Slashdot Mirror
Suggestions for an Ergonomic Mouse?
pawul13 asks: "I've seen lots of articles and suggestions on ergonomic keyboards (and I have the excellent kinesis version, which helps tremendously), but what about mice? I'm currently experiencing a lot of pain, but only in my 'mouse' wrist. I have a semi-ergo Logitech, but it's not doing it. Does anyone have suggestions for the best ergo mouse (Trackball, optical, whatever, it doesn't matter)?" There was a similar question from January, but it may have been too limited.
The best mouse is symmetrical, and works left-handed and right-handed both. It either has no scroll-wheel, or has a very low wheel so it isn't bumped all the time when reaching the index finger to the left mouse button (I'm tired of having to gouge out the scroll wheel because it is always getting in the way of simple mouse clicks)
One of the ladies here at work complained about her wrist being sore from being at a PC for 8 hours a day. We gave her a trackball, and I have not seen her extension # show up on my phone since.
Give it a shot.
How far are we from that actually that it's no longer an instrument that we're using, but actions we perform withour own bodies which is interpreted by the machine?
-Christopher Wu
http://www.christopherwu.net/
Still waiting for the thought-controlled input device, but then I guess that will just give you a headache instead :-)
Wacom has a wonderful selection of writing tablets for various uses (web designer, artist, general use, etc...) and I have found it to be quit relaxing and natural to use, especially if you grew up using pencil and paper to do things. According to their website, it helps reduce Repetitive Stress Injury, and they have several testimonials to that effect.
Actually, there was a short segment on Daily Planet the other day that mentioned mouse hand pains. They stated that researchers had determined that just moving your mouse to the other side of the keyboard and using your other hand was enough to make a lot of the pains go away and never come back!
Basic idea: you reach past your number keys to get to the mouse, so moving to the other side reduces hand travel to get there. And anyone can adapt to the mouse on the other side, even without changing buttons... Try it, and you may not have to spend money to solve your problems.
Anyway...
On Arrakis: early worm gets the bird. Magister mundi sum!
I dunno, those kinds of interface devices always look like they would cause a bad case of gorilla arm.
Also, I agree with another poster that a large part of the problem is because of that silly numeric keypad wasting 6" of space past the right side of my keyboard. Might be worth finding a keyboard without that (course, they're really useful when typing numbers, but that's another matter).
I also suspect that a lot of extra effort is put into pressing , since it's so far away. I've actually adapted into pressing ^H by habit. But that doesn't always work: brings up browser history, etc. Also, if you accidentally type rm -rf / and mean to hit ^H but miss and hit ^J....
The ones made by chproducts were the best. Unfortunately they were the msot expensive, so ch products got out of that business. I still have one on an older machine and it is still working after about 10 years of use.
I really got into these when I was helping a parapelegic work out how to use his computer. He had pencils that were strapped to his hands to work with. A mouse was horrible for him to use, but a simple change to one of these trackballs worked great.
If you see any of these on e-bay with the PS/2 plug on it, let me know, I could use 2 more!
This is actually made by 3M. Its called the 3M(TM) Ergonomic Mouse, you can find it at many retailers.
t nG=Search+Froogle
http://www.3m.com/ergonomics/ergonomicmouse.jhtml
Comes in two size, small/medium and large.
I used one for a summer when I was an intern at SGI. It really reduces wrist pain, but its a bit "slower" and takes about 2 weeks to get used to it. Seems less precise than a regular mouse too.
A Froogle finds average price about $50.
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=EM500GPS-AM&b
Bobby
Many of my co-workers use these mice from Contour Designs.
You can check them out here
The best, most comfortable mouse I have ever owned was a Logitech Mouseman Wheel. It's secret is twofold: first, it slopes very much downward to the right, following the natural shape of your hand. Second, it's very long. Check some pictures here and here, and a review here. I unfortunately had to give up my original wired ball model, since I need cordless capability. Logitech made a wired ball version, a wireless ball version, and a wired optical version... but never followed it up with a wireless optical version, opting instead for more "stylish" mice which are much shittier. (They did technically make a wireless optical version, but in trackball form: if you look at this, it has the great ergonomic shape, but with a trackball grafted to the side.)
