GNU bug report logs - #76763
TUTORIAL: Add suggestion to Palm-Press CONTROL Key

Previous Next

To reply to this bug, email your comments to 76763 AT debbugs.gnu.org.

Toggle the display of automated, internal messages from the tracker.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Prafulla Giri <prafulla.giri <at> protonmail.com>
To: "bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org>
Subject: TUTORIAL: Add suggestion to Palm-Press CONTROL Key
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:53:34 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Esteemed maintainers,

After having developed Emacs Pinkies as a novice, and on finding https://mihaiolteanu.me/emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys and switching to the Palm-Pressing technique for the past couple of months, alleviating the issue, I am of the opinion that the tutorial introduction to Emacs ought to warn of the RSI and suggest the preventative measure, and, therefore, submit a patch (attached), accordingly, for your consideration.

Thank you.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

[0001-etc-tutorials-TUTORIAL-Add-suggestion-to-Palm-Press-.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Prafulla Giri <prafulla.giri <at> protonmail.com>
Cc: 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#76763: TUTORIAL: Add suggestion to Palm-Press CONTROL Key
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:51:19 +0200

> Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:53:34 +0000
> From:  Prafulla Giri via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org>
> 
> After having developed Emacs Pinkies as a novice, and on finding
> https://mihaiolteanu.me/emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys and switching to the Palm-Pressing technique for
> the past couple of months, alleviating the issue, I am of the opinion that the tutorial introduction to Emacs
> ought to warn of the RSI and suggest the preventative measure, and, therefore, submit a patch (attached),
> accordingly, for your consideration.

Thanks.

I think this fits the Emacs FAQ better than it fits the tutorial.

Message #11 received at 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Prafulla Giri <prafulla.giri <at> protonmail.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#76763: TUTORIAL: Add suggestion to Palm-Press CONTROL Key
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:38:15 +0000

On Wednesday, March 5th, 2025 at 7:36 PM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:

> I think this fits the Emacs FAQ better than it fits the tutorial.

I think it is better if novices were shown the healthier way right from the get-go: the tutorial. Discussions of RSI-prevention is often intensive: covering custom keybindings, split-keyboards, etc. much above what a novice can take in. In my own case, I'd heard of Emacs pinkie but didn't exactly know what it was till I woke up with them; and I'd deferred learning about ergonomic emacs til I sufficiently mastered vanilla emacs. I really wish I had someone tell me to palm-press to begin with. And what better place than the tutorial itself? I think we'll save upcoming generations starting on the now-prevalent keyboard lots of strain if we only give them a heads up.

Message #18 received at 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
To: Prafulla Giri <prafulla.giri <at> protonmail.com>
Cc: 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#76763: TUTORIAL: Add suggestion to Palm-Press CONTROL Key
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2025 13:44:57 -0700

Prafulla Giri <prafulla.giri <at> protonmail.com> writes:

> On Wednesday, March 5th, 2025 at 7:36 PM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>
>> I think this fits the Emacs FAQ better than it fits the tutorial.
>
> I think it is better if novices were shown the healthier way right from the
> get-go: the tutorial. Discussions of RSI-prevention is often intensive: covering
> custom keybindings, split-keyboards, etc. much above what a novice can take
> in. In my own case, I'd heard of Emacs pinkie but didn't exactly know what it
> was till I woke up with them; and I'd deferred learning about ergonomic emacs
> til I sufficiently mastered vanilla emacs. I really wish I had someone tell me
> to palm-press to begin with. And what better place than the tutorial itself? I
> think we'll save upcoming generations starting on the now-prevalent keyboard
> lots of strain if we only give them a heads up.

It seems like Eli disagrees with adding this to the tutorial, so I would
suggest adding this to the FAQ instead.  I think the information as such
is useful.

Prafulla, would you like to suggest a patch that does that?

Message #21 received at 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Prafulla Giri <prafulla.giri <at> protonmail.com>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 76763 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#76763: TUTORIAL: Add suggestion to Palm-Press CONTROL Key
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2025 16:22:56 +0000

On Saturday, March 15th, 2025 at 2:29 AM, Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com> wrote:
 
> It seems like Eli disagrees with adding this to the tutorial, so I would
> suggest adding this to the FAQ instead. I think the information as such
> is useful.

I really wish I could be more convincing. Perhaps somebody else can submit a smaller change that could blend well with the tutorial? I am sure there will be a lot of people who will just try sink-or-swim with Emacs, and end up learning it through the tutorial, never seeing the FAQ (I must admit that I haven't seen the Emacs FAQ, yet).

But I defer it to the maintainers. I did learn my lesson, albeit late.

> Prafulla, would you like to suggest a patch that does that?

Thank you. But I think I will pass on this, not having seen the FAQ yet. But may I make the suggestion that the blog post I linked to (https://mihaiolteanu.me/emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys) be put in there: there's a video of how palm-press works, and somehow seeing such a strange thing done well is quite motivating.

Thank you all for your work on keeping Emacs going great. RMS probably is proud.

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.