betterglobekey

README

betterglobekey

Make macOS Globe key great again!

Ask a Question • Report a Bug • Request a Feature

Table of Contents

• 1. About this Project
• 2. Getting Started
  • 2.1. Prerequisites
  • 2.2. Setting It Up
• 3. Contributing
• 4. License

About the Project

macOS features a brilliant idea for the way to switch your keyboard's input source—the Globe key. While the idea is brilliant in design, in practice, however, the key is coded in a very intrusive and impractical way, which might prevent some users—especially those who tend to switch their input source often—from enjoying their overall user experience.

This utility completely reworks the way the Globe key functions and provides users with an improved overall user experience, and I sincerely hope that one day Apple is going to make it this way out-of-box.

(back to top)

Getting Started

The utility replaces the default behavior of the Globe key and adds two new modes to it:

1. Single Press Mode

   Single press mode is the mode that is activated when the Globe key is pressed once.

   Single press mode cycles between your primary input sources—I believe most of the users out there will not even need the other available mode as it is probably only useful if you have more than average amount of input sources.

   Single press mode uses the input sources defined in the config's primary_input_sources array.

2. Double Press Mode

   Double press mode is the mode that is activated when the Globe key is double pressed.

   Double press mode cycles between your additional input sources. If you use multiple input sources, you probably use only several input sources frequently—you might consider putting those that you use the least under additional input sources.

   Double press mode uses the input sources defined in the config's additional_input_sources array.

   N.B. This is not working as designed at the moment—this is supposed to open the original input source popup, but implementing it requires some reverse engineering. There is probably a function in macOS private API that can be used to open the popup.

Prerequisites

• A macOS-powered computer
• A keyboard that features the Globe key, e.g. MacBook's builtin keyboard
• A will to use this utility and some effort

Setting It Up

N.B. The next release of the utility is going to feature a more convenient way to set it up and I really hope that it is going to be a Homebrew Formulae.

• Download the latest prebuilt binary. You are also free to build it from the source, e.g. by running go install.

• Move it to a reasonable and secluded place, e.g. under /usr/local/bin. Make sure to rename it to betterglobekey for convenience.

• Touch ~/Library/LaunchAgents/me.serpentiel.betterglobekey.plist and fill it with the following contents:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
  <plist version="1.0">
      <dict>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>me.serpentiel.betterglobekey</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
              <string>/usr/local/bin/betterglobekey</string>
          </array>
          <key>RunAtLoad</key>
          <true/>
      </dict>
  </plist>
  

• Tired yet? Feel free to contribute to the project by providing us with a more convenient way to set it up.

• Now, evaluate launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/me.serpentiel.betterglobekey.plist in your favorite terminal app and you are all set and good to go!

P.S. The utility's config file has been automatically generated for you at ~/.betterglobekey.yaml. Do not forget to disable the default Globe key behavior under System Preferences > Keyboard.

(back to top)

Contributing

Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create, so any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to contribute, please make sure to take a look at this guideline beforehand.

Please see our security policy to report any possible vulnerabilities or serious issues.

(back to top)

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.md for more information.

N.B. This project explicitly does not requires its contributors to sign a Contributor License Agreement nor does it posses one.

(back to top)

Documentation

Overview

Package main is the main package of the application.