See space.vim for another cool use for the spacebar.
https://github.com/spiiph/vim-space
I have mapleader set to ",", which has served me well.
I just realized I only use my left thumb with the spacebar, so the ambidextrous argument doesn't fly for me.
But I did realize space currently does nothing for me in normal mode. So I made it work like less/more, i.e., it pages the screen down:
nnoremap <space> <C-d> nnoremap <S-space> <C-u>
even if you only use your left thumb to hit space it's still faster than using , for your leader as the thumb really only hits the space key, command(if you are on a mac)/alt(windows) and maybe option/alt if you are on a mac. and it's natural to use the left keys after hitting space. whereas using any key on the right side of the keyboard after a leader press is awkward and slower because the , key is pressed with your middle finger. it's also a smaller target so it's harder to hit.
Should just be:
nnoremap <space> <C-d>
The shift-space doesn't work.
Hm, this is actually a really neat idea. I'm going to try this!
it only took about a week to retrain myself for it.
here's the command... put it at the top of your vimrc before anything else so it works with your plugins.
let mapleader=" "