[nnnnni]

False!

The #1 trick is to swap control and caps lock. The #2 trick is to use control-[

[gnosis]

Some other approaches:

- use the caps lock as escape

- use the space bar as escape

- map jk or jj as escape

I've personally been using the escape key itself for so long it doesn't bother me. I no longer even notice that it's any further for me to reach than other keys, so I have no reason to switch. And that leaves all those other keys I mentioned above for other purposes. For instance, I've mapped the space bar to : Now if only I could remember to use it.

[raylu]

Have you considered swapping Esc and Caps Lock instead? Caps Lock is not very useful so tossing it into the corner makes sense to me.

[Kluny]

You can do both, actually. Using KeyRemap4Macbook, my esc is now capslock, and my capslock is ctrl if I use it with another key, such as ctrl-s, and esc when I use it on its own.