Staticfree Blog

I am very picky about computers. As I use at least one, in some manner, over 90% of the time I'm awake, I figure I should have a good user interface for it; something that lets me worry about the things that matter, and let the computer sort out the things that don't. That's why I started using Ion. I have reached a form of interface zen with my computer and I'm never going back.

Ion is a wonderful tool. It's also a very scary one for those who have never used it before. Put simply: it's a more efficient use of a graphical user interface. Instead of overlapping windows on your screen, the screen is divided into non-overlapping boxes. I won't go into more detail about the basics of it than that, as the official site gives an excellent explanation of it.

I was initially put off by it, as it was too minimalistic; I like being able to drag windows around and put them Just So. But, on a whim (and at the suggestion of people on IRC) I tried it. It was horrible. It was not the concept that was a problem, but the way you interacted with it. It's a keyboard-based user interface, and the default keyboard controls just sucked. I really wanted to try it, so I had to make it usable for my very picky self.

I spent a few hours coming up with a scheme that felt comfortable, made logical sense (to me, anyhow), and didn't require moving hands into various penalty-zones for basic tasks. (I highly recommend you read Interface Zen which gives some basic ideas that I used when coming up with my layout.) I based the usability on my laptop's keyboard (which has those handy extra keys), the Dvorak layout, and FBPN navigation.

Using this layout, I can move windows, get to specific windows, and have hundreds of things open without mental effort. I've gotten to the point where I just think "IM window", my hands move almost un-noticeably, and suddenly there I am, ready to type into it. I think, "type to that window over there" and a few milliseconds later my hands have taken me there. There's no "*type type* *stop typing* *pick hands off keyboard* *pick up the mouse* *move mouse to new window, click* *type type*, etc." that is bound to give someone an RSI. Even alt-tab is too slow as it requires careful monitoring of what comes up on the screen as you're cycling. This is an efficient computer interface at its peak.

The Layout

Using the power of setxkbmap, I first configured my keys the way I like them. I hate caps-lock, so I got rid of it; caps-lock is now an extra control. As I don't use any Microsoft products, the Windows key can conveniently be remapped to be more useful. I dedicate it instead to be my ion key, and it's appropriately left blank on my physical keyboard. X knows this key as being "meta". I also like to write "foreign" characters at times, especially as my laptop is named µ, so I made the extra "menu" key be a compose key (with compose, you press compose once followed by two or more keys and it will "compose" them to be something more useful. E.g. [compose], 'u', '/' creates 'µ'). To do all this is rather simple:

setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps -option compose:menu -option altwin:super_win dvorak

I just toss that in an init script (and in the conveniently-named script "asdf") and it'll set it up properly.

From here-on, I abbreviate key combinations the emacs way. The ion key ("meta") is abbreviated "M-", shift is "S-" and control is "C-". eg. C-M-f is Control + Meta + 'f'.

I like FBPN for directions. The directional pad is just too far away to really be useful for frequent use. F for "forward", B for "back", P for "previous", N for "next". Emacs uses this style for navigation and it's very convenient and comfortable to use. These map to right, left, up and down respectively. With much hand-massaging of ion's new lua config file, I put together the following keyboard user interface:

M-{fbpn}

Main window selection. Switches between active ion windows.

M-S-{fb}

Tab rotation. Navigates the tabs forward and backward.

M-C-{fbpn}

split a window in that given direction. Existing window goes in that direction and keeps focus.

M-r, {fbpn}

Resize. I was running out of good combinations, so I just made M-r initiate the resize mode.

M-w

close the window

M-x

toggle full-screen mode

M-t

Tag a window for movement. More than one window can be tagged at the same time

M-d

Drop all tagged windows at the given frame

M-[space]

opens a new xterm

C-M-r

run query. It prompts you for a program to run.

M-{1..0}

switch to workspace n. I don't use these, but they're handy for people who don't get the below system ( or can't type in Dvorak).

M-{the "square" grid of 9 keys, starting with the '1' in the upper-left corner and the 'D' in the lower right}

this is perhaps one of the best, though most confusing-looking, mappings. I have 9 workspaces. I just pretend they're in a 3x3 grid and use that physical keyboard mapping to access them. Workspace 1 is at key '1', 2 is at '2', 4 is at 'Q', 5 is at 'W', etc. It's very handy as it can be entirely done on the left hand with little movement of the fingers.

That pretty much covers all the most important bindings. There are a few others that I left out, like M-[right] and M-[left] for relative workspace movement. So, you might be wondering, why did I go to all this trouble? It's part a reminder to myself, part spread-the-wealth, part observation of user interfaces. You can grab my ion configuration if you'd like to try it yourself. Let me know if you try it out; I'd love to hear feedback on the subject.