The Most Aggressive
Keyboard Customisation
in the Town
Part 1

Hardware

First of all, I decided to use KINESIS's Ergonomic keyboard as my input device. It looks like this.

As a matter of fact, it is a little bit big for my hands (I am rather short; I was too lazy to grow up into a tall man), but much better than ordinary keyboards. Especially, it is a good thing that some frequently used keys, e.g., Back Space or Control, are assigned to thumb fingers. Thumb fingers have high motion performance and it is simply a waste to use them only for space bar.

For the details of Ergonomic keyboard, see KINESIS' web page.

Using XKB

Second, I decided to modify the layout of command keys, i.e., keys with Control or Meta. Emacs is a very powerful editor, but its command key layout does not seem ergonomic when compared to, say, vi.

Of course you can change key bindings with Emacs' 'define-key' command. But as Emacs has so many keymaps, it is difficult to redefine key bindings for all keymaps exhaustively. It is not what a lazy man would do.

So I decided to use XKB. It is an extension of the X window system that allows almost unlimited remapping of the keyboard layout. As key events are changed by the X server, you do not have to redefine every keymap with 'define-key'.

Here is the layout of my command keys.

I wanted to have two Control keys and two Meta keys at symmetrical and handy positions. That's why they are there. Then I gathered frequently used one-stroke commands on the right hand side and frequently used multiple-stroke commands on the left hand side. Here are some explanations.

• 'C-f', 'C-b', 'C-n' and 'C-p' are placed to the position analogous to vi. Obviously these four are the most frequently used commands and it is reasonable to set them there.
• 'C-a' and 'C-e' are something like 'super C-b' and 'super C-f'. So 'C-a is placed right above 'C-b' and 'C-e' is placed right above 'C-f'.
• Since 'C-p' and 'C-n' are now available at the right hand's home position, we can use 'up-arrow' and 'down-arrow' for other purposes. I swapped them with 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' so that I can scroll up and down not only the current window but also the other window.
• Furthermore I assigned 'Home' and 'End' to the shift positions of 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' described above, because the function beginning-of-buffer is something like 'super Page Up' and end-of-buffer is something like 'super Page Down'. These assignments also make the access to beginning-of-buffer-other-window and end-of-buffer-other-window' easy.
• Needless to say about 'C-d'; one of the most frequently used commands. It is accessible by the most quick finger, i.e., the right index finger.
• I seldom use the mouse for cut & paste. Instead, I use kills and yanks ('C-k', 'C-w', 'C-y', 'M-w', 'M-y', etc.) that are all one-stroke commands. So they are gathered together to the lower right corner.
• 'C-x' and 'M-x' are often used but they always require subsequent key strokes. So 'x' is assigned to left index finger (left for multiple strokes and index finger for convenience).
• 'C-s' and 'C-r' are very convenient commands but they require a string to be searched. So they are on the left hand side, too.
• I replaced 'left-arrow' key with 'undo'. This is an exception because 'undo' is a single stroke command. But the left-arrow keytop suggests something like 'going back'. Don't you think so?
• Lastly I separated 'Alt' from 'Meta' and made 'Super' and 'Hyper' also available.

OK, but how come the 'h' key is on the right hand side, and the 'z' and 'o' keys are on the left hand side? For the answer, see the next section.

Further modification with global-set-key

In addition to the remapping with XKB, I also put some 'global-set-key' commands in my ~/.emacs file for convenience.

• The two file finding commands 'find-file' and 'find-file-other-window' are assigned to 'C-o' and 'M-o'. With 'C-', this window; with 'M-', other window. They are frequently used, but the original bindings, i.e. 'C-x C-f' and 'C-x 4 C-f', are too long for a lazy man like me. They both require a filename input, so thay are multiple-stroke commands. That is why they are placed on the left hand side. See the explanation of 'C-z' and 'M-z' below.
• If we redefine 'C-o', where has the 'open-line' command gone? It is 'M-m'. Why? Because 'new-line' (assigned to 'C-m') and 'open-line' work symmetrically; the former inserts a '\n' before point and the latter inserts a '\n' after point. So now we have:

  key	function name	effect
  C-m	new-line	insert a \n before point
  M-m	open-line	insert a \n after point

  Well designed, isn't it?
• The two buffer switching commands 'switch-to-buffer' and 'switch-to-buffer-other-window' are assigned to 'C-z' and 'M-z'. With 'C-', this window; with 'M-', other window. They are frequently use, but the original bindings, i.e. 'C-x b' and 'C-x 4 b', are too long for me. They both require a buffer name, so they are multiple-stroke commands. That is why they are placed on the left hand side. See the explanation of 'C-o' and 'M-o' above.
  This setting eats up 'C-z' and 'M-z'. But once invoked, I rarely iconify Emacs. And I have never used 'zap-to-char'. So I do not need 'C-z' nor 'M-z'.
• 'C-h' (other-window) and 'M-h' (delete-other-window) are window changing commands. Here, 'C-' and 'M-' are not so much symmetrical compared to the other pairs described above. Anyway they are frequently used and do not require further input, so placed on the right hand side.
• If 'C-h' is used for other purpose, then where is 'help-command', originally assigned to 'C-h'? It is 'M-i'. I selected 'i' for the mnemonics of 'information'.
• As 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' are now available, we can use 'C-v' and 'M-v' for other purposes. Thus I assigned them '1-line scroll-up' and '1-line scroll-down'. These are useful to fine tune the displayed area.

This is the end of level 1 keyboard customisation.

• Keep on customising
• Go to the NPX top page
• Go to the homepage