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Home row mods and mod tapping

2025-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

This blog post was planned as part one of three. I wanted to talk about how I tried to implement home row mods on my Keychron Q1 Pro with VIAL, why I needed VIAL to make home row mods really usable and how I failed to do so, because… reasons. But because I had very little time in the past couple of weeks and couldn't write the second and third part, things changed quite a bit and I'm currently no longer using my Keychron board (I still love it though). I bought a split ergo keyboard instead (a Silakka54), which already has support for VIAL and therefore makes it a lot easier to use home row mods. So instead of continuing this series I will soon write an article about my new layout on the Silakka.</em></p>

For a few weeks now I've been reading and watching A LOT</strong> about split ergonomic keyboards. These keyboards are primarely used by software developers or professional typists. With their unique layouts and form factors, they can significantly help with RSI (Repetitive strain injury</a>) and other related issues that usually stem from hours of typing with bad – or at least not very ergonomic – posture in front of a screen.</p>
Most split keyboards do mainly two things: First, they reduce finger movement by removing a whole lot of keys, typically having between 32 and 58 keys. Second, they improve posture by allowing your hands to rest in a more natural, open position by spreading them further apart. It's the first part that had me intrigued the most.</p>
Currently, I use a more traditional keyboard, a 75% board to be precise, without a numpad. It's kind of a budget board, but it feels and sounds amazing, and I genuinely love it (more about my love for mechanical keyboards here</a>). However, I sometimes struggle with typing. I particularly hate the keys I have to reach with my pinky fingers or – even worse – the numbers on the numbers row. It does not feel comfortable, it takes more time and its awful. And don't get me started on the F-keys. But the real end bosses are the modifiers. Most of them are placed in such an awkward position … yuck, just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.</p>

Did you know?</p> </div> </div>

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, these are the modifier keys: Shift</code>, Ctrl</code>, Option</code>/Alt</code>, and Win</code>/Cmd</code>/Super</code> (depending on your OS). They're used to modify</strong> the output of any key and allow you to use shortcuts. For example, when you press Shift + a</code>, the result is an uppercase A. Cmd + c</code> let's you copy something. And so on …</p> </div> </div>
When I discovered there are keyboards that simply don't have these keys, I was really curious how that would work and how one could type comfortably on them. Reducing the number of keys on your keyboard can be a bit intimidating. Besides having no F-keys and, on most boards, also no numbers row, it's the modifiers that to me seem to pose the greatest challenge.</p>
The question is: Where do you put the modifiers when your goal is to have fewer keys and as little finger movement as possible? The answer is …</p>
Mod-tapping and home row mods</a></h2> What is a home row, you ask? Well, the home row is the row of keys where your fingers should naturally rest – on a</code>, s</code>, d</code>, and f</code> for the left hand, and j</code>, k</code>, l</code>, and ;</code> for the right hand (that is if you are using a standard QWERTY layout, but let's not get into different layouts just yet). On many keyboards, you have little dimples on your f</code> and j</code> keys so you can find the right position without looking, just by feel alone.</p> In ergonomic keyboards, it's all about the home row. You want your fingers to stay as close as possible to it without moving too far away while typing. The further a finger has to move, the longer it takes, and the more strenuous it can become over time. This is where mod-tapping comes into play. When I first read about this, I felt literally mind-blown. But what is mod-tapping? In short, mod-tapping adds a second function to a key, depending on whether you tap or hold it. For example, you could configure the spacebar as a mod-tap key where a tap outputs a single blank space (as usual), but when you hold it down, it now acts as a Shift</code> key.</p> This feature makes it really obvious where the modifiers should go on an ergonomic keyboard: directly on the home row! And thus, home row mods were born. By simply placing Shift</code> on a</code>, Ctrl</code> on s</code>, Option</code> on d</code>, and Cmd</code> on f</code>, you can now access all modifiers without leaving the home row by just holding down the respective button. On the right-hand side, you do the same, just mirrored. So Shift</code> on ;</code>, Ctrl</code> on l</code>, Option</code> on k</code>, and Cmd</code> on j</code>.</p> These are just suggestions. Depending on the OS you're using and your typing style, you might want to change the order of the modifiers. Feel free to explore and try out different setups.