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Comment by clarry | Hacker News Reader

If anyone's using modifiers on alpha keys with QMK, let me know what sort of setup works for you. Right now I have ctrls under both pinky fingers (A and S since I'm using dvorac), and it kinda works but but I'm not 100% happy with it. Either I get unintended ctrl-modified presses while typing normal text, or a crtl-modified combo does not register because I do it too quick.

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Have you tried IGNORE_MOD_TAP_INTERRUPT?

https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/features/feature_advanced_keycodes#...

Basically, it makes it so that if you want to use A + L for Ctl + L you have to:

Press A

Press L

Release L

Release A

Anything else will send As and Ls.

I ran Alt under my pinkies, Ctl under my ring fingers, Shift under my middle fingers, and Win under my index fingers for a long time. It worked well most of the time.

Yep, I've played with these options. MOD_TAP_INTERRUPT is enabled (and arguably should be the default, because the defaults don't make sense). It helps but doesn't fix my issue.

I've tried CTL_T(KC_F) for a single day only. I though it was a good idea to have all the modifiers under the home row. It doesn't seem like the index finger is a strong finger as it started to hurt after only a few hours of heavy use. Neither the other ones seem to be strong enough except (I'm hoping) the thumbs.

So for now I'm mapping Ctrl to the thumb cluster (on an Ergodox) and the lesser used modifiers like Alt can be in the home row, for now.

I don't seem to be having problems with the unintended presses though. Try lowering the TAPPING_TERM, maybe?!

I think lowering makes these unintended presses more likely; raising makes them less likely, but then I'm less likely to get a modifier when I want (because I type the combo too quick).

I initially lowered it from the default of 200 to 150, and I've been slowly raising it back. I think it's 185 now but I might go back to 200. Only that will just make it miss more quick combos.

As for index: I don't think it's so much about strength as it is about getting used to it. Mostly everyone with a normal keyboard probably uses pinky to press ctrl, and I have a hard time imagining the pinky would be stronger than index finger. But yes thumb keys work better if you have them.

My Plank EZ is a bad compromise on that front. Not only does it lack a proper thumb cluster, it also has a 2U spacebar, which removes one precious thumb key. Only the middle 4 (or 3, due to 2u space) keys on the bottom row are easily presesd with thumb. The rest of the bottom row keys go virtually unused for me.

I'm a bit slow with the keyboard so maybe that's why I don't have problems with these unintended presses. Yet. It's 200 for me, but also like 50 wpm until I manage to get back to speed.

Nah, I'm palm-pressing the Ctrl key on a classic keyboard. I wrote about it here [1]. It was fine for a few years, until I got wrist pain and back problems from leaning on the right side (to reach the right Ctrl with my palm comfortably). So that article needs an update, but I kid you not, there are non-pinky users out there :)

https://mihaiolteanu.me/emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys/

You could try and use one key for changing layers and have all the movement keys, or your most used keys, on that layer. You could even try to palm-press one of they keys since it seems doable on a Plank. Then you would not have a need to use the Ctrl key that often.

I've tried this with the Ergo and one of the cluster keys. It works nicely. I'm not used to the modal, Vim-like editing though.

Palm presses don't really work for me. If I need to type fast and comfortable, I need to float my wrists well above the keyboard, kinda like a pianist. It's impossible to palm press from that position.

Actually lowering my wrists to the level of the desk in front of the keyboard is painful, and I have a wrist rest in place to prevent that. So I can't really palm-press even when I'm not floating my hands as such.

Yeah, I made binds for CTRL+Z/A/C/V/X with the lower modifier so I can use my left thumb + ASDF for them.

There's an option you can enable where the modifier always registers as a modifier if you press another key while holding it, no matter how fast.

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