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So maybe you just ripped open the Half-Life box and want to start playing with a bang, or you have been just struggling for ages with the game and want to sharpen your skills. Either way, this is the page for the beginners.
I will start out with the keyboard configuration. Like an idiot, when I started out, I stuck with the default configuration and found that I needed more than two hands to play the game well. Then I began to lose intrest in the game only becasue I could not control anything well. Well the thing is, Valve and Sierra left the newbie gamer with a pretty bad configuration. I'll share two configurations that I have used, one for people with smaller and less "stretchy" hands, and one for players with big hands.
The first configuration is for the players who don't need to confine their playing area to just a few close together keys. I still use this configuration today, as it lets me easily remember what the basic keys are, but it still lets me reach everything with somewhat ease.
Firstly, the arrow keys are the home. The up and down arrows are back and fourth and the left and right arrows are strafe left and right. NOT TURN LEFT AND RIGHT! You can easily turn with the mouse, so you don't need the turn commands. CTRL is jump and SHIFT is duck. Your pinky can control those. INS 0 is reload and END 1 is "use". Those are the main commands that will get you through most the game. You may not need anything at all beyond this point, but if you do, figure out what works best for your hands and assign new keys. ENTER is always a good misc. key to fool around with.
The configuration for the smaller hands takes just a little more memorization. Firstly, the movement keys are Y, H, G, and J. Y is forward, H is back, G is strafe left, and J is strafe right. They are just the same as the arrow keys. Now you have a wide variety of keys really close to you. T and U are good for reload and use. I like to use SPACE for crouch and C for jump, after all, that is the natural position for your pinky. ALT can be something too. This is also the best configuration for MODs like Action Half-Life where there are many more important commands.
The same mouse configuration is used for both of these keyboard configs. Left click is for main weapon fire. Right click is secondary weapon fire. The mouse wheel, which I suggest you get before you go into multiplayer, will be next and previous weapons. Clicking the mousewheel, which is MOUSE 3, can be something like last used weapon. For some mouses, like the one I have, there are two morw buttons. These buttons will not work unless you installed the software that came with the mouse and assigned keys to the mouse buttons. I assigned F8 and F9 to my extra buttons, so then I could click them and the computer would reconize it as F8 or F9. So I made a secondary option for reload as F8 and a secondary option for USE as F9. I am still trying to get used to this, since that mouse is only a month old and the configurations are only half a month old.
-Conserve ammo whenever possible. Don't go on a rampage when trying to kill one headcrab.
-Practice jumping and ducking until it becomes a flowing process. Going to the hazard course is fine, but if you have any doubts, practice leaping around during the opening levels where there are no enemies.
-Falling from high places hurts.
-Spinning fans hurt.
-Sometimes running through the whole level is a bad idea. Turning a corner and falling into a toxic waste pit CAN be prevented by pressing the walk key here and there.
-Remember that crouching makes you more quiet, which can be very effective if you are low on ammo or only have a crowbar.
-Ammo can be tempting to pick up on the other side of that toxic waste spill, but think about it; do you REALLY need it? Is it worth losing 20 health?
-Think before you leap. Is that electricity going to effect that water? Most likely, yes. Don't go running into a room without any thought put into it.
-Many times you will be faced with hazards that seem impoissible to pass, but with closer inspection, you will find that there is a creative way to get by.
-Don't give up just because you died once. Thats the beauty of this game. If you die, you don't have to start over at the beginning of a level, you are put back into a reasonable position, preobably right before the area where you died.