</p> </div> </div> And there you have it. Problem solved. You can now use your modifiers without moving your hand, stretching your fingers to awkward positions, or even leaving the home row. Nice. There is one thing, though; using them takes a bit of time and effort. As always, practice is key. But in time, it will come as second nature, save a lot of time, and keep you healthy.</p> Now back to me and my situation: I am neither a developer nor a professional typist, and I don't own a split/ergo keyboard (yet). I also do not suffer from RSI. But I do love the idea of home row mods and strongly believe that even with a normal</em> keyboard like mine, I could profit immensely from them and greatly improve my typing experince. So naturally, I wanted to give it a try. But as it turns out, implementing and succesfully using this is easier said than done.</p>

I added a books page 2025-02-25T00:00:00+00:00 tl;dr:</strong> I added a books</a> section to my website where I track my progress of all the books I read (or audiobooks I listen too). My goal is to read at least 12 books every year.</p> As mentioned before</a>, I'm not a big fan of social media platforms. I banned almost all of them from my life. I deleted my Facebook account years ago, Twitter followed soon after, and at the beginning of 2025, it was time to let go of Instagram. I did this because I realised I spent too much time just mindlessly scrolling through my timelines, checking for new content, over and over again, post after post. I spent hours this way – hours I will never get back. So I had to stop. I deleted my accounts, deleted the apps, and never looked back.</p> Well, actually…</p> </div> </div> As you might have noticed, I did not turn my back on social media completely. I got myself a Mastodon account to take a peak into the Fediverse. But I'm constantly reminding myself not to fall back into old habits. I carefully select who and what I follow and try not to overdo it. You can follow me here if you like: social.anoxinon.de/@the1klpx</a></p> </div> </div> The last remaining platform I use is YouTube. Their Shorts</em> section works the same way as X, Instagram, or TikTok (which I thankfully never used) and is highly addictive. But I can't let go of YouTube at the moment because it has a lot of amazing content, especially tutorials for literally everything. But what I can do is reduce my time there, which I did by cancelling more than 90% of my subscriptions. I only kept a selected few that I usually watch for educational reasons, not for pure distraction.</p> With all this done, I now have a lot of spare time that I need to fill with more productive</em> things – things that are fun, let me learn, or just don't feel like a complete waste of time. Like building this blog, for instance. Or improving my typing skills. Or (and this is what this post is actually about) reading more books.</strong></p> At the beginning of this year, I decided to spend more time reading. I know, I know, New Year's resolutions are usually bullshit, but this is different. Trust me. I always enjoyed reading books from an early age – in school, in my grandparents' garden, on Christmas, on holidays, at night under the blanket with a flashlight. But as I got older, I found more hobbies, had a girlfriend, a job… there was less and less time for reading books.</p> But I never stopped buying books. Especially eBooks. Just recently, I started putting them all in a Calibre library and, to my shock, realised that I had collected more than 700 (!) eBooks over the years, most of which I have never once opened. And on top of that, I had also bought (or received as gifts) a few more analogue</em> books that now sit on my bookshelf and have been sitting there for years.</p> This has to stop.</a></h5> Therefore, to motivate myself and make my progress more visible, I added a books section to this blog, which you can find in the menu above. Sadly the idea is not my own; it's something I found on Spencer Harston's website</a> and shamelessly adopted for myself. Thanks, Spencer.</p> So there you have it. All these many words and digressions just to say: "I added a new feature to my site."</em> Follow my progress if you like. Maybe this motivates you, dear reader, to take up a book yourself. If so, let me know. It would make me very happy.</p> The joy of mechanical keyboards 2025-02-20T00:00:00+00:00 About two years ago, I was searching for a new keyboard. I didn't know much about keyboards back then and was exclusively using those made by Apple. I even used them on my Windows machine at work (with a few tweaks and hacks to get the macOS shortcuts working). They felt great, they were quiet, and I enjoyed typing on them. Although typing meant using my two index fingers, with the occasional glance at the keyboard. Not very fast or efficient, but most people type that way, I guess.</p> While searching, two separate thoughts crossed my mind, reshaping how I viewed keyboards. First, I decided that I wanted to regain the ability to type with all ten fingers – something I had learned as a child on a typewriter but had since forgotten. Second, I suddenly felt the urge to learn a programming language, preferably something not too complex, like Python.