Ask HN: Were arrow keys a mistake? Should they just have been delegated to HJKL?
A few months ago I finished TypingClub and while I type much better now, I couldn't keep my right hand on the home row for too long because I would have to shift it to the arrow keys anytime I wanted to move around. Recently I decided to completely disable and replace them with H J K L after I started learning Vim. Vim uses those keys because those were the arrow keys on Bill Joy's keyboard when he made Vi.
I wonder if it should've stayed that way with keyboards. If the average non tech savvy person knows to press shift to capitalize, as well CTRL C X V, then would it be easy for them to know to press a modifier key plus H J K or L to move around? In such case would it help to print the modifier key in small font on the corners of the H J K L keys to help type them?
It seems like computer have really been optimized for low learning curves for the average person, and to the cost of efficiency, at least arguably.
I wonder if it should've stayed that way with keyboards. If the average non tech savvy person knows to press shift to capitalize, as well CTRL C X V, then would it be easy for them to know to press a modifier key plus H J K or L to move around? In such case would it help to print the modifier key in small font on the corners of the H J K L keys to help type them?
It seems like computer have really been optimized for low learning curves for the average person, and to the cost of efficiency, at least arguably.