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I've recently been suffering from some wrist pain in my left hand, and singled out the cause to be the extremely uncomfortable way I have to bend my wrist and fingers to hit the control key.
I've tried out two different methods:
I currently use the first joint where my pinky bends (about one third up the finger from your palm) to press control. Whenever I want to create a control group or select a certain unit, I extend my pinky straight and lay the bone down on the button. However, this causes issues when I want to quickly press control and then shift in quick succession, for example when I want to hotkey eggs with my main army. I first need to straighten out my pinky to press control to single out the eggs from the selection UI, and then quickly (and uncomfortably) snap it back into a bent position to press shift with the tip. Alternatively, I have tried hitting shift with the tip of my ring finger but this forces my wrist to bend almost 45 degrees, again, uncomfortable.
The second method is to keep the pinky curled up at all times and bend the wrist to hit control with the nail or the tip of the finger. Then to hit shift, just unbend the joint slightly. This allows me to hit control and shift in slightly quicker succession but is overall more uncomfortable.
So in my first thread, I ask, what is the most ergonomic way to hit the control and shift keys?
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1. Put your right hand on the keyboard.
2. Press shift with your index finger
3. Press Ctrl with your thumb
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I'd check this out. Remaps all hotkeys to the right side of the keyboard, so you press shift and ctrl with your thumb.
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Hello,
I have had minor fatigue issues with this, exacerbated by the fact that I play on a laptop (smaller keyboard). Since I don't get this problem when I bother to plug in a full keyboard (think how sheth has a keyboard on his lap, I have one as well), I tried to figure out what the difference in hand position was.
What I've found, and hopefully this will help you as well, is that on the smaller laptop keyboard, my wrists are angled outwards, while my hands stay anchored on WASD. This moves the outer fingers forward, and results in me straining my pinky to reach downward for left shift and left control. So what I do now is shift the laptop slightly left, so that my left hand pinky rests just about on shift. By this I mean if I push straight down with my left hand, my pinky will be pressing shift.
My problems with control stem from reaching down when setting control groups 1-4. So I did a weird workaround: I move my hand out of position and use my thumb to press control, then my index or middle finger to press 1-4. This feels natural to me, as a piano player by hobby, and since the majority of my control groups are 1-4, the few times I need to set 5-0 end up not being an issue. I also set hatches as 0 and pool as 6, but those occur early enough in the game that I often just use my right hand to hit those keys.
Uh... hopefully that answers your questions. Basically, I tried to figure out what about my setup wasn't working, turns out my hands were rotated for the shift key, and for control I made some minor workarounds. Try experimenting with different hand positions, sitting positions, keyboard height, seat height, until you find something you're comfortable with. (All of these apparently affect the ergonomics of the hand when using a computer, according to the ergo training I had to do.)
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I've had ctrl and shift bound on mouse buttons 4 and 5 for a long time. I really like how it frees your left hand from having to reach for them all the time.
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I had the same problem until I stated turning my keyboard slightly clockwise so it is in about a 10:20 position. What this does is allow me to reach #6 and 7 with my index finger while pressing Ctrl with the pinky. It also means that shift isn't such a bend fro your pinky. The only problem it doesn't solve it the ctrl issue.
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I just rotate my hand counter clockwise when I use ctrl. Like a resting position on "1234" then rotate so pinky goes down to ctrl then pointer finger goes up and its closer to whatever # you want to press.
For shift its exactly same thing except pinky goes to shift instead of ctrl, also when i do shift my hand tends to rise off the keyboard a little more which is more comfortable for me.
Instead of curling my pinky i just rotate my wrist more or less depending if i want to press shift or ctrl.
edit: always using the tip of the finger not the lower part of the pinky, that seems less accurate.
Hope thats what you were asking.
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On August 13 2012 03:48 PikQ wrote:
I've had ctrl and shift bound on mouse buttons 4 and 5 for a long time. I really like how it frees your left hand from having to reach for them all the time.
Sounds like a strange way to go about it. Is it viable? What league are you in?
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I do see alot of pros use there right hand on the keyboard from time to time, i suppose this is what they are doing. Personally i just press with my pinky but i have long fingers and play piano alot so its not difficult, i guess just find a way that you dont have to contort your hand to reach it and just practice untill it comes naturally. I've also heard of people using capslock somehow, i suppose you can just bind it ingame might be eisier than ctrl.
edit; The mouse button thing seems actually to be a good solution if you get used to it, hitting those buttins with your thumb can become second nature so it shouldnt be difficult to use them to make controll groups or whatever else you want to use controll/shift for.
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I personally use my pinky finger on control and my ring finger on shift, works really well!
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On August 13 2012 04:35 sickkungen wrote:Show nested quote +On August 13 2012 03:48 PikQ wrote:
I've had ctrl and shift bound on mouse buttons 4 and 5 for a long time. I really like how it frees your left hand from having to reach for them all the time. Sounds like a strange way to go about it. Is it viable? What league are you in?
