Chris Jones wrote: > On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 11:47:46AM EDT, Barclay, Daniel wrote: ... >> >> You can go: Control-down, x-down, f-down, Control-up, x-up, f-up; and >> that can be done in one rolling motion in about 1/3 of a second. > > More like one tenth of a second for an average typist..
True, but I didn't want to low-ball it. Yes, it is basically a single motion. > Odd that emacs > should advertise this as Ctrl-X Ctrl-F.. it should be represented as > something like Ctrl-XF.. or Ctrl+{XF}, maybe..? Why? It was a control-x character followed by a control-f character. Whether you achieve that by pressing the control key twice, once for each character, hold it down once (or combine the left and right control keys on modern keyboards) isn't relevant (to specifying the characters). > Perhaps I'm the only one who finds this misleading.. :-) > >> Sure, not every keystroke combination is that easy, but many are >> easier than they seem initially. > > Where the above no longer works for me is when the two action keys do > not belong to the same half of the keyboard - such as Ctrl-X Ctrl-P, > because I would use my right thumb to action the Control key, the left > hand ring finger to hit X, and then would be stuck having to maintain > the right Control key depressed and hit the "P" key with my right pinky. Ah, that might be your problem right there: Using "proper" shifting technique (as a typing teaching would presumably teach). Oh, wait--you aren't switching from left to right control key there. But you are using a thumb on an improperly positioned control key. Such an abomination! :-) Try using your left pinky on the (left) control key its rightful (original) place, immediately to the left of the A key (assuming English/QWERTY layout)). Then use your left ring finger (instead of the "proper" left pinky) on the q, a, and z keys when you need to enter C-q, C-a, or C-z, respectively; and shift fingers on the next column or two as needed. The C-x C-p is easy: left pinky left control down, left middle or ring finger x down, right pinky or ring finger p down, and then all finger up in any order you want (or no order (simultaneous)). Daniel -- (Plain text sometimes corrupted to HTML "courtesy" of Microsoft Exchange.) [F]