Original link: http://catcoding.me/p/upgrade-my-dev-tools/
Since I started a full-time remote office, I wanted to make my localhost more comfortable. Recently, I have been upgrading work-related equipment intermittently. For digital geeks who live in front of the screen all day, this is like buying a new house and decorating it.
My requirements for equipment are not very high, but I am a bit of an occupational disease when I am older, so I plan to try to find some good equipment this time to satisfy myself. The theme is ” Caring for middle-aged programmers “.
Mac and Apps
I have been using a PC notebook as the main development machine for the past two years, and I have returned to the embrace of the Mac in recent months. Even though the Apple ecology has various problems I mentioned before, I am very satisfied with the Mac performance and battery life of the M2 chip. But I also spent a lot of time to find the right tool and configuration.
The Mac I bought is a medium configuration of 32 G + 12 Core + 1 TB. This configuration fully meets my daily needs, probably because I don’t have anything to do with video editing. My main needs are programming, document writing, and browsing For ordinary things like web pages, I need to take them out two or three times a week, because I don’t play games, so Mac is quite suitable for me.
The 14-inch Mac is a bit heavy for going out to work. If you already have a notebook suitable for going out, it is also a good choice to put a Mac Mini at home, because the price of the Mac Mini is too beautiful, and the interface is more abundant. The new Mac Air looks good too, and maybe the M3 is a good time to get one.
It took me two months to fully re-adapt to the Mac. Let me talk about some configurations and applications:
First of all, the default language of the system is English, which has the advantage that many configurations can be searched by letters, and the switching of applications does not use Chinese at all, which reduces the action of switching input methods.
I have formed a habit of relying heavily on the Command Palette of various apps. For example, VsCode , I bind Ctrl+L to the command palette, and Obsidian and Arc also have Command bar. Using the Command Palette to run commands through fuzzy search is a more unified way, because there are too many shortcut keys that I can’t remember at all, and commands are ordinary English words, which are easy to read in my mind.
In addition, I will turn off all desktop and application switching animations, so that the operation will be much faster.
Contexts
Mac app switching is abysmal, and hasn’t improved very much over the years. There are many such tools on the market, which is enough to show that many people are not used to the native application switching of the system. Especially like me, I will use VsCode to open multiple windows for different projects, and it is a big need for me to quickly locate the window.
Contexts is a tool in my imagination, which perfectly fits my usage habits and requirements for details. After installation, Cmd + Tab replaces the original application switch of the system. This is a Windows-style switch that is in line with the habits of most people. In addition, I will bind a very important shortcut key Ctrl+I to search in Contexts. In this way, I can quickly select the application to be redirected through some keywords. In addition, Contexts has a Number-Switcher that automatically learns user habits. Basically, I use右Cmd+W to jump to Wechat,右Cmd+D to jump to Discord, etc., which is really a sharp tool to improve efficiency.
In addition, many people recommend Raycast , this software can do a lot of automated functions, but currently I just use Raycast to find and launch applications.
Arc
I’ve been using Arc for almost three months and it’s now my default browser. I think the most useful is command bar . You can enter command, extension command, and tab url. I configure Ctrl + L to command bar , so that I will basically not pay attention to tabs, and I will not bookmark web pages. Everything is used Keyword search.
I also like Space function. For example, if the company uses Gmail and I also use a private Gmail account, Space can distinguish the same website in different scenarios.
All Extensions of Chrome can be used on Arc, and I will no longer configure shortcut keys for plugins. Commonly used commands are triggered through command bar .
Easel is another useful function of Arc. We can intuitively combine it into a Dashboard through actions similar to screenshots. For example, I combine emails, Github PR, and Meeting Schedule into a dashboard, and I can see at a glance what needs attention information.
Input Source Pro
This tool is used to set the default input method of some applications, why is this important? Because I am particularly annoyed by switching input methods, this is a very disruptive action.
For example, in applications such as Terminal, Raycast, Contexts, and VSCode, I can only input in English with a probability of more than 95%, so configuring the default input methods of these applications can greatly reduce switching.
There are several such tools, and the one I’m most comfortable with is Input Source Pro, which is still in Beta and currently free.
Karabiner
This is a necessary tool for modifying shortcut keys. I have configured some arrow keys, and also configured Ctrl key, because it is easier to press than Cmd :
- Change left_command+hjkl to arrow keys- Change left_command+u/i to page_up/page_down- Ctrl+Z => Cmd+Z (Undo)- Ctrl+T => Cmd+T (New tab)- Ctrl+W => Cmd+W (Close)- Ctrl+S => Cmd+S (Save)
Whether it is a PC or a Mac, the configuration I have to do is to map Caps Lock to Ctrl , because we rarely use Caps Lock , and this key is very suitable for the little finger to press. If you are a keyboard party, this configuration can be very large Minimize damage to the left little finger.
Rima input method
Half a year ago, I changed my usage habits and forced myself to use Shuangpin input. Now I have fully adapted to it. Generally speaking, I think Shuangpin did not greatly improve my input efficiency, but it did reduce a lot of unnecessary keys. In addition I think the typing rhythm would be better.
I saw a lot of people talking about coyotes before, but I didn’t have the desire to bother opening those documents a few times, probably because I don’t have any special needs for input methods, either the system default or Sogou will do.