I look on eBay all the time to try to pick one up, but always end up getting outbid... these mice are highly desirable. I suppose one day I'll save up and just bid $100 for the cordless one, they are that good.
The latest Evolution on the venerable design. This is the one with the buttons under the fingers and the ball under the thumb. I have never had issues with pain when using this mouse. I have been using the trackman series since my first PC capable of using/needing a mouse. Avoid the ones where the ball sits in the fron under the index/middle finger. That one will quickly cause problems in the wrist and lower arm, esspecially if you are already sensitive. They only complaint if I had to make one is I wish that the mouse was a tiny bit larger on the whole. The prevous iteration I still have on the home PC (one of the variations on the older conch-shell design) was a bit larger therefore more comfortable for me. However the current design is still mre comfortable than any mouse that requires moving the unit itself.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
an ergonomic mouse forces your hand to always have the exact same position. Hence, the movements will always be the same and repetitive.
You'd be best off with the old amiga mouses or something: square. You'd end up shifting your hand from time to time since it's uncomfortable, in the long run it's more comforatble.
the pun is mightier than the sword
Logic is not Divine.
These are not necessarily easy to find at consumer electronics stores. What they carry are el-cheapo trackballs, which may have the word "ergonomic" on them and some funky curved design, but they're awful to use.
The ones we have are made by Mouse-Trak and look as ugly as hell, cost $150 each, but are a joy to use. They are used 24x7 and are in place on 8-CRT consoles, so they get heavily used and abused, and we send a few dozen back in each year to get repaired. Usually the problem is that the track-ball itself (which weighs probably 10 times what you'd find in a el-cheapo trackball, think back to the old "Missile Command" and "Centipede" games) has worn down, or the shafts it rides on.
I too had a lot of wrist pain due to mousing, until I got a Thinkpad and started to use the trackpoint. These keyboards are also available for desktop machines. What I wonder is, will it work with a Mac?
http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/documeHaving a mouse that is comfortable for you is important (and highly dependent on personal preference), but how you use it is even more important. Many people end up gripping the mouse tightly, angling their hand up, and using the wrist for side to side motion too much. A light touch, letting the mouse go when not using it, and using your entire arm will help quite a bit. Also, just taking short breaks every 30 minutes to an hour will really help.
I've read a few things on the net which state that reducing palm down position reduces pain. Apparently, the natural position for your hand and wrist is palm inwards. Here is one of the palm in style ergo mice I found:
http://www.handshakemouse.com/index.htm
Try adjusting your sitting position, chair height, equipment placement, etc. It may not be the mouse that's causing the problem. A good mouse can still give you pain if your body is positioned wrong.
And when my Logitec died, I switched to a Microsoft Optical Trackball. The PS2 version is something like $35 at Wally World.
Despite the fact that I have bad thumbs (several sprains while skateboarding in my youth), using a trackball has never caused fatigue.
Plus, I find the trackball better for gaming (UT2K4, etc).
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
I looked at the ergo characteristics for that side of the desk. I raised my armrest to support my arm, not just my elbow, and also added a gel wrist support for directly under my wrist. Now, my mousing arm is mostly supported from elbow to wrist, and it has helped a lot.
For the mouse itself, I've had real good luck w. MS Optical mice, work mouse is Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, home mouse is 4.0 (side scroll wheel, very nice). Say what you will about MS software, they make/license a real nice mouse and keyboard. In fact, the MS Natural KBD I use at home was purchased the same day Windows 95 was purchased, back in '95!!!
How about something from www.fingerworks.com It looks like a glorified touch pad, but i've been tempted to buy one to give me more one hand capabilities.
Some time after I started my career working full time at the computer, I also developed pain in my wrist of my mousing hand. For a long time I couldn't figure out why--I suppose I was in denial that something so seemingly innocuous as using a mouse could injure me. Finally, acting on a hunch, I started using a mouse pad that had a gel pad to rest my wrist on, and I immediately felt more comfortable. The pain went away and that wrist has not bothered me ever since.
