Comment by makeitdouble | Hacker News Reader

Comment by makeitdouble | Hacker News Reader

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If the overall "on steroid" metaphor is on how Vim will improve typing performance and give an edge over organically growing your keyboard commanding abilities but lead to early health problems...I totally agree with the title (also a good piece with good advices otherwise).

Vim was my primary editor for a bunch of years, and it's definitely fast and helps to utilize keyboard commands to the maximum extent. That's also the years I started getting RSI, changed a lot of habits, keyboards, postures etc. to come to the conclusion that the real issue was plainly doing the same movements over and over.

As a data point of n=1, optimizing workflows for maximal productivity meant doing the same optimized actions again and again, and do them fast. Which wasn't good. Reducing "productivity" and introducing more input methods that I can switch to here and there when I feel like it helped a lot. So less touch typing marathons, less shortcuts, more GUI and more variety overall.

As a counter data point, I switched to vim precisely because constantly reaching for the mouse was causing my problems. I switched to a vertical mouse for a while and it helped, but still had problems. I switched to a connected split keyboard (Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000) and now use a fully split keyboard (moonlander).

Having the keyboard tilted and each half far away so that my shoulders aren't rotated inward was a huge win for me.

But I guess when I was using the mouse, I wasn't "slow". I would "rapidly" switch from keyboard to mouse as fast as I could. The longer it takes me to get something from my head onto the screen, the more distracting and exhausting I find it.

Eventually there will probably be neural links, and you just think something and it happens. Until then, vim is as close as I can get it.

I got over the productive porn real quick when I figured out that given little more than say, line numbers and syntax highlighting, the bottleneck is already thinking speed and not editing speed.

When you're using the keyboard, are you, for lack of a better word, very "tense" when pressing the keys? Do you "peck" at them with very brief, high-force pulses?

Among those I know who've complained about RSI and the like, the common trend I've noticed is how they press the keys --- very abruptly and probably with far more force than necessary.

I've been using vi for literally decades so I don't think it's to blame. I average 140-150wpm on prose and can type all day at that speed.

Yes, you're spot on. I was using a mildly stiff, mechanical split keyboard while having relatively weak fingers.

Stopped using it and switch to a low profile chiclet keyboard where I was using way less strength, and could type more loosely. It also made it way easier to type on glass, as an unintended side effect.

Switching to a trackpad also helped in interesting ways, as I got rid of many keyboard shortcuts for page navigation, app switching etc. and moved to gestures instead.

To note, I still use vim a lot. Just not as my main editor. Also the changes I made are probably very personal and wouldn't have the same effect on other people with different tendencies.

Just curious, would/do you do a lot of pinkie stretch movements i.e. to hit ctrl? I've remapped using autohotkey ctrl to caps lock on my personal computer and its a godsend to bypass this. I seriously think this should've been the convention. I wish I could enable it on my locked down work laptop.

Worth noting Microsoft actually distributes an "official" (quotes cause it was made by an employee seemingly out of their own desire, but it's distributed on MS's website) program that maps ctrl to capslock. Aptly named, Ctrl2cap [1]

Thought they really ought to just let you do this out of the box already. macOS lets you map modifier keys to other functions just in the regular old system settings.

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/ctr...

It was, then as usual IBM mucked it up. The only thing worse might be the Amiga layout… letter width capslock to the left of A, and then a 1.25 width ctrl directly to the left of that.

I did a lot of changes, so which one would have sufficed is hard to tell (in exchange I have absolutely no RSI left).

I use keyboards with extra keys so the esc key was always mapped pretty near. With IME languages an ESC+language switch shortcuts is absolutely needed anyway (at least for vim users)

> That's also the years I started getting RSI, changed a lot of habits, keyboards, postures etc. to come to the conclusion that the real issue was plainly doing the same movements over and over.

I started getting RSI. Not really from coding, but from mouse use in games like Quake and Half-Life. My fix was actually to start riding a bicycle, and getting in general more fit, going to the gym, etc. RSI disappeared as I got more fit. The real issue is to live a sedentary life without enough bit muscles movements.

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