Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Sorting out Dvorak keyboard layouts on OS X and parallels

I'm getting annoyed that the shortcut keys I'm used to on Windows, for navigating text and for Ctrl-key combinations, are different on the Mac. And different again on the Parallels VM.

I would like it to be like Windows:

Ctrl-arrows = word left or right
Alt-arrows = navigate forward and backward in browser
Shift = select text
Home/End = beginning/end of line
Ctrl-key = shortcut, where key is what it would be labelled if it was a Dvorak keyboard

Interestingly, os x applies the face letter of the key as a shortcut. On Windows you press Ctrl-B I think to get Ctrl-X; on OS-X it's actually Cmd-X.

In OS X, with Control and Command keys swapped in System Preferences - > Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard ->Modifier keys, I get this behaviour:

Ctrl-arrows = nothing
Alt-arrows = nothing
Command-arrows (Windows key) = word left/right
Ctrl-key = shortcut
Command-key = alternative character

Also, the Fn arrow keys should, according to the keyboard's labels, function as Home and End, but they don't. I can't get that functionality that I can see.

Alt = command key (funny cross thing)
Ctrl = ctrl key
Windows = option key

This page has a very good article from Apple's KB:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304270


It links to the MS keyboard layout creator tool:

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx

But now some people seem to have worked on the Home/End key problem:

http://www.starryhope.com/tech/2006/mac-os-x-home-and-end-keys/

The crux of the problem is that I want to press the Ctrl key and get left and right, but also get shortcuts. But while I can switch the Ctrl key to be the Option key (which on the Mac does the word-skipping), then I can't use it to be the command key (which on the mac does the commands). Worse, when I go to Windows, it interprets the Ctrl key as the Alt key (of course), and opens the menu bar. So Ctrl arrows doesn't work there.

Some help might be available here:

http://lists.apple.com/archives/projectbuilder-users/2002/May/msg00474.html

This gives information on the key bindings file and some actions and keys that you can use in it.

2 comments:

Michael Fielding said...

This page mentions a special UK keyboard layout file. Perhaps it wouldn't be too hard to make my own keyboard layout file for Dvorak.

Michael Fielding said...

This page mentions a kext that enables the dead / | key next to the L-hand shift key.