Re: Mapping for one handed touch typing

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 10:03 PM, Robert Bower <frrobert2@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am a occasional Vim user. It is my default rescue editor and I use it for a few tasks but not many. I would like to use it for more because it is so customizable. What holds me back is I am a one handed left handed touch typist. I only have use of my left arm.
>
> The problem I have with Vim is while the key maps are natural for a two handed touch typist, they are awkward for for a one handed typist. The home row for one handed typing is fghj. That makes the direction keys of hjkl somewhat unnatural.
>
> Before, I create my own map, I was wondering has anyone found a remapping for one handed typing?
>
> Thanks in advance.

I'm not a touch-typist, but I usually type one-handed, with most of
the fingers of my right hand, which jumps this way and that over the
keyboard in a manner similar to how a pianist's hands may jump from
one octave to another. I don't use "special" one-handed mappings,
though; the mappings I use are either for key sequences which I use
often, or ones which are difficult to find on my Belgian AZERTY
keyboard (e.g. <F9> for Ctrl-] in both Normal mode [to follow Vim's
help hotlinks] and Insert mode [to end an abbreviation or to avoid
triggering it]).

So if you find out that there are complex key sequences that you use
repeatedly, or key combinations which are awkward to get on your
particular national keyboard, that's what you should assign to the
{rhs} of your mappings — which will probably be different than mine,
because they should suit you, not me. As {lhs} I recommend the Fn and
Shift-Fn keys with the exception of <F1> (Help) and maybe also <F10>
(Menu). Or, in Normal mode only, any non-ASCII key (if there are any)
present on your national keyboard: mine has ² ³ é § è ç à ° ù µ £ but
yours may have a different set.

IMHO any Vim user, touch-typist or not, left-handed, right-handed or
both, should learn which keys do what in Vim (in Insert mode, of
course, most keys used just by themselves, or only with Shift, insert
a character into the current editfile; but even in Normal mode, most
keys do something), then it's just a matter of remembering which key
or key combination does what. And my counsel is not to try to use only
hjkl to move the cursor to the next character cell: Vim understands
what the arrow keys do, and it listens to the mouse, so don't be
afraid to use them. (Of course, on a desktop keyboard the arrow keys
are usually on the far right, and that could be awkward for someone
who hasn't got a usable right hand, but it is common to all programs,
not only Vim.)

To learn which keys do what, I recommend the "vimtutor" utility,
distributed together with Vim: it moves the beginner step by step
through the elementary use of Vim; and then I recommend to all users,
beginners or otherwise, to make good use of the online help: AFAIK, no
program available today has such a complete and detailed help system,
available at every user's fingertips without even leaving the program.


Best regards,
Tony.

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