the home row keys into mod-taps. Therefore, we really should say “home row mod-taps” but in common parlance, “home row mods” is what’s always used.
#Placing typing fingers on home row key software
Other software which also implement this functionality call it differently. The name QMK gives to this functionality is “mod-tap”.
#Placing typing fingers on home row key windows
pressed and released) on their own - a notable exception is the Win/Super key which opens the start menu on Windows and Gnome as well as Alt which pops up the menu in graphical apps - but thanks to software like QMK, we can turn these momentary switch modifiers into dual-role keys which act as modifiers when held but act as other keys when tapped. How can that be possible? Does this mean that the home row letters/symbols swap positions with the modifier keys? Most certainly not! You see, one of the untapped potential of modifiers that are active as long as you hold them is that they don’t do anything useful when they’re tapped (i.e. So this means that “home row mods” are about placing modifiers on the home row. It is not to be confused with actual graphical user interfaces. The last modifier in the list is also known as WinKey on Windows, Command on MacOS or Super/Meta 1 on Linux and BSD. What is meant by “mods”? In this case, “mods” refer to modifiers, that is to say ⇧ Shift, ⎈ Control, ⎇ Alt, and ◆ GUI. The bars or the dish found on F and J help to find back the home position without looking at the keyboard - this is especially important for relatively big keyboards which require you to move your hands to hit some of the keys like for example Backspace or the arrow keys on a classic TKL and thus throw you off home position. This row is called the “ home row” because if one were to follow touch typing technique, this is the row of keys on which your fingers are supposed to rest on. On an English QWERTY keyboard this would be The “home row” refers to the middle row of alpha keys.
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