deskthority

Posted: **03 Aug 2011, 10:14**

I am thinking of getting a keyboard through http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/ from the US. One of the things I like about the customising options is the possibility to make your own keycaps with additional shortcuts. Particularly in combination with autohotkey (or the linux/mac equivalent) this provides great opportunities to really improve the usability of the keyboard for use in word processing or spreadsheets etc.

Of course you would need to re-route the 105th key to a 104 key keyboard (UK layout here), but this is I think a small price to pay. I had already thought of specific Euro and Pound hotkeys, switching the ctrl and capslock keys around, as well as keys for use with Zotero (http://www.zotero.org) to manage my literature references, the standard music hotkeys and certain macros for use in word processing (e.g. insert comment, insert table row). With regards to the colours of the keys, this may be particularly useful for the F1-F12 keys as I have difficulty in touchtyping those, but possibly also elsewhere - Not certain about this yet.

Yesterday I saw this link on geekhack:

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:9140

Which gave me even more to think about. I think some of the reasoning behind the keyboard is really smart and could benefit productivity. I'm wondering if you have any other options or shortcuts that have really improved your work and that you would like to share? I'm not a hardcore gamer so am not really interested in special keys for FPS or MMORPGs, but all the more in things that can be used at work. Thanks for the help!

Posted: **03 Aug 2011, 11:06**

AHK Script for example

Code: Select all

;Media Keys - Win+F1-F3 for Mute, VolDown, VolUp
#F3::
SoundSet +1
SoundGet, master_volume
voltip := Round(master_volume)
Tooltip, Vol: %voltip%`%
SetTimer, RemoveToolTip, 2000
return

#F2::
SoundSet -1
SoundGet, master_volume
voltip := Round(master_volume)
Tooltip, Vol: %voltip%`%
SetTimer, RemoveToolTip, 2000
return

#F1::
Send {Volume_Mute}
SoundGet, master_mute, , mute
if(master_mute = "on")
{
Tooltip, Mute On
}else
{
Tooltip, Mute Off
}
SetTimer, RemoveToolTip, 2000
return

RemoveToolTip:
SetTimer, RemoveToolTip, Off
ToolTip
return

(ripster post this at GH)

there are many more options....

if you need some special characters (europe) you could also try this:
http://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/index.html

Posted: **03 Aug 2011, 12:21**

CeeSA wrote:
if you need some special characters (europe) you could also try this:
http://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/index.html

The UK extended layout is already well tough to write in many languages, but is not as rich as the US international or the eurkey, btw some needed characters can be easily added with the Microsoft keyboard layout editor

Posted: **03 Aug 2011, 12:45**

Thanks for that EUR keyboard link, I did not know of it! Amazing how many of these links are actually used by other keys. I also don't really get how the composition key works, but will see if I can figure that one out. I saw there is some wikipediag page on it.

Posted: **03 Aug 2011, 14:18**

CeeSA wrote:
if you need some special characters (europe) you could also try this:
http://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/index.html

[Klugscheißer-Modus an]

Sorry, but I would question the capacity of the author who proudly claims that thanks to his program, it is possible, when the CapsLock key is activated, to write the following sentence without having to use the Shift key:
"ER HAT 3 HÜHNERAUGEN AN SEINEM LINKEN FUß."

As a matter of fact, the German letter "ß" is a lowercase-only character and does not exist in uppercase. When the whole word is to be written in capital letters, "ß" is to be replaced with "SS":
Ein großer Fehler -> EIN GROSSER FEHLER, Fuß -> FUSS

[KLUGSCHEISSER-MODUS AUS]

Posted: **07 Aug 2011, 02:35**

on US-Dvorak

Umlaute <+ = lshift, >+ = rshift

Code: Select all

>+a::SendPlay ä
>+<+a::SendPlay Ä
>+<+o::SendPlay Ö
>+o::SendPlay ö
>+u::SendPlay ü
>+<+u::SendPlay Ü
>+s::SendPlay ß

toggle always on top window state

Code: Select all

^F2::WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, Toggle, A

scrolling if taskar has been clicked on changes volume

Code: Select all

#IfWinActive ahk_class Shell_TrayWnd
	WheelUp::Send {Volume_Up 5}
	WheelDown::Send {Volume_Down 5}
#IfWinActiv

vim-like composition key to automate bracketing (unpolished)
L1: keystroke following ',' has a max length of 1
T1: timeout of 1 second to trigger any actions
{{}{(}{[}{<}: endkeys (optional)

Code: Select all

~,::
	Input keys, L1 T1, {{}{(}{[}{<}
	if ErrorLevel = EndKey:{
		SendPlay {backspace}{{}{}}{Left}
	else if ErrorLevel = EndKey:[
		SendPlay {backspace}{(}{)}{Left}
	else if ErrorLevel = EndKey:(
		SendPlay {backspace}{[}{]}{Left}
	else if ErrorLevel = EndKey:<
		SendPlay {backspace}{<}{>}{Left}
	else if keys = c
		SendPlay {backspace}{End}{Enter}{{}{Enter}{}}{Up}{Enter}{Tab}
	else
		SendPlay %keys%
	return

vim-like delete last word

Code: Select all

^w::
	if WinActive("ahk_class Vim")
		SendPlay ^w
	else
		SendPlay ^{backspace}
	return

deskthority

Which shortcut keys for an autohotkey-enhanced keyboard

Which shortcut keys for an autohotkey-enhanced keyboard