Given how useful the # key is, it has always annoyed me that on the standard UK Apple keyboard, getting a # key requires keying Alt-3 to get it to appear.
If you are doing web development with jQuery or writing shell scripts or python, you end up using this key a lot and Alt-3 just doesn’t work for me. However, on the left of the recent Apple keyboard, there is the § key. I’ve never used §, I guess somebody must.
Anyway, so I went and found Ukelele, a keyboard layout editor, and modified the keyboard map to put the # where the § used to be, and the result is what I call the BritishLHash keyboard layout.
How to use this:
Download the file, and put it in your ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts folder.
Open Language and Text in System Preferences
Select the Input Sources tab
Tick next to the BritshLHash keyboard. This makes it available as an input source for you. And also Tick Show Input in the menu bar
Find the little flag in the menu bar. Pop it up and change it to BritishLHash.
That’s all there is to it. I’ve been using this mapped file for a year or so, and it works fine in OS X 10.5 and 10.6.
Or if you want to meddle with key maps and propose changes, have a look at the GitHub repo: grasuth/britishlhash.
Note: this is a repost of the original article on this that I posted in 2010.
Once back in the late nineties, I did my back in a bit. I’m sure it was lifting large granite rocks for the too-big garden or maybe it walking my baby daughter around and around the loungeroom at 3am. Now I can’t remember what I did.
The result was sitting down hurt a lot; standing was fine. Off to Ikea. At the time, they had a desk that you could assemble so the table top was high. I did. And I got to rather like standing up while working. I kept it up for maybe a year, then moving house and circumstances meant that desk had to go and I’ve been sitting.
Fast forward to mid-last year. I’m setting up my new office/study at home in the old loungeroom. I don’t really want a great big desk even if it does glide up and down electrically or something. I’ll cover it with paper and USB stuff. I want something that I can stand at that holds a laptop at a good angle. Like.. a tripod stand or something.This is a solved problem if you are a musician. I found this thing on Amazon in the UK: Quik Lok LPH/003 Tripod Laptop Holder (~ £118). This is a pretty solid tubular tripod that has a tilt-able shelf to place a laptop.
For this thing to work, it has to be sturdy enough to handle a good lot of typing and be able to get a reasonable tilt to get the laptop display up. Turns out it is. This thing is solid. The only thing you can’t do is lean on it, which I realised I used to do a lot for my old standing desk. I think that is a good thing. I manage to get a good tilt on the base of the laptop but still the screen is below my eyes. And I’d like some more screen anyway. So now we have to jump from musicians tools into trade-show display tools. Some sort of computer-monitor or TV stand or something wall of shelf mounted? So, I needs something with a stable VESA mounting that can support at least a 24″ display. I looked around a bit and then found this Allcam TR940 TV floor stand (~£60). This has a VESA mount and a big but sturdy tripod. I was hoping that this tripod and the laptop stand’s tripods would fit together somehow. They do fit.
The combo gives me a laptop at a good typing height and a good sized display directly in front of my eyes when I’m standing. It takes up minimum floor space, it easily moves to another room or packs away. And best of all, the laptop stand is perfect for karaoke apps 🙂 Note that I never stand for all of a work day. Half a day I guess. My house has tables and sofas and spaces to sit on the floor as well. I move around a bit. I find that when standing I am more animated in conference calls and also more easily distracted. Sitting I’m more fixed in mind and body. More concentrated, potentially dull. Different styles for different settings. It works for me. Avoiding horizontal surfaces means there are no places to pile up papers, dust, broken bits of tech. So deal with those now rather than putting them down. Here’s the resulting setup. It works very well for me.
