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pico: Thoughts on Emacs and small keebs
December 06th, 2020
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This pico entry comes from ruminating more on the Aetreus keyboard[1] that I've
been using and my long-time predilicition for using Emacs-like editors.  My
quick thesis here is that 60% keebs are the right balance of size for heavy
Emacs editor users.

I still use my Keyboardio Aetreus every day for work as well as regularly on my
Chromebook that has been liberated with Ubuntu and the feeling is fantastic.
However, I've noticed some friction in Emacs because of the reliance on
number-shifted symbols (!@#$% etc) and the heavy reliance on C-x [number] for
window and frame management.

Sure, I could create a new map to deal with the window and frame management
commands and bind that to a key chord that is easier to hit without numbers,
but it would be a bigger pain to remind all of the number-shifted commands.

I'm not talking about throwing the whole thing out; it works well enough
especially as an alternative to cramped laptop keyboards.  But given an option
over a 60% keeb versus something comparable to the Keyboardio Aetreus (like a
Planck[2]) everything just works so much better when you have dedicated number
keys.

Here's a really quick breakdown of what I think a perfect (for me) Emacs
keyboard would have:

- The most important ideas is a focus on keeping modifier keys under the
thumbs.  At least CTRL and ALT/META should be kept within easy reach of the
thumbs.  (And perhaps should even be right next to a small spacebar!) They're
the strongest fingers and easily able to deal with heavy workloads that require
lots of usage in heavy editing sessions (such as refactoring code).

- A small spacebar.  Or a spacebutton.  The space 'key' isn't important enough
to take up the majority of the bottom row when you can make it smaller to allow
for modifiers to be more easily hit with the thumbs.

- Enough keys to have a dedicated Hyper key within easy reach of the thumbs.
This is something I haven't figured out on my Preonic yet, but having a whole
new layer via the Hyper key allows for much more comfortable keybinds within
Emacs without resorting to having to use Hydras or keybinds like C-$-%-q.  I
would love to be able to have another set of easy binds on my homerow with
another modifier key without having to move my hand too much.

- A dedicated row of number keys above the letters for ease of hitting commands
like M-^ or M-%.

[1] gopher://tilde.institute/0/%7ejtecca/phlog/20201006-keyed-in.txt
[2] https://olkb.com/collections/planck