I do this, it's very viable imo. I'm only diamond but what's holding me back is not the way i press ctrl and shift ^^
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On August 13 2012 04:47 Zrana wrote:Show nested quote +On August 13 2012 04:35 sickkungen wrote:On August 13 2012 03:48 PikQ wrote:
I've had ctrl and shift bound on mouse buttons 4 and 5 for a long time. I really like how it frees your left hand from having to reach for them all the time. Sounds like a strange way to go about it. Is it viable? What league are you in? I do this, it's very viable imo. I'm only diamond but what's holding me back is not the way i press ctrl and shift ^^
Me too, I use autohotkey to rebind. I don't anymore because I'm to lazy to rewrite the script (Y)
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On August 13 2012 04:47 Mavvie wrote:
I personally use my pinky finger on control and my ring finger on shift, works really well!
This. Your fifth and fourth finger should be curled almost completely as though you were using them to clutch a pencil. Now your index and third finger can easily reach 1-4. With my reach, I can easily reach 5-8 as well. Sometimes for 7-0, I put my thumb on the right-side ctrl/shift key, but I rarely use those.
Flattening your hand is going to strain the muscles and will quickly tire you, and cause you pain with extended use (as you have noticed). A gently/moderately curled hand is a stronger, more agile, and more natural position. It will not be painful and you will not tire nearly as quickly. This is why piano students are taught first thing to keep their hand curled even though it feels contrived and unnecessary at first.
It will probably help if you can angle your keyboard with the right side toward you a little. If you took this to the extreme, the number row would be a vertical column and you could easily pinkie-index ctrl + almost every number.
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Pinky for both left control and left shift.. never had a problem. Using ring finger for Shift feels really off and seems to make army control with 1/2/3 very difficult.
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On August 13 2012 03:33 Mr_November wrote:
I've recently been suffering from some wrist pain in my left hand, and singled out the cause to be the extremely uncomfortable way I have to bend my wrist and fingers to hit the control key.
I've tried out two different methods:
I currently use the first joint where my pinky bends (about one third up the finger from your palm) to press control. Whenever I want to create a control group or select a certain unit, I extend my pinky straight and lay the bone down on the button. However, this causes issues when I want to quickly press control and then shift in quick succession, for example when I want to hotkey eggs with my main army. I first need to straighten out my pinky to press control to single out the eggs from the selection UI, and then quickly (and uncomfortably) snap it back into a bent position to press shift with the tip. Alternatively, I have tried hitting shift with the tip of my ring finger but this forces my wrist to bend almost 45 degrees, again, uncomfortable.
The second method is to keep the pinky curled up at all times and bend the wrist to hit control with the nail or the tip of the finger. Then to hit shift, just unbend the joint slightly. This allows me to hit control and shift in slightly quicker succession but is overall more uncomfortable.
So in my first thread, I ask, what is the most ergonomic way to hit the control and shift keys?
bet you 5 bucks your left elbow is tucked against your body. try moving your keyboard back far enough that you can put your elbow on the table, and make sure you bend your elbow so it forms a < on the table between you and the keyboard. you don't need to bend your wrist to hit shift/ctrl that way, if you use the fingertips, pinky on ctrl and ring on shift.
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United States22154 Posts
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Shift with pink
Control with palm
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My method is the following:
Use thumb for both shift and control for groups #1, #2, #3 and #4.
Use pinky for both shift and control for groups #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #0 and #J.
I sometimes use the shift and control buttons of the far lower right side of the keyboard (under the enter button) for #8, #9 and #0. But that's rare.
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Hm usually I just use pinky=ctrl, ring=shift. Keeps my hands moving (just a little rotation) but you might not want that >.<
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Yeah as pnad mentioned, use the fat part lower left part of your PALM for Ctrl
I don't think you'll ever feel any strain again using CTRL that way
As for SHIFT the jury's still out on that one for me too...
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Just use your thumb if it bothers you that much
Losing half a second while you move your hand is going to lose you games
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Well, I know that this is reviving an old post, but I'm new to this game and wanted some opinions on just rebinding the control button. Since it seems that ctrl can just be really hard to get to and since the spacebar doesn't really seem to be that useful if you just watch your minimap and properly hotkey things you need to check, would it be so bad to rebind control to the spacebar? It seems like it would be much easier to set control groups if I had all the room in the world to press space with my thumb and be able to get to all of my numbers... I want to learn starcraft 2 properly and not develop bad habits, so If this isn't a good idea(maybe I SHOULD use spacebar?) please let me know.
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28090 Posts
On November 08 2012 16:02 whiterabbi6 wrote:
Well, I know that this is reviving an old post, but I'm new to this game and wanted some opinions on just rebinding the control button. Since it seems that ctrl can just be really hard to get to and since the spacebar doesn't really seem to be that useful if you just watch your minimap and properly hotkey things you need to check, would it be so bad to rebind control to the spacebar? It seems like it would be much easier to set control groups if I had all the room in the world to press space with my thumb and be able to get to all of my numbers... I want to learn starcraft 2 properly and not develop bad habits, so If this isn't a good idea(maybe I SHOULD use spacebar?) please let me know.
It all comes down to what is most comfortable for you. It isn't a bad habit, but it isn't optimal, neither is control though. In all honesty, control is probably better if you can learn to use it, but if your not planning on going pro, just be comfortable.
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Tips of your fingers fellas.
Just like when you learn to play the piano. If you can't do it with a quarter balanced on top of your hand you're doing it wrong. "Bubble position".
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maybe it's just my keyboard... My school gave us a Macbook so maybe I should try it on a separate keyboard before I switch key bindings...
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EPT
