[ahmedalsudani]

Emacs is a great platform, but the default key mappings make it an RSI machine.

If I recommend Emacs to anybody today, the first thing I would tell them is to:

- enable evil mode and prefer its interface to vanilla Emacs

- install doom-emacs and learn to love the leader key instead of the C-[...] combinations

And of course what you said about moving your whole hand and using both hands still applies, including when you need to use the shift key.

I started to develop RSI once in 2015 and got my act together after that scare with an ergonomic setup and better practices. It's been smooth sailing since, always as an Emacs user.

[Ferret7446]

> the default key mappings make it an RSI machine.

Citation needed. Even the poster child for that rumor, RMS, fixed his problem by switching to a better keyboard.

[ahmedalsudani]

I'm describing my experience. Feel free to live according to yours if it differs.

Also, in jest: citation needed on the RMS claim. We can all play that game ad absurdium :)

[Ferret7446]

https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

> In the mid 90s I had bad hand pain, so bad that most of the day I could only type with one finger. The FSF hired typists for me part of the day, and part of the day I tolerated the pain. After a few years I found out that the pain was due to the hard keys of my keyboard. I switched to a keyboard with lighter key pressure and the problem mostly went away.