My Keymap Setup

I use speech-to-text apps. Speaking is far faster than typing, and I prefer to avoid hitting keys whenever possible—typos happen, and Japanese conversion in particular is tedious. In an era shifting toward voice input, talking about keyboard configurations might feel a lap behind. But handing rough prompts over to voice has only made me notice the friction even more whenever I return to the keyboard to write careful prompts or make fine adjustments.

I adopted SpaceFN well before AI development became mainstream. Compared to Japanese layouts, the spacebar on an ANSI keyboard is unusually long, taking up prime real estate right under both thumbs. Leaving all that space idle just to insert a single whitespace character is a waste. The goal is to make the most of where the thumbs naturally rest.

A single tap of the spacebar outputs a space, while holding it down activates a navigation layer. Cursor movement and editing operations can be completed without ever leaving the home position.

I also rely on combos (simultaneous keypresses). Without stretching the pinky or chording Shift with number keys, two keys on the home row produce the symbols frequently needed in prompts.

This article was edited primarily by an LLM based on the author’s key configuration and notes.