P.S. I have been using just ordinary Microsoft/Logitech mice.
I have long hands and a typical mouse does not fit me at all. Silly putty is great for modifing the shape of my mouse to better fit my hand. So order up a convenient 5 pound blob and experience ergonomic nirvana.
Simple people talk of people, better people talk of events, great people talk of ideas.
That is right, use your other hand, what better way to relief the stress in one hand that distributing it amongst the two of them?
One day you use the right hand, the other you use the left (make sure you change your mouse driver to the correct hand, that way your brain learns faster to use the mouse with the hand you are less comfortable with, i.e. dont use always the same mouse configuration, that will confuse you).
As other have commented, also change the device you use. One week use a mouse, another us a pen tablet, yet another use a trackball.
In my machine at home I actually have 2 devices connected, a mouse and a tablet...
Above all experiment. There is no best device, there is a device that works for you, any recommendation in principle is rubish because people do not know your circumstances and has no way to evaluate how comfortable something is for you.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
This is very true: I use one of the Apple "soapbar" mice, and a Kensington Expert Mouse Pro trackball, and I switch mice and handedness every couple of weeks. It's helped a great deal. I found that it's not that hard to develop the ability to use your mouse with either hand.
'jfb
To spur "enterprise Linux," Big Bang, the distributed two-phase commit.
The FingerWorks iGesture touchpad is a zero force, no button, standard USB interface mouse that has none of the annoying features of standard touchpads and is just as efficient as a standard mouse with none of the strain.
It uses different finger combinations to trigger different mouse functions such as left click, right click, drag, scroll wheel, and so on. It can sense which fingers you are using, and most importantly, it doesn't trigger mouse motion when you accidentally brush your hand against it because it can tell the difference between your fingers and your hand.
The iGesture pad is good enough to recommend even to people without wrist pain. But for anyone who actually is suffering physical strain from mouse use, it's almost a no-brainer.
(I have no relationship to FingerWorks except as a user of their products.)
CLI
However, I wonder if there isn't something more with CT/RSI. Why, for instance, do some people suffer from it, while others don't? For instance, I have never had (and here's hoping I don't ever have, from what I have read of the pain, it is HORRIBLE) any form of wrist or hand pain on a recurring, repeatable basis.
I have been using computers for almost 20 years now. If anything, I should be a case for "computer ailments". My first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer 2 when I was 10 years old. I had it hooked up to a 19 inch color TV in my bedroom that I sat right in front of ("don't sit too close or you'll go blind" - I guess my parents didn't believe that applied with a computer - I used that TV as a *monitor*. MMM...32x16 black on green - ok, I'll admit, I am pretty nearsighted). From that time on I have pretty much sat in front of a computer of one sort or another coding.
Twenty plus years later here I am typing some more, and I haven't had any carpal flareups or anything like I have heard described. I have had minor pain in one wrist, that went away when I stopped - so I would stop, but that hasn't happened to me in months, if not over a year. It wasn't anything like the pain I hear described by sufferers of CT/RSI - so I think I just was tired, so I rested - seemed simple (or, maybe I did, and I did the right thing to stop?).
I have a wristrest in front of my keyboard at work, and at home I use a Model M (yay, clicky!)...
Is it me, am I lucky? Could it be a genetic predisposition for some folks? Are they doing something or working in a manner different from me that causes it? I will admit that I don't have a normal typing style, it is kinda "homegrown" over the years - is this the reason? Do people with CT/RSI who use keyboards tend to be those who practice real typing skills? Could these skills, being applied to a type of keyboard (that is, soft electronic, not mechanical) not in existence when the style of teaching was thought up (ie, back when typewriters were first being made), be the problem?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
My keyboard of choice is the Goldtouch. I actually didn't switch to it for its ergonomic features, though these are very good. But my problem wasn't RSI, it was a tendency to hit the wrong cursor key. I saw a Goldtouch and was impressed by the unusual (but very logical) layout. However, Goldtouch didn't design the layout to make the keyboard klutz-proof -- they did it to move the mouse closer to the center of the keyboard.
