/Capslock

Make Capslock Great Again!

Primary LanguageHTMLApache License 2.0Apache-2.0

Capslock

Make CapsLock Great Again! Visits Badge

Transform CapsLock into a powerful modifier Hyper that miraculously increases your work productivity!

Capslock Website / ZH Site

Chinese Documentation 中文文档

Karabiner-Elements Official Gallery

CapsLock (v3)

  • Powerful: Transform Capslock into a great modifier: Hyper(). (such as )
  • Useful: Navigation, mousekey, clipboard, win/term ctrl, shortcuts, etc... Redefine the keyboard!
  • Speed-Up: Optimized for developers, high-frequency move stay in hot zone.
  • Extensible: Work with existing modifiers, which introduce 16 extra control planes.
  • MouseKey: Manipulate mouse cursor and wheels with keyboard
  • Cross-Platform: MacOS and Windows. Light-Weight and portable

Version

OS Support
MacOS Supported Win Supported
MacOS Big Sur (11.0 ) Windows 10
MacOS Catalina (10.15) Windows 8
MacOS High Sierra (10.13) Windows 7
MacOS Sierra (10.12) Windows Vista
MacOS EI Capitan (10.11) Windows XP
MacOS Yosemite (10.10) or lower
(via Capslock Mac v1)
(via Capslock Win)

Quick Start

Capslock serves via Karabiner-Elements on MacOS

  1. Download and install Karabiner Elements, following the wizard and grant required permissions.

  2. Download capslock.json to: ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/ .
    Or just open this link with Safari to launch karabiner and load config from URL:

    karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://vonng.com/capslock.json

    Or check karabiner official gallery and load it there.

  3. Launch Karabiner-ElementTab: ComplexModificationButton: Add Rules, then enabled rulesets.

Usage

Capslock works on ANSI keyboards and similar layouts. It literally remaps every keys on the keyboard. Including 10 categories.

Control Planes are defined by combination of four extra left modifiers: .This image shows the layout of control plane 0.

Category Color Description
Basic Blue Press Capslock emit an Escape. Hold it enabling the Hyper Modifier.
Navigation Pink Vim style navigation. Cursor move, text selection, switch desktop/window/tab, mouse move/wheel,etc...
Deletion Brown Maps BNM, to deletion operation to perform fast char/word/line deletion without hand move.
MouseKey Keypad Maps keypad to fully functional mouse
Window Azure Close app/win/tab, Switch app/win/tab/desktop, intergration with win-manager app such as Moom,Slate,Magnet
Application Yellow Shortcuts for launching or switching frequently used applications
Terminal Green Sending high-freq signals (Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-D, Ctrl-C) and vim/tmux prefix meta key via
Clipboard Purple Turn numkeys into 10 different text clipboard. n copy and n paste.
Shifter Orange Turn some keys into common code symbols.
Functional Cyan Screenshtots. Fine-grained light/volume control. Take function keys' function back!

Basic

Key MapsTo Comment
Press Escape Click Capslock to emit Escape
Hold Hyper Hold Capslock to enable Hyper modifier.
Capslock Press to switch Capslock status
Switch input source, + to emoji

Note that is implemented as combination of ALL RIGHT MODIFIERS: .

Hold Hyper to enable hyper functionalities. We will assume and omit that in subsequent document.

Navigation

  • H, J, K, L, U, I, O, P are used as Navigators. Maps to by default. (pink area).
  • 9 control planes has already been allocated for navigators.
  • Hold additional Command for selection. (like holding shift in normal), additional Option for word/para selection.
  • Hold additional Shift for app/win/tab switching. Hold additional Control for desktop management .
  • Hold additional Option for 🖱️ mouse move. Add shift to ⏫ accelerate. (U, I, O, P maps to mouse buttons) .
  • turns navigator to 🖲️ mouse wheel, and is the ⏫ accelerated version . HJKL for wheel, wihle UIOP for reversed wheel move.
Feature Move Select WordSel Window Desktop 🖱️ 🖱️⏫ 🖲️ 🖲️⏫
Key\Mod
H Left word left word left prev tab prev desk ⬅️ ⬅️⏫ ⬅️ ⬅️⏫
J Down line down 3 line down next app focus ⬇️ ⬇️⏫ ⬇️ ⬇️⏫
K Up line up 3 line up prev app expose all ⬆️ ⬆️⏫ ⬆️ ⬆️⏫
L Right word right word right next tab next desk ➡️ ➡️⏫ ➡️ ➡️⏫
U PgUp prev page prev page zoom- fullscreen 🖱️L 🖱️L ➡️ ➡️⏫
I Home line head end2head prev win hide 🖱️R 🖱️R ⬆️ ⬆️⏫
O End line end head2end next win hide all 🖱️B 🖱️B ⬇️ ⬇️⏫
P PgDn next page next page zoom+ Launchpad 🖱️F 🖱️F ⬅️ ⬅️⏫

