Q: How do you recognize experienced Emacs user?
A: Foot pedals.
http://bc.tech.coop/blog/041024.html
http://www.cb1.com/~john/computing/emacs/handsfree/pedals.ht...
A: Foot pedals.
http://bc.tech.coop/blog/041024.html
http://www.cb1.com/~john/computing/emacs/handsfree/pedals.ht...
I tried foot pedals (and still have them under my desk). They were better than nothing, but after I switched to the Kinesis Advantage keyboard I ended up not using them anymore. Hitting Ctrl+Alt with your thumbs is more convenient than hitting them with your feet, especially since I tend to fidget a lot. Another advantage (no pun intended) is that the arrow keys are convenient to hit, which lets you remap several standard Emacs keybindings. For example, I use C-b to switch buffers.
Neither switching keyboards nor using foot pedals solved my hand pain, however. I ended up having to take more drastic measures: I switched to the carpalx QGMLWB keyboard layout[1]. One of the advantages of the carpalx approach is the clear and powerful mathematical model which quantifies the effectiveness of keyboard layouts. I was able to select a layout that minimizes pinky strain--if I had switched to Dvorak or Colemak, I would have increased my pinky strain.
That's hilarious.
I get that emacs has technical merit but the keybindings are horrendous. Even if they don't cause hand pain they're long-winded and distracting.
Ha, after 26 years using Emacs I find Vim's keybindings long-winded and distracting. To each their own. However, unlike many people I don't dismiss vi because of unfamiliarity, or use them as an excuse not to learn the editor. I try to use it all the time, but I can never seem to train myself to do non-trivial things with it.
I have the similar problem with other editors: I've seen people rave about Sublime Text, yet none of its killer features (modulo multiple selections) really strike me as worth switching. And any of its features I think I want I could (conceivably) implement in Emacs, so...