A submission to Hacker News on remapping the Caps Lock key (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6969401) got me curious. From the thread, it looked as if most people remap their Caps Lock key to something else. Since these answers may be heavily biased (it was a thread about remapping that key, after all), here's a poll.<p>If you want to, please provide any alternate mapping you're using in the comments.
Remapped to have the control key positioned where God and Digital Equipment Corporation intended it to be (and the Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, ...). The position below the shift key is the product of a malevolent conspiracy by the suits (IBM!) to keep programmer productivity in check and cause RSI.
I've found Ctrl to be far and away the best remapping, especially for Mac keyboards where the Ctrl key is extremely small and awkward to type.<p>Protip: In all recent versions of OSX you can natively remap Caps Lock and other keys via System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Modifier Keys.
I find caps lock useful for both typing CAPITAL_CONSTANTS and YELLING AT PEOPLE. I have remapped other keys, such as the the menu key to compose, and I usually use the super key to trigger custom key shortcuts.<p>(Filed under ⌨.)
I've gone back and forth in the past. I put together a series of .REG files for Windows users so you can either disable caps lock, map it to a shift key, map it to CTRL or swap it with CTRL. Since they're .REG keys, you don't need to have a utility running in the background. The .REG to set things back to normal is included, too:<p><a href="http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/disable-caps-lock" rel="nofollow">http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/disable-caps-lock</a><p>If you're more adventurous, you can turn it into a Billy Mays Key so your PC says a fun Billy Mays phrase every time you press CAPS LOCK. It's also open source if you want to play with it:<p><a href="http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/billy-mays-caps-lock" rel="nofollow">http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/billy-mays-caps-lock</a>
I loved remapping Capslock to Ctrl, but eventually gave up the ghost because the statefulness of Capslock was getting confused and I was having a hell of a time keeping my virtual sessions and master client session "in sync"
I'm using a TypeMatrix[1] keyboard, the Caps Lock key is not at the same place that usual keyboards. therefore I didn't remapped that key.<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.typematrix.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.typematrix.com/</a>
Using the Win key often on my Linux laptop gave me an achy left thumb.<p>This fixed my thumb:<p><pre><code> localectl set-x11-keymap us pc104 altgr-intl lv3:ralt_alt,caps:super,lv3:lwin_switch
</code></pre>
So, US-International, LAlt=Ralt, Caps->Win, Win->AltGr
Have caps lock mapped to quick escape and control (i.e. tap for escape and hold down for control).
Somewhat related, left-control is mapped to Hyper. This post was an inspiration: <a href="http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/#happy-hacking-keyboard-professional-2" rel="nofollow">http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/#happ...</a><p>Combined with ShiftIt, I can approximate a primitive keyboard-controlled tiling window manager on the Mac: <a href="https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt</a>
I <i>disabled</i> Caps Lock so that by itself, it does nothing. I mapped CapsLock + hjkl to the arrow keys a la vim, and several other similar CapsLock + <something else> combos that make sense to me.
On my laptop, I remapped it to be the left click button, and it changed my life. I used to find dragging windows and files around and selecting text such a pain with a touchpad, but with this remapping, I can do it really, really easily. I just use my left hand to click and my right hand to move the cursor. Try it!<p>Anyone know how I can remap the Caps Lock key this way on a Mac?
I use it as the main part of all the chords I use to control window manager functionality under dwm. e.g. Caps+<J/K/H/L> to move between windows or workspaces, Caps+Enter to open a terminal, etc. Technically, I think I have it remapped to Ctrl, but that's just an implementation detail.
Yes, but not due to the traditional Control key positioning. Rather, I switch Tab for Caps Lock.<p>Since I use bowl-design Kinesis keyboards both at home and at work, the usual position for Caps Lock (where I put Tab) is just a tad bit more comfortable for repeated pinky use.
I wouldn't reply just to say that I map caps lock to control, like so many others. Perhaps a poll that gave the most common remappings, and let people specify more unusual ones in the comments, would gather more respondents for the common ones.
I have mine mapped to the compose key. Don't need it a ton, but it's nice to have it close by and convenient when I do.<p>Would probably have been better as esc or ctrl, but I didn't feel like having to relearn the muscle memory for those keys.
My Esc key broke, so it seemed logical to make use of the otherwise unused Caps lock key. It works perfectly, and I've got quite used to it...<p>.. The problem is when I use a normal keyboard layout, and hit Caps lock in Vim and it doesn't DRT. :)
Yes, to backspace, and I recommend everyone do the same. Think about how many times a day you hit backspace, it makes no sense for it to be way up there on a pinky, move it to your home row and be happy! :)
control key.<p>Not so because reaching it is hard on a normal keyboard (as opposed to Mac wtfness), but because I never intentionally use caps lock and accidentally enabling it is annoying.