Arrow Navigation

  • Arrows → to 🖱️ mouse actions too. Hold Option to ⏬ slow down, hold Command to ⏫ speed up.
  • Hold Shift turns to 🖲️ wheel move. Extra Option to ⏬ slow down, extra Command to ⏫ speed up.
  • Return maps to left click. And additional turns into right click, middle click, backward, forward.
Feature 🖱️ 🖱️⏬ 🖱️⏫ 🖲️ 🖲️⏬ 🖲️⏫
Key\Mod
speed = 1600 speed ÷ 2 speed × 2 speed = 32 speed ÷ 2 speed × 2
🖱️L 🖱️M 🖱️R 🖱️L 🖱️B 🖱️F

Deletion

N M , . are used as Deletor keys. Right below the navigators for fast access (brown area).

Key\Mod
N del a word ahead del till line head del the whole line
M del a char ahead del a word ahead move line below
, del a char after del a word after move line above
. del a word after del till line end del the whole line
del file purge file

Mousekey

mouse key
  • Turn Keypad into a fully funcional 🖱️ mouse.
  • Numbers maps to 8 direction 🖱️ mouse move. Hold Option to ⏬ slow down, hold Command to ⏫ speed up.
  • Hold additional Shift turns to 🖲️ wheel move. Extra Option to ⏬ slow down, and extra Command to ⏫ speed up.
  • First line maps to wheel move and 0, ., , +, - maps to five mouse buttons.
🖲️⬅️ = 🖲️⬇️ / 🖲️⬆️ * 🖲️➡️
7🖱️ ↖️ 8 🖱️⬆️ 9 🖱️↗️ - 🖱️B
4🖱️ ⬅️ 5🖱️ 6 🖱️➡️ + 🖱️F
1🖱️↙️ 2 🖱️⬇️ 3 🖱️↘️
0 🖱️L . 🖱️M 🖱️R

Window Control

window control
  • Tab, Q, W, A, s used as window control keys. Focuing on close/switch applications / windows / tabs / desktops. (azure area)
  • Windows management (resize, layout) leaves to external application such as Moom, Magnet, and Slate. Bind A manually.
Key\Mod
next app prev app switch desktop switch tab
Q close app close app Lock Screen Logout
W close tab close all win Display Sleep Sleep
A win app expose all show desktop LaunchPad
S next tab prev tab next win prev win

App Shortcuts

app shortcuts
  • E R T Y F G are used as application shortcuts. (yellow area)
  • Popular apps and dev tools are registed to 3 default planes: //. Assign these shortcuts according to your own needs.
Key\Mod
E Safari Finder Mail
R iTerm2 Preview Terminal
T Visual Studio Code Typora Note
Y Siri Karabiner Amphetamine
F Alfred 4 Dash Dictionary
G Intellij IDEA Chrome Calender

Terminal Control

terminal control

D, Z, X, C, V, B are used as terminal control keys. Sending singals and IDE commands. (green area)

Key\Mod
D D Ctrl+D (Send EOF) Define (Force touch)
Z Z Ctrl+Z (SIGTSTP) F5 (VS Code Debug)
X R Ctrl+R (IDE Run) F5 (VS Code Run)
C C Ctrl+C (SIGINT) >F5(VS Code Stop)
V VCtrl+V (Vim Prefix)
B BCtrl+B (Tmux Prefix)

Clipboard

clipboard

Number keys 1, 2, …, 9, 0 are used as (text) clipboard. Hold to copy, and press to paste. (purple area)

Key\Mod
1 Paste from clip 1 Copy to clip 1
2 Paste from clip 2 Copy to clip 2
…… …… ……
0 Paste from clip 0 Copy to clip 10

Shifter

shifter
  • Trivial transformation for misc characters. (orange area)
  • Some special tricks for developers. Such as ;' maps to := or != ()
Key\Mod
- _ Zoom Out
= + Zoom In
[ ( { <
] ) } >
; ! :
' = =
/ /
\ /

Functional

functional
  • Use F1,…F12 as standard functional keys, while hold Hyper to turn them back. (cyan area)

  • Command + F1 / F2 / F3 are used as desktop switcher. Enable shortcuts in system preference first:

