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Hunt-and-Peck Typists and Remapping |
For word processing, keep your index finger on Space, your middle finger on Shift,
your ring finger on Delete, and your pinky on End, Ctrl, or both-depending on
the length of the finger. (Your pinky can also stretch over to Page Up and Page
Down, which are not remapped.) The ends of your fingers move down for comma,
period, Backspace and End, and maybe the keys under these. But the hand shouldn't
move—just the fingers below the knuckles. If you arch the hand, the thumb can
get Enter and the side of the hand can get Esc. The idea behind this approach to word processing is to have one hand do letters and numbers and the other hand do most everything else. Typing a Space between every word is a hassle if you must get all the letters with one hand. Holding down the Shift or Ctrl key at the same time as a letter is an even worse burden if you must do these things with one hand. My approach eliminates all these problems. For Net browsing, put your middle finger on Alt (which has a raised nub), your index finger on F4, your ring finger on Tab, and your pinky on the corner of Esc. The back command is Alt left arrow (slide the ring finger sideways to the arrow), the close command is Alt F4, and the task change command is Alt Tab. Mount a chart of these remapped keys on the front of your unused laptop keyboard, along with macro meanings. |
Skip this section if you're a touch typist. You hunt-and-peck typists will remap
your keyboard. But remapping is a built-in feature of the Comfort Keyboard that you'll need for any stilt, so it's a snap. Look at the pictures of the overturned
stilt keyboards. Notice that one of the three is all the keys a touch typist's
left hand covers, and one of the three is all the keys a touch typist's
right hand covers. These two keyboard sections are for touch typists only: you
won't even need them except for remapping your stilt. Look at the numeric keypad
part of the third stilt. This you need. Notice where everything is. But now consult
the diagram. Everything but Enter has been changed. This is how to remap
the keys. (The diagram is reversed since it's the way you'll need to make your
diagram—remember that you're typing upside-down.) |
For remapping most keyboards, use the KeyTweak app. It works great for Windows XP/Vista/7
32-Bit and 64-Bit! |