What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
- Go to the web configurator page in your browser (Firefox or Chrome)
- Press F12 to open devtools, go to the "Network" tab there
- Change something in your keyboard configuration and press "Save"
- Notice in the network tab of the devtool panel that your browser makes request to the server. You can see your keyboard configuration in JSON format being sent to a server.
- Right click on this request and go to "Copy -> Copy as cURL"
- Paste it to some text editor and search for "KC_ESC" code, replace it with "KC_GESC"
- Copy the new curl command from the text editor, paste to your terminal (curl command should be installed), and execute it
- This will save your keyboard configuration with ESC keycode swapped. Just refresh the page in your browser and you should see the code like in the configuration I posted earlier.
Hope this helps, let me know if you will be wondering about something more :)