<p>I'm a Mac user and I've decided to learn Emacs. I've <a href="http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/effective-emacs" rel="noreferrer">read</a> that to reduce hand strain and improve accuracy the <kbd>CTRL</kbd> and <kbd>CAPS LOCK</kbd> keys should be swapped. How do I do this in Leopard?</p>

<p>Also, in Terminal I have to use the <kbd>ESC</kbd> key to invoke meta. Is there any way to get the alt/option key to invoke meta instead?</p>

<p><strong>update:</strong> While the control key is much easier to hit now, the meta key is also used often enough that its position on my MacBook and Apple Keyboard also deserves attention. In fact, I find that the control key is actually easier to hit, so I've remapped my control key to act as a meta key. Does anyone have a better/more standard solution?</p>

Swapping CTRL and CAPS LOCK
Go into
System Preferences
Enter the
Keyboard & Mouse
preference pane
In the
Keyboard
tab, click
Modifier Keys...
Swap the actions for
Caps Lock
and
Control
.
Using ALT/OPTION as META
In the menu bar, click
Terminal
Click
Preferences...
Under the
Settings
tab, go to the
Keyboard
tab
Check the box labeled
Use option as meta key
That's it! You should be well on your way to becoming an Emacs master!