Wield the Keyboard

In 1868, a man by the name of Christopher Sholes was sitting at his desk with this sequence of letters and numbers in front of him:

 3 5 7 9 N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
2 4 6 8 . A B C D E F G H I J K L M

It was the keyboard of the first ever typewriter. The letters were staggered resembling a piano, had black keys and white keys, and was laid out in two long rows. There were no keys for 0 or 1 as the letters O and I were deemed sufficient.

Eventually, after years of experimenting with different layouts to make the keys jam less, Sholes ended up with this layout:

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - =
Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] \
 A S D F G H J K L ; '
  Z X C V B N M , . /

Being a newspaper publisher, Sholes would spend hours typing up new documents, so jamming the typewriter usually meant smudges or restarting altogether. His fix was simple: rearrange the keys, learn the new map, stop the jams.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he had tried vertical rows or clusters by hand position; our muscle memory and shortcuts might feel entirely different.

We can use the same mindset. Our keyboards no longer jam, but our work does, mostly when we leave the keys for menus, mice, and wandering cursors. Seeing the keyboard as a map you can master keeps the work smooth.

A few to try this week

Cmd/Ctrl + P in VS Code to jump to files; add :line to hop inside them.
Opt/Alt + ←/→ to move by words, Cmd/Ctrl + ←/→ to line ends; add Shift to select.
Cmd/Win + ←/→ (or your tiling shortcut) to snap windows; Cmd/Ctrl + Tab to flip tabs.
Cmd/Ctrl + L in the browser to focus the address bar; type, Enter, back to work.
Remap caps lock to Ctrl/Esc if you use Vim or Terminal. It's a tiny change that feels like a new layout.

Make it stick

Pick three shortcuts, keep them on a sticky note near your monitor, and use them until they're automatic. Next week, add three more. It's the same practice Sholes used: adjust the layout you rely on, then train your hands to follow the new pattern. Sholes would be proud.

Some shortcuts and references I use often: