![]() There are still ideas I’m waiting to implement: Double-tapping my Z key to undo (double-tap for Undo), for example. Once I became used to it, I moved to the next thing. First I modified my Arrow keys and made sure that works for me, and that I really do use their newfound powers to get actual work done. Instead, I am taking things just a few keys at a time. I found that it’s quite easy to go overboard with Tap Dance, setting up lots of keys and thoroughly confusing myself. While our keyboards can handle lots of Tap Dance keys, our minds may need some time to adjust. Take it slow: Tap Dance is (muscle) memory intensive With time, I’m sure I could get fancier - but I’m just getting started. I have a key that lets me quickly call up either of the two messaging apps I use all day long - I hold it to call up WhatsApp, and double-tap it for Telegram. But if I hold it, Obsidian, a personal knowledge management tool I use often, pops open. If you’re using Windows, you can use something like AutoHotkey for similar effects.Ĭombining Tap Dance with an automation tool like this allows for single-key access to any application on your machine, for example. I recently started using Keyboard Maestro, a powerful automation tool for macOS. Single-key Alfred: Holding M for a moment pops open Alfred (sends Cmd + Space which is my Alfred shortcut).Quit application: Holding Q for a moment quits the current application (sends Cmd + Q).Close window: Holding W for a moment closes the current window (sends Cmd + W).Next/previous tab: Double-tapping my Left arrow key moves to the previous tab double-tapping my Right arrow moves to the next one.New tab: When I hold down my T key, it pops up a new tab in whatever browser or application I’m using (sends Cmd + T).Media control: My Up and Down keys, when held, control Volume.This also works while holding down Shift, making it easy to select entire words when editing text. My Left and Right arrows start skipping whole words backwards and forwards when I press and hold them. Cursor control: I mentioned my Up arrow at the top of this post my Down arrow also sends Down when tapped once, and Page Down when tapped twice.I simply hold the key for a moment, and it does its thing. Single-key copy, cut, and paste: My X, C, and V keys now do double-duty as cut, copy, and paste - no modifiers needed.I’m sure you can come up with lots of other ideas for your own uses. Just to give you a sense of what can be done with Tap Dance, I’d like to share some of the uses I’ve discovered while testing the feature on my own layout. That makes it much easier to use - easy enough that my own layout is now full of tap-dance keys. The firmware side of it is documented here. It’s called Tap Dance, and it’s available by default on every key: Tap Dance And all of this is in addition to layers, and can work on any layer, across all of our keyboards. My Down, Right, and Left arrows are similarly powerful, as are some of the keys right under my fingers on the home row. If I hold it, it’s a Volume Up, and if I press, then hold - it activates the browser’s address bar (which is at the top part of the window, hence, “up”).įour actions, one key. It’s been a while since I was this excited about a new feature: My Up arrow now has superpowers! When I press it once, it sends Up when I press twice, it becomes Page Up.
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