Hi,
Because of an arm repetitive stress injury (RSI), I recently started to use the Portable Keyboard Layout with bépo layout.
In this layout, the keys "Z", "X" "C" and "V" are not on the left hand but on right hand (for me, the hand of the mouse) and too much far from the Control key for a "one hand usage".
Is it possible to keep the original layout when some combinaisons with the key Control are pressed (like Ctrl+C, ...)?
I see in the AutoKey documentation that this can be easely achieved with a script (^c::^c).
Is the PKL.exe support AutoKey scripts? If yes, what are the names and where put them?
If not, is it possible to do that with the layout.ini or the pkl.ini?
Thanks a lot.
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Keep layout when Control key is pressed
- Started by mariaevinne
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Hmmm...! As a Bépo user, one wonders why you ask at the Colemak forum? Maybe because we use PKL so much? :-) Bépo exists for PKL too, so that may be your angle. In fact, my dead key tables owe much to the Bépo ones.
Using AutoHotkey scripts together with PKL may be tricky, if they use low-level hooks. But if not, they may run at the same time without trouble. Have you tried that? Other than that, no: PKL doesn't support other scripts except by including them and recompiling the code (making sure that no conflicts are created). Which is complex.
What I'd do, personally, would be to use Extend mappings! With Extend, Caps+ZXCV produce your desired results. I use them a lot. In addition, you have nice navigation possibilities. I think Extend is a great tool for RSI alleviation. Check out my Extend topic, linked to from my Big Bag topic. In my PKL files there's no Bépo but a lot of nice Extend mappings. You could add your layout to my files.
I'm not sure whether PKL actually supports it, but the KLC files that PKL is based off do support Ctrl+key mappings. If this is indeed possible, then it's a simple matter to just edit the mappings you want into your Bépo layout pkl.ini file!
While we're at it, also consider some ergonomic mods like Angle and Wide for your RSI. And of course I'd recommend Colemak-Curl(DH) but if you were interested in that I guess you'd have said so already. ;-)
Last edited by DreymaR (19-Sep-2017 11:30:49)
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An alternative (and layout independent) solution is "sticky keys", which allows you to "serialize" key combinations, eg. "Ctrl+C" becomes "press and release Ctrl, then press C".
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Good call, Ghen! I was going to mention sticky keys but forgot it. :-)
When I get to it, I'll implement sticky keys in PKL too. Useful to have it work portably. I hope it won't interfere badly with the system handling of modifiers...
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Sticky, or One shot modifiers could be used in programmable keyboards using QMK. I have my Shift and Ctrl sticky without messing with OS.
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Sure, I have them in my TMK files. But on the laptop I haven't got any TMK/QMK, only PKL. Besides, TMK can't have all my AltGr and dead key mappings because of memory and OS restrictions. So it can't replace PKL for me.
Last edited by DreymaR (20-Sep-2017 09:29:21)
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I don't see why you would want to implement it in higher layers like PKL. Most OS'es have sticky keys as an accessibility feature (at least Windows, Linux/X.org and OSX), so why not use that?
Then it's independent of any funky keyboards, layouts, scripts or whatnot. I've used it in Windows with PKL on top, with no interference issues.
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Good question. Someone – I forget who – wanted it, and I agree.
The main reason to put it into PKL would be portability. One useful application for PKL is to provide your desired layout with all the trimmings from a simple double-click, say, using an USB drive. In this case it's beneficial not to need further adjustment in the OS to get what you want.
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Ok, I misinterpreted the term "portable". I understand it as "portable between OS'es" (which none of all these layout customisations are), you meant it as "take it with you wherever you go".
I have no such use case, but it's a valid argument.
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