</p> So I did a little research, and it didn't take long until I stumbled into the world of mechanical keyboards. And boy, oh boy, was I instantly hooked. Until that moment, I wasn't aware that this was still a thing. Of course, growing up, my first keyboards were all mechanical, but they were loud and clicky and eventually got replaced by cheap rubber dome keyboards. But as I stepped deeper into this rabbit hole, I quickly realised that they were very much alive and came in all kinds of sizes and forms.</p> This was it. This was what I needed: a mechanical keyboard.</a></h5> Two reasons brought me to that conclusion. The first reason was the feel, the haptic feedback, and the sound of a mechanical keyboard. Oh, especially the sound. The more videos I watched (and I watched for hours; you'd be surprised how many videos exist of people just typing in front of a microphone), the more I fell in love with this deep, kind of soft sound of some of these keyboards (I later learned that this sound is called thocky</em>). I wanted that. Like, really wanted that. Suddenly, my Apple keyboard felt dull and boring to me.</p> Did you know?</p> </div> </div> There are a few different sound profiles that members of the keyboard community try to achieve. They largely depend on the size and material of the keycaps, the choice of switches, and the materials of some of the keyboard's parts as well. Besides the mentioned thocky</em> sound profile (my favourite), there are also profiles that are described as creamy,</em> marbly,</em> or clacky.</em> And of course, almost no sound, if you prefer a more silent keyboard.</p> </div> </div> The second reason was that I was solely used to a German keyboard layout. I was aware that other layouts existed, but that was about it. In my research about how to best learn Python, though, I quickly found out that the German layout might not be the best for programming because characters like ;</code>, [</code>, {</code>, }</code>, and ]</code> were harder to type; whereas on a US layout keyboard, those characters were easy to reach with the right pinky. And what do you know, there are a lot more options for mechanical keyboards (and keycaps) on the market for the US layout than there are for the German layout.</p> So I ordered a mechanical keyboard. My choice fell on a budget-friendly product from Keychron</a> (the Q1 Pro, which was just released at the time). After a few modifications to improve the sound and some trial and error with the choice of keycaps and switches, I now have a keyboard that feels and sounds amazing. And my research was right. It took me only a few weeks to get accustomed to the new layout and at the same time learn to type blind</a> with all ten fingers, not the least because of how easy it was to type on the Q1 and how much joy it gave me. And still does.</p> Regarding the layout</p> </div> </div> I'm actually not using the US layout but rather the EurKey</a> layout, which is very similar but allows me to use the German umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and the ß without too much trouble.</p> </div> </div> Every morning when I sit down in front of my computer and my fingers touch my keyboard for the first time to enter my login credentials, in this moment I feel pure happiness and joy. This might sound cheesy or weird, but sometimes something as simple as that can make your day. I can only recommend trying it out for yourself and getting a mechanical keyboard. They come in many different sizes</a>, the most popular (besides full-size) being 80% or TKL (without the numpad), 75% (without the numpad and with less navigation keys) and 65% (no numpad, sometimes even less navigation keys and no F-keys), and in many different profiles</a>, from high and sculpted keycaps like the SA profile to really low-profile keycaps that still have mechanical switches underneath. And of course, there is a really wide price range, from cheap plastic keyboards to expensive CNC-machined full metal keyboards with lots of options. There's a keyboard for everyone, even ergonomic versions for those who suffer from chronic pain in their hands, arms, or shoulders. The sky is the limit.</p> Quotes I 2025-02-19T00:00:00+00:00 I'm currently reading The Colour of Magic</em></a> by Terry Pratchett, and one sentence in particular has really resonated with me. I find it quite beautiful.</p> “If words had weight, a single sentence from Death would have anchored a ship.”</em> — Terry Pratchett</p> </blockquote> Daydreaming 2025-02-18T00:00:00+00:00 Once in a while, I have these recurring daydreams in which some well-known person from human history, like Aristotle, Beethoven, or van Gogh, is suddenly transported from their time to ours and lands at my place. Neither of us knows why it happened; it just did. And we're usually very calm about it, as if it's just another Tuesday.</p> The interesting part is – at least to me it is – that it's not like a story I play out in my mind; it's always more like a thought experiment. What would be the next logical step to introduce said person to our time and our technology without overwhelming them too much? Do I show them the TV? Do I let them take a peek out the window to show them what modern transportation without horses looks like? Do I try to explain to them what The Allmighty Internet is?