    PreferenceKeyboardShortcutsMissionControl → Switch to Desktop 1/2/3

  • If you are using RMBP with Bar, consider changing your bar back to function keys with:

    Karabiner-ElementsFunction KeysUse all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys

Key\Mod Comment
` 4 4 Area selection screenshot( to file)
F1 display_brightness_decrement | 1 1 Brightness Down / Desktop 1
F2 display_brightness_increment | 2 2 Brightness Up / Desktop 2
F3 | 3 3 Expose All / Desktop 3
F4 Launchpad Launchpad
F5 illumination_decrement Keyboard Light Down
F6 illumination_increment Keyboard Light Up
F7 rewind Music Prev
F8 play_or_pause Play / Pause
F9 fastforward Music Next
F10 mute Mute
F11 volume_decrement Volume Down
F12 volume_increment Volume Up
F13 3 3 Full Screentshot ( to file)
F14 5 6 Screenshot menu ( touchbar snap)
F15 play_or_pause Play / Pause
Insert display_brightness_increment Fine-Grained Brightness Up
Delete display_brightness_decrement Fine-Grained Brightness Down
Home illumination_increment Fine-GrainedKeyboard Light Up
End illumination_decrement Fine-Grained Keyboard Light Down
PgUp volume_increment Fine-Grained Volume Up
PgDn volume_decrement Fine-Grained Volume Down

References

Symbols

Glyph Name Glyph Name
Capslock Hyper
Escape Space
Command (Mac) Alter (Win)
Option (Mac) Win (Win)
Control Shift
Return Enter
Arrow Cursor Home/End
Tab Delete / ForwardDelete
Numlock ⏫⏬ Fast / Slow
🖱️L Mouse Left Click (Button1) 🖱️B Mouse Backward (Button4)
🖱️R Mouse Right Click (Button2) 🖱️F Mouse Forward (Button5)
🖱️M Mouse Middle Click (Button3) 🖲️ Mouse Wheel

Control Planes

control planes
Plane Modifiers Plane Modifiers Plane Modifiers
0 3 7
1 5 11
2 6 13
4 9 14
8 10 15
12

MacOS Installation

macos installation

Capslock serves via Karabiner-Elements on MacOS

  1. Download and install Karabiner Elements, following the wizard and grant required permissions.

  2. Download capslock.json to: ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/ . Or open this link with Safari to launch karabiner and load config from URL:

    # Capslock Mac V3 (this repo)
    karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vonng/Capslock/master/mac_v3/capslock.json
    
    # Capslock Official Site (v3)
    karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://vonng.com/capslock.json
    
    # Karabiner-Elements Offical Script Gallery (v3)
    karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/complex_modifications/json/caps_lock_enhancement.json
  3. Launch Karabiner-Elements. Tab: ComplexModificationButton: Add Rules, then enabled rulesets.

Windows Installation

window installation

Capslock serves via AutoHotKey on Windows.

  1. Download and install AutoHotKey. Load capslock.ahk in AutoHotKey.
  2. You can also use pre-compiled capslock ahk binary CapsLock.exe.

FAQ

FAQ

Q: Why using as the symbol for Hyper?

A: Because the ASCII code for * is exactly 42, which is the ultimate answer to life, universe, and everything. (Heavy-Asterisk) is a pretty version of *.

Q: What's new in V3?

A: The original v2 only use 1 ~ 3 control planes. While v3 uses up to 9 control planes. A large number of functions have been added to make the additional modifier functioning in a reasonable way.

Q: Is there any incompatible changes in V3 compare to V2 ?

A: There are three minor incompatible changes:

  • F13/F4 from music prev/next to screenshot;

  • Number keys are used as clipboard instead of shifter

  • D now perform define(force touch) instead of opening dictionary app.

Q: Why is there no Linux OS support?

A: I'm using Linux through MacOS terminal. It actually feels much better than raw Linux 😆.

Q: Why windows version no longer maintained?

A: I haven't used Windows for a long time except for gaming.

Q: Why is there an older version in MacOS?

A: There was an older version of Karabiner that used XML config. Apple modified it's kernel architecture in MacOS Sierra (10.12) and many programs had to be overhauled. So then there was a new version of Karabiner, the Karabiner-Elements, which is still in use today.

Q: How can I customize it to my needs?

A: Just change the configuration file. Don't forget click the 'star' 🤩.

Q: Is this original?

A: I'm the first one to make a capslock overhaul schema as far as I know. The original win AHK version was wrote in 2013. The first mac version was wrote in 2015. It is the first capslock emulation schema in karabiner's gallary.

About

Author: Vonng (rh@vonng.com)

License:Apache 2.0 License