Two months ago, I happened to see a person on Twitter recommending Rime Rime Pinyin , so I tried it this time. Although it took a little time to toss in the end, I think the investment is worth it. The input experience of Rima is better than the native input method of Mac, without any redundant and fancy functions, you will not feel its existence when you are not typing, and it supports Xiaohe Shuangpin, which I like. But this thing is destined to be relatively small, and it takes a lot of Yaml files to configure an input method, and it is estimated that many people will be discouraged.
Another special configuration I have is that I don’t switch between Chinese and English by pressing Shift like most people, because Shift is a common key, and it is easy to switch input methods by mistake. Another reason is that I want a unique identification to identify The current state of Chinese and English, and ShowEdge is such a tool, I will configure a small circle on the edge of the screen, if it is red, it is Chinese, if it is black, it is English. In this way, there will be no situation where I drive the Rima input method, but the input is in English. I use Ctrl+J or Caps Lock to switch input methods, because J is the easiest default key to find for the right hand.
keyboard and mouse
I used to focus on the appearance and typing feel of the keyboard, so I bought a HHKB, and later I also bought Ningzhi and other small-sized keyboards. In the past two years, I have felt more and more pain in my shoulder blade, especially my right shoulder blade. Sometimes the pain makes me unable to sleep well at night.
I did a little research and found that it was indeed caused by my long-term sitting posture and habit of using the keyboard. Mac keyboards and various small-sized keyboards, because the width is not enough, both hands have to lean towards the middle, so that the shoulder blades maintain this position for a long time, which is prone to problems:
Some people say that ergonomics is an IQ tax, but I’d better give it a try, so I bought a set of Logitech’s ergonomic mouse and keyboard .
The Logitech K860 is huge in size, and its fixed hand rest is made of comfortable material. It takes about a week or so to fully adapt to this keyboard. After all, many people’s fingering is also wrong. This kind of hands-separated keyboard requires roughly correct fingering.
The only downside is the numeric keypad. After all, most of us don’t use a numeric keypad, which is a bit of a waste of space. When I first used it, I felt so bad that I needed to reach out to touch my mouse, so I was tempted to return it. But it happened that I bought a set, which also has a trackball mouse. The problem with the keypad was solved when I combined the two devices like this:
Using the trackball is also a magical experience. At the beginning, I felt that the operation was too slow. After I got used to it, I felt that the right hand was much easier. Anyway, I only need to move the thumb. At the same time, the mouse can also use the hand pad of the keyboard, and if you move the keyboard and mouse, you can also move accordingly. I will not press left_command+hjkl to arrow keys .
Many programmers don’t like to use the mouse, but I recently found that the forward and back keys of the mouse are actually very useful. For example, when I look at the code, I can jump to the definition by holding down the cmd key and clicking the mouse, and then press the back key of the mouse to return to the previous position, which is much more comfortable than using the keyboard all the time.
The feel and experience of the Mac Trackpad are very good, but because the Trackpad is also centered, it is also prone to strain after being used for a long time like a small-sized keyboard
If you use an external mouse, you need another small app to configure it. Because we usually adapt to the Mac’s default Natural scrolling, but using this option with the mouse will be very weird, so I found the Scroll reverser tool, which can independently set the scrolling control direction: 
I am very satisfied with this equipment, the problem of sore shoulder blades has been greatly relieved. Now when I occasionally go out and use the original Macbook keyboard and trackpad, I have a terrible pain, and it’s hard to imagine myself using this position for so many years without problems.
However, this temporary relief may also be due to changing the posture to completely solve the long-term problem, probably only by sitting as little as possible and exercising more, and not staying in the same posture for too long.
Herman miller
The armrests of my previous chair were dying and I was thinking about getting a new office chair. According to the theme of this upgrade, I directly chose to buy Herman Miller, which is known as the most comfortable chair in the world.
I have tried this chair from my colleague occasionally before, and it is indeed very comfortable, but the one I bought myself felt a bit hard at first when I sat on it. Later, I found some video materials and found that there is something wrong with my sitting posture. This chair is suitable for sitting upright rather than You can really feel the difference after using it for a few weeks in the half-geyou lying posture. The forward tilt function of the second generation is very suitable for use when concentrating, and this function is relatively rare on current chairs.
It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality, and I will never go back. If this chair helps me correct my sitting posture, it will be worth it:
other
During this period, I also added some other equipment, such as 4k monitors, stands, etc., plus the adjustable table bought many years ago, it is completely enough. Another small device I recommend is Shaoyin’s bone conduction earphones. I often wear this earphone for half a day without feeling uncomfortable, and I am very satisfied with the quality and after-sales service of this brand.
Recently, I also looked at things like the wiring of the desktop. After all, as a digital nerd, I can’t refuse a desktop aesthetic like this:
Anything that involves aesthetics will be a bottomless pit, and then I began to wonder if I was going to fall into another pit, and I needed to stop it in time, so I bought a box to hide the wires and clean the tabletop.
In short, I am very satisfied with the current set of office equipment. Programmers should take care of their health. After all, these things almost occupy most of the daily time, so it is worth investing some time and money on it.
If you have any useful equipment, please recommend it to me. Although I may not buy it now, I like to grow grass 
This article is transferred from: http://catcoding.me/p/upgrade-my-dev-tools/
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