The other day I saw someone using a similar product to this Vertical Mouse. I tried it out and it seemed pretty convenient.. Maybe it can solve your problem
Gujju
I have a Logitech Trackman Wheel thumbwheel mouse. I had extensive reconstruction of my right arm, and have no wrist at all (having been replaced with a metal rod). I can use a regular mouse but it's difficult and slow. This thumbwheel solves the problem. In fact, after having used it only a couple weeks, I managed to win Windows Solitaire in less than 100 seconds, my previous best time with a regular never having broke 120 seconds, even before the wrist replacement.
I consider the fact that it's difficult to use for someone who's never tried one before, to be a plus. It keeps people from trying to use my machine.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Mouseman Wheel (the one farthest to the right) was the best mouse I have ever owned. The latter versions (the other two depicted) were not (in my opinion) angled enough. They were only sufficiently angled so that you'd be annoyed that they weren't as good as the original. Luckily, I worked in a computer store at the time, so I didn't have to buy stuff to check it out at home for a few weeks.
I would also recommend getting that mouse, I still curse the day I sold mine (I got rid of all my equipment a few years back, being tired of computers (after having worked 45hr weeks for 3yrs in a computer store))
There are more than 100 different medical problems that the lower arm/wrist/hands can have. What will solve one problem may make a different one worse. You have to find what works for you. The ideas that others have poster may help. If your case is bad enough a good doctor might be able to help too.
Some things that might help (in addition to what others have said): learn piano. Seriously, a good piano teacher will sit over you with a ruler and give you a good whack every time your poster gets off, take these habits to the computer and you better off. Note too that musicans have been facing problems like this for years (hundreds if not thousands), so if after getting the advice of your piano teacher it doesn't go away, you they can often recommend doctors who know more about this type of problem than the average doctor.
Get a big trackball and place it on the floor. Rig up some foot pedals (at least for the left button...), and train your feet to do the work. You will still need a mouse for precision work, but this can take a lot of load off your hands.
Stretch. Search the web and you will come up with a bunch of hand stretches. I find they help me, they might help you.
Get in shape. Exercise can help in surprising ways, so if you are not in shape do it.
Take a vacation. When my wrist problems got the worst, nothing was helping. After a week in the backcountry in a canoe I came back with no pain. All those tricks I was doing before prevented the problems from coming back. I needed time to heal though before they would work.
Remember, nobody here is a medical doctor. Seek professional help if you need it. If things are getting worse stop.
I rather like the Razer Boomslang for two reasons:
- It has a very low profile
- It has extremely high resolution, so I hardly have to move my hand to use it accurately.
As a wrist and shoulder rsi victim, I found after trying a dozen of "especially designed" and priced accordingly devices that this is the most conveniant and relieves more muscles than any other i've tried. Wheelmouses should be banned anyway, those are great for home use. Do not try to scroll trough your daily portion of screeninfo please .. !
..
.. !
Also and in combination with the marble i make a lot of use of my Spaceball-5000 and not only in 3d designing, most apps support at least the scroll and zoomfunctions which are usually more stressing than the other mousefunctions
Good luck trying to find a way out
Peter
Kensington has recently upgraded it's full-sized trackball line with wireless optical and regular optical lines. I would strongly recommend an optical ball over a mechanical one. While I've had Expert Mice for the past 12 years (2 of them, both still working), making them optical fixes any problems with dirty balls not scrolling correctly. They're all terribly comfortable, and use a ball exactly the same size and shape as a billiard ball.
The ______ Agenda
It's actually a trackball. I've been using their various incarnations for almost 10 years now, and can heartily recommend the latest one -- it's black, has a ring around the ball that acts as a scroll wheel, and is optical (the older mechanical ones needed cleaning every month or so).
