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Comment by zarify | Hacker News Reader

Huh. Odd that he reckons IJKL would be better for vim keys considering you'd have to use the same finger for up and down, while using HJKL you can use different fingers for up and down as well as left and right.

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here's what i think. in both ijkl and hjkl, you have one finger doing 2 keys. In vi, it's pointing finger doing hj, moving side ways. In ijkl, it's middle finger doing up down. So i think ijkl is slightly better. I remember seeing similar analysis on coleman forum.

I see what you mean about the 1 finger 2 keys bit, but I find I tend to either be moving up and down lines or left and right in a line. With HJKL I'm then using two separate fingers for navigation horizontally and vertically. If I used IJKL I'd be using a single finger when moving vertically and two fingers horizontally.

I'm curious as to what people who spend more time in vim than I do think about that. Personally it seems more comfortable to be using different fingers rather than shifting when going up/down.

I'm not a vi user, but wouldn't you shift your hand one key to the left when navigating?

Yeah, he doesn't really present any logic for that, either. As if he's starting from the discrete arrow keys and making an assumption that this is an optimal placement. I remember struggling with up/down on arrow keys as a child, thinking it should be more like a cross, with a space between down and up, or with the left/right keys centered on the gap between up and down.

Edit: Echoing asdfs's comment elsewhere in the thread, I think that jkl; would be an alternative with actual, arguable benefits.

Put your ring finger in the gap between your I and K keys. To press one or the other, you don't have to relocate it, you just roll it in one direction or the other. It's similar to the technique of hitting any of the XABY buttons on an Xbox controller with the side of your right thumb while keeping the end of your thumb on the analog stick.

And in any case, when was the last time you moved up and down at the same time?

If you touch-type you use the same finger for j and h.

Sorry, I wasn't being clear.

Using HJKL: Navigating vertically is index finger on J, middle finger on K. Navigating horizontally is index finger on H, ring finger on L.

Using IJKL: Navigating vertically is middle finger on I for up, middle finger on K for down, so using the same finger and shifting keys when you need to change direction. Horizontal would be the same as HJKL.

This is what strikes me as odd about the cursor key layout: When changing direction vertically you have to physically change the position of your finger. With the vim (trying to resist calling it 'roguelike' :P) layout you're only moving your fingers when you're switching between vertical and horizontal.

I'm not sure why this bothers me as much as it does :/

Going up and to the left is far more common for me than needing to go up and down at the same time.

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