[galcerte]

Aren't keyboards with control, shift, escape, etc... where the thumbs should be objectively better in terms of ergonomics, though? At least if you're hitting those keys all the time, since the thumb's the strongest finger. I'm seriously considering getting a split keyboard after realising just how much I'm going to type in the following years and how much Emacs and/or Vim I'm using.

Something something Emacs pinky.

[throwanem]

Binding Caps Lock to Control helps with that. It's still far from ideal, but it is at least no longer actively terrible.

[cassianoleal]

That's what I do. It definitely helps. Heavy vi(m) users tend to map it to Escape, but I find that:

- I use Control a lot more than Escape (especially in the shell, where I spend a lot of time); and

- Escape is already not in a horrible position, and it's not a modifier key so I don't need to twist and curl my wrist and fingers in order to type a combination of keys.

[urxvtcd]

I have capslock configured to act as control when held down, and as escape when tapped. Best thing since sliced bread.

[malnourish]

I don't understand why one would set Caps Lock to Escape. As a vim user, I set it ton Control. Control+[ is effective for my Escape needs.

[jschulenklopper]

s/Control/Escape perhaps?

[seanw444]

Spacemacs leader key setup is very nice (I'm sure you could achieve it without needing Spacemacs) as nearly every command you do begins from the spacebar, and thus your thumb. Haven't gotten a sore pinky since. Well, actually, I never used the normal Emacs keybindings. I learned my Emacs knowledge starting with Spacemacs, but I never cared to learn the default bindings anyways.