[peepee1982]

Slightly off topic. But when I got my first 60% keyboard I started using the SpaceFN layout (via TouchCursor on Windows) and never looked back. Even on larger keyboards.

SpaceFN turns your space bar into a meta key, and arrows/home/end/pgup/pgdown are all reachable from the home row. I can't go back.

You can't use it in application that need to know if your holding down the spacebar (graphic design software, games). I switch it off for those. But otherwise I haven't had any issues (besides TouchCursor, which is buggy and need a restart every now and then).

[renke1]

Having navigational keys on the home row is something every software developer should use (but almost no one does). Unlike Vim-style keybindings it just works everywhere.

Personally I am using an unused key on my keyboard (layout) as modifier to access them. My particular mapping is based on the Neo Layout [0]. Basically FPS-style WASD but shifted by one key to the right.

As tool to change keyboard layout I use Interception Tools [1] and a personal C program. The advantage of interception tools is that it works everywhere (even outside a desktop environment).

[0]: https://www.neo-layout.org/ – It's a German page, but you can look at "Ebene 4" on the keyboard thingy to see the layout.

[1]: https://gitlab.com/interception/linux/tools

[scns]

Thank you, this makes so much sense! I use Neo2 on a 75%, longer learning curve but absolutely worth it IMHO. Sadly the docs are only german, think i'll have to do something about it.

https://neo-layout.org/

[scns]

On Linux there is NEO-qwerty, which gives you the layers minus the ergonomic enchancements and learning curve.

[piva00]

I do something similar on MacOS with Karabiner, instead of the Spacebar I use the Caps Lock to become a Meta-key (Cmd + Ctrl + Opt + Shift).