Janardhan Pulivarthi

Posted on Jan 13, 2022 • Edited on Feb 3, 2024 • Originally published at i.janardhanpulivarthi.com

Hand position for Ctrl key?

I am referring to touch typing, it is a bit painful to Ctrl + ~, is there a better way to do that?

We can press it with bottom start of the pinky finger.

Practice this key hand positioning, it will payoff in the long run.

`Ctrl + Shift + ~` for opening terminal

Make a karate movement!

`Ctrl` for control key combinations

We can press it with bottom start of the pinky finger.

📝 The second trick I have learned sometime from some reddit post

Happy coding!

Top comments (26)

Nick • Jan 13 '22

IMO, the best way to solve this whole Ctrl-issue is to bind Ctrl to Caps lock.
Such layout was a default option in the past.

Janardhan Pulivarthi • Jan 13 '22 • Edited

I type most of the Java variables in CAPS, so for me I could not remove / swap caps.

Austin S. Hemmelgarn • Jan 13 '22 • Edited

One option for that is to just turn on Sticky Keys (or whatever your desktop calls it). Most implementations let you double-tap a modifier key to ‘lock’ it, which lets you use Shift just like you would on the keyboard on your phone.

Janardhan Pulivarthi • Jan 13 '22

Okay, now I learned what to do with sticky keys. It is helpful. It would take a while for me to make use of sticky keys.

Nick • Jan 13 '22

Yeah, it's a good reason to not swap Caps!
My advice is not suitable for everyone, of course.

insidewhy • Jan 14 '22 • Edited

Most variables in caps? Shouty! I thought the majority of Java apps use lowerCamelCase and just caps for configuration constants?

Janardhan Pulivarthi • Jan 14 '22

Even for a single CAPS word, I prefer CAPSLOCK on instead of Shift+. Some people can have other preference. 😊

Janardhan Pulivarthi • Jun 1 '22

You can press shift with left hand, like a karate hand strike. And | with right hand pinky finger.

If you see the first (ctrl +shift + ~) press position in this post, you place more pressure on shift key.

Brad • Jan 13 '22

Ctrl + Shift + ~

I don't think I've ever had to execute this shortcut to open a terminal on any of my systems, or if they were there I never used it. I have had to use Ctrl + Shift + ESC, which is similar, but this usually is a "one-time-task" such as opening something that I wont ever close/toggle.

Currently in windows I use Win + ~ to toggle a "quake" terminal. Almost the same thing, but without the nasty Shift.

Bobo Brussels • Jan 13 '22

I have never gotten this detailed 😅

Radu-Alexandru B • Jan 14 '22

In Windows, you can use AutoHotKey to map every command you can think of to every possible key or combinations of keys.

I wrote some articles about this a while ago, you can find them here: dev.to/radualexandrub/top-8-macros...

Alg • Jan 18 '22

For me it's super hard to reach how it was shown in the post above.
My most unused keys are: cap locks, right alt, right shift, left alt.
You could, for example, do this:

If ALT key is easily reachable with your thumb, swap CTRL and ALT. It is hard to learn using it.
Cap locks - backspace
Right shift - I have it as ESC because I was using VIM a few months ago
Right alt - make it act like some FN key, e.g. holding it and pressing WASD would make them work as arrow keys, or maybe Home up/dn, Page up/dn?

If CTRL/ALT/Shift is a huge problem for you, and you don't play video games, you can try home row modifiers:
there's Super/ALT/CTRL/Shift on both sides of your keyboard and when you press a key shortly, it will act as a key press, not a modifier. If you hold it and press any other key, it will act as a modifier.