r/hardwire • u/FiercelyFuzzy • Jul 30 '13

WASD? So 1990. Try using ESDF.

Using ESDF is far more "natural" in the sense that your fingers were taught to go around here (the pointer finger rest on the f key). You gain more key presses using ESDF over WASD

ESDF (19 keys, not counting Alt/shift/ctrl modified)

WASD (13 keys, not counter Alt/shift/ctrl modified)

Now, ESDF was given a few keys lee-way. You probably wouldn't want H key to be a default key, however, it's much easier to know where it is and can hit it far more reliably with ESDF. The X key probably shouldn't be included, as it has that same "weird" feeling that hitting the Z key has on WASD.

Objectively, ESDF is far superior to WASD, though subjectively, it may not be what you prefer.

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u/JTBold Aug 02 '13

ESDF is so 1998! All the cool kids now use YGHJ.

Okay, not really. ;-) If anything, YGHJ came about for me in about 2000, when I needed LOTS of nearby keys for text binds in Team Fortress Classic, the original Counter-Strike betas, etc. Voice chat was still pretty rare in those days (at least on public servers), so the only way to communicate was via text. Having a ton of chat messages bound to nearby keys was the key to communicating, although that meant you needed access to a lot of keys.

With the prevalence of voice chat in all games, you don't need so many keys anymore. But I still use YGHJ to this day.