For over 2 years my only problem when using vim is how hard to reach the number keys are. They make jumping between lines easier but despite my attempts to get used to the far number keys, some are still not easy to reach like 6. I only have ideas of what would an ideal solution could look like but I don’t know how to execute them. One is to make caps lock some kind of modifier which turns home row keys into number keys, but because of the limitations of terminal emulators even if I turn caps lock into an obscure modifier (in kde settings) I won’t be able to use it in neovim. I would appreciate any ideas that help. I’m using kde plasma with wayland under arch linux.
Edit: please no mention of split keyboards. Even if I can afford them I prefer not getting used to something I have to carry additionally with my laptop
Trying it at the moment. Thank you!
Edit: It’s working better than I expected. Thanks for the suggestion
If this works I would recommend yuihjknm, being mapped to 789456123 respectively, with space mapped to 0. That’s how I have it set up on my mechanical keyboard and it’s quite fast. I also recently mapped b to . which makes typing IP addresses quite a bit faster.
What’s the background for that order? why not just asdfghjkl; to 1234567890? (just curious, no offense)
To emulate a numpad.
I’m using xkb and modified the custom layout so RAlt is Altgr and layer 3 places arrow keys under my right hand and various brackets under my left when I hold right alt modifier. Sorry I can’t give more info at the moment. Feel free to message me if you pursue this and hit a wall. I can provide more details this weekend.
[Edit: just saw the wayland info, apologies if that means xkb is out. Honestly don’t know the implications offhand. leaving this comment in case there’s anything useful]
Haha the edit about split keyboards, you know my every damn move. But really, I think you’re onto something there about finding a way to make your home row into a number row via some kind of layering. How exactly that’s done depends on what keyboard you’re using: if it’s an external keyboard then maybe you could use a QMK board and make custom layers for that. If it’s the keyboard built into your laptop, I’ve seen people mention KMonad working well for them, maybe that’s worth looking into.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m now using Kanata which is inspired by Kmonad and it’s working well so far. Despite the cool things that come with external keyboards split or not, I don’t want to be uncomfortable with my built in keyboard when my laptop is on my legs or I just don’t have access to a table in general
you could use evremap for a system wide keyboard remap on the device layer
Do you have especially short fingers? Or other physical problems?
Or do you just need to learn to type?
Thanks for the comment. Neither, I’ve been typing with 10 fingers for 3 years, and my fingers are normal. I just want to access my number row without having to move my hands as much. It’s a hyper optimization I know but I would move closer to typing and editing with the speed of thought if I do it
I’ve been typing with 10 fingers for 3 years
That’s 30 finger-years!