</em> How about giving them the combined human knowledge by showing them Wikipedia?</p> Of course, both of us speak perfect English in these dreams, whether or not that makes sense. They're still dreams with dream logic.</p> </div> </div> It's like I'm doing trial and error in my head. "If I do this, what would their reaction be?"</em> I'm constantly trying to find new ways to soften the blow.</em> And it's not only that. It's also a test of my knowledge. Am I able to explain to them what things are and how they work? Like, what is electricity? How does a computer actually work? How is there water coming from the tap without a visible pump or a stream outside? This usually adds a whole new level to the dream because I might start a full-length explanation about the big bang and how stars are born, just to move on to what supernovae are and how we all are made of stardust.</p> Remember, this all happens only in my mind. Most of the time, this is where the dreams fade out and I come back to reality, but sometimes we arrive at a point where I take it a bit further and decide to take them outside. Which opens up a whole new way of problems. I mean, the car alone has a few inventions I might have to explain. Do you know how seatbelts work? How about a combustion engine? And then, of course, the outside world. I could start by showing them our city centre, with those high buildings, underground transportation, escalators and lifts, lights everywhere, or begin naming all the countries and regions in the world and explain where they are, or how about a lesson in history… but maybe not recent history; I don't want to traumatise them.</p> This is the furthest I have ever gone in any of these dreams and only happens very rarely. Most of the time, the dreams are very short, lasting only a few minutes while I'm waiting for something or right before falling asleep in bed. There's also a second kind of daydreams I sometimes have, but those are usually a lot darker. Maybe someday I write about those too.</p> Blogging and me 2025-02-16T00:00:00+00:00 This is a little bit weird. Starting a blog feels old and new at the same time. New, because I haven't set up a website in many years, and old, because this is not my first plunge into the sea of blogging and "content creation".</em></p> I grew up with the internet. I was 11 when the World Wide Web</em> (www) was born and 13 or 14 when I started to play around in HTML. Back then the first version of CSS was just released and we barely used it. Websites had almost no styling and if you wanted a complicated layout you had to use tables.</p> A few years later, blogging was invented. Somewhere someone came up with the idea to write articles, sort them chronologically and release them alongside an RSS feed for others to subscribe to.</p> Well, technically…</p> </div> </div> Blogging was actually way older. It started before the www with Usenet posts and it continued before RSS feeds were a thing, with personal diaries. But it really took off in the late 90s/early 2000s which is also when the term blog</em> was invented coming from the much less cool weblog.</em></p> </div> </div> I was always part of it somehow. I had my own websites, I used blogging services, I started using content management systems and so on. But I also always struggled with creating content and writing. Every project would eventually die down and be forgotten.</p> And then social media came and changed the game completely. And I learned something new about me:</p> I hate Social Media!</a></h5> Of course I had it all. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram… you name it. But as I am a little socially awkward I always felt a little bit uncomfortable. It's the same with small talk. I'm jealous of people who can just start talking about themselves without doubting if someone actually wants to hear it and finds it interesting. I couldn't do that and still can't. Which meant that more than once I deleted all my posts and started anew just to delete it all again a few months later.</p> "Why would anyone want to read about me and my boring life?"</em> That's always my first thought. I don't have a fascinating hobby, I don't "nerd out" over something interesting, and I'm also not a very good writer. Especially not in a foreign language.</p> But recently I was introduced to the Indieweb (by this guy</a>) and found my way to a beautiful post</a> by Manuel Moreale about how it's not important what you write and that it doesn't have to be perfect. And that really resonated with me.</p> So … here it is. I started. I don't know how often I will write a post, I don't know what I'll write about, and I really don't care if anyone is ever going to read this. But I feel like this is a useful tool just to focus my mind in moments where it is all over the place, to think about something else than the daily doom messages, and to improve my writing in the english language.</p> Here goes nothing.</p> Hello World 2025-02-14T00:00:00+00:00 Hello, world. I'm back.</p>