From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Miles Bader Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Arrow Keys? Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:16:17 +0900 Message-ID: <877hympsxa.fsf@catnip.gol.com> References: <791jqsF1otu7cU1@mid.individual.net> <7a6lokF1trukkU1@mid.individual.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1246840906 9208 80.91.229.12 (6 Jul 2009 00:41:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 00:41:46 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Jul 06 02:41:39 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MNcH1-0003ny-TK for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:41:36 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:55318 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MNcH1-0000gl-Dt for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:41:35 -0400 Original-Path: news.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 27 Original-X-Trace: individual.net 6r4eSMxUMxaDHb/h8+yg3AhfX1YKa8hUmBAhshpU3JcspaChXM Cancel-Lock: sha1:Ba71I0HvBHN1DSYDte/AMV6QSwg= sha1:X8sUbhh4WqX8GppuejBm/WjyP6w= System-Type: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu Original-Xref: news.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:170590 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:65794 Archived-At: use.address@my.homepage.invalid (Chris Gordon-Smith) writes: > Perhaps an expert can type slightly faster using C-N etc., but much > of my time in front of a keyboard is in any case spent thinking, so > any increase in typing speed would be marginal. Note that there are other good reasons besides the "home row advantage" (though that is quite real) to use the standard Emacs keybindings. They represent a sort of "system", and getting used to the C-f etc help you become familiar with it. By "system", I mean that e.g., C-f moves forward a character, M-f moves forward a word, C-M-f moves forward an expression, etc. By using C-u prefixes, you can then "amplify" these movements, again with fairly minimal finger movement (e.g. C-u C-u C-f moves forward 16 characters, etc -- and this is simpler to type than it looks: it's really "C- u u f", and the u and f keys are right under your fingers). Once your fingers start to feel comfortable with this, it _really_ helps make movement fast, easy, and precise. Then you'll start to understand why long-term Emacs users consider the arrow keys clumsy and awkward... -Miles -- "She looks like the wax version of herself." [Comment under a Paris Hilton fashion pic]