Am I a genius or just lazy? I replaced my arrow keys with Alt + IJKL and I can't go back.
Hi everyone,
I've been a dev for a while (coming from VS Code to IntelliJ recently), and I've always hated how far the arrow keys are from the home row. Every time I need to move the cursor, my right hand has to perform a "travel" to that island on the right, and it breaks my flow.
So, I decided to "upgrade" my workflow. I remapped everything in my Keymap:
Alt + I / K -> Up / Down
Alt + J / L -> Left / Right
Alt + U / O -> Home / End (Total game changer!)
Alt + H -> Backspace
Now my right hand stays glued to the home row 100% of the time. My colleagues think I’m overcomplicating things, but I feel like a hacker.
I'm curious:
How do you guys manage cursor movement? Do you just accept the "long trip" to the arrow keys?
Do you use Vim mode instead of custom remapping?
For those who use similar custom layers, any "pro tips" to upgrade this further? (e.g., using Space as a modifier or better finger placement?)
Looking forward to hearing your ergonomic setups