Why Emacs Keys are Painful?

Very interesting read: [http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs\_kb\_shortcuts\_pain.html](http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_kb_shortcuts_pain.html)

Emacs keys are evolutionary vestigial functionalities inherited from the ancient days of computing. If they are painful for you, change them. That is the freedom you enjoy with Emacs.

Speaking as a vestigial from the ancient days of computing. I do not find them painful :-)

Same here.

I use a Kinesis foot pedal for my modifier keys, and it's reduced my emacs pinkie considerably. I have been using emacs since the 1970s, so...

My (untestable) belief is it's really all down to the stress/tension in people's typing habits, at least if Ctrl is moved to a less ridiculous position next to A. I hear people insist that basic Emacs movements like `C-f|b|a|e|n|p` are some sort of awkward crippling claw-hand ordeal, but for me it's just a case of a relaxed pinkie depressing the key next to it while my other fingers type as normal - no more tension than any other typing. In fairness though, I'm used to Thinkpad keyboard layouts where the Alt/Meta is under X, which means Meta is still comfortable and easy. It's kind of weird to me that the standard on full keyboards is such a huge space bar. Even the Thinkpad's is pointlessly large IMO - the polish on my keyboard shows I almost always just tap it between B and N.

The Kinesis keyboard is a game changer!

Swap the Ctrl key and Caps Lock, it helps to avoid "Emacs pinky": https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey

I took it from this tutorial: https://youtu.be/d6iY_1aMzeg

Train your eyelash muscles so you can manipulate your eyelashes - separately and together, for chords and coordinated movement. Use package `eyelash-gestures`. Unlimited nano-level resolution/differentiation of eyelash movement and positioning "key" bindings. Takes about 13 years to get the hang of it, depending on your level of commitment. But once you do... Power! Flexibility! Fireworks orchestration! Ballet! Modern dance! (Warning: Combining with foot-pedal control is *not* recommended, and may be illegal in some countries.)

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That sounds about right. I would add that I never learned to be a strict home-row typist. I taught myself to type in the 1970's on a manual typewriter (damn, writing that made me feel old) using all my fingers to type any key. It is not as efficient, but has the advantage that I move my hands more which makes it easier to type key-combinations without stressful contortions that others complain about.

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Learning how to touch type with all 10 fingers made a huge difference to me. So has alternating modifier hands. By alternating modifier hands, I mean pressing 2-3 keys with one hand as infrequently as possible. If the combo is `C-x-s` I hold `C` with my right hand and tap `x-s` with my left hand. I have also made my CAPS key another ESC. This makes akward `C-M` chords easier. I just tap ESC then the `C-x` part of the chord separately. Example: `ESC C-f` for `C-M-f` This means my hands/wrists move, swivel and bend nerves less often.

I'm very much a home-row touch typist, though with modifiers that requires some shifts (e.g. `C-a`, `M-x`). It would almost certainly be better if I learned to use the right alt and ctrl, but I never have.