They are large, but extremely comfortable use (possibly because it's large). Cost is around $100, and worth every penny.
I also use a little gel wrist cushion in front of it (it comes with a leatherette thing but it's not as good as the little oval gel cushions you can get.
Pretty easy to get -- CompUsa stocks them for example.
"But actually trying to use m4 as a general-purpose langage would be deeply perverse" --ESR
I use this trackball at work and at home. I've been using it for over five years now and I just love them. Unfortunately they seem to be discontinued. What's the best replacement for them? I'd like to stay with a similar style trackball. I don't really want to go back to a mouse.
Any ideas?
i've been tempted to buy one to give me more one hand capabilities.Insert masturbation joke here.
When you get to hell -- tell 'em Itchy sent ya!
Road Bike vs Automobile, head on, by any chance?
Been there with the pain. It used to take all weekend for the actual pain to subside from a work week at the keyboard. My wrist's would start acting up after about an hour at work.
My solution:
A Kinesis keyboard and ratpoison (the wm).
After about a month my wrists improved, I added a contour (perfit) mouse (got 2 a hamfest for $1.)
I'm sick of mice that don't fit my hands
....
250 mm finger tip to base of palm
most mice feel to small
I had a Kingston mouce that was big , but my fingers were made sore by button use.
can't remember it's model
Type unto others as you would have them type unto you.
I know this sounds like a simple answer, but I think I've avoided a significant amount of pain over the past few years by simply disciplining myself to mouse lefty.
http://www.fingerworks.com
What I can tell you is this:
(1) it will take you at least 2 weeks to get used to this keyboard
(2) you probably will never be as efficient as this as on a regular keyboard (about 80% to 90%, depending on what you're doing)
(3) you'll want a regular mouse connected when you need fine control
(4) is has definitely helped my fingers recover (my fingers were suffering rather than my wrists)
(5) its pricey, at about $350
(6) your hands/wrists can recover, but it takes months to heal
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
I had the same problem as you -- I must have gone through 6 different mice before I gave up. I finally made the connection that the only place that I didn't have wrist pain was on my laptop, where I had a trackpoint instead of a mouse. I did a search and found an external keyboard with a built-in trackpoint and haven't used anything else since. You can pick them up for ~$50 on Google.
Not only has my wrist pain gone away, but my coworkers find my lack of a mouse so frustrating that they stay the hell away from my computer. Added bonus!
When violence rules the world outside / And the headlines make me want to cry / It's not the time to just keep quiet
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeybo
Yeah yeah, but hey, I use it under Linux too.
If you're a lefty, you're out of luck as far as I know, because I've not seen any good trackballs which are left-hand specific. Trackballs (more to the point, thumb-balls) are great... I used to like the Logitech ones, but the MS ones fit my hand much better.
Rock is dead. Long live scissors and paper!
1- as someone else has mentioned, using a mouse with your "off" hand actually seems to help alot for a variety of reasons. A few people at my workplace use lefthanded mice and swear by them.
2- Just like ergonomic keyboards, having your palms facing inward is best. Most mice [even the newer logitechs] are flat. Not good for the wrists.
3- Big mice are better. They keep you from closing your palm, causing stress there, and generally from resting your wrist on the table, causing stress as you move left and right.
4- Sensitive mice are better. My personal favorite, mice which are very sensitive require less movement to do a task, and thus less work and stress on your mousing arm. Good for someone like me that plays alot of games.
Trackball -- yes.
Try this on for size. Buy two (yes expensive) Turbo Pro's -- Wireless variety. Set them both for the same channel. It has 4 main buttons and a wheel that does dual duty as a middle mouse button. I set lower right button for select and drag, and lower left for double click, upper left and right as normal. It has 6 programmable buttons for anything you want.
The secret is the wireless option. Since both mice are on the same channel, you can switch hands to whichever is more convenient -- seamlessly. As long as you don't try to use both at the same time, they don't send signals. Battery life is pretty good -- though I use a steady stream of rechargables.
I use 1 receiver (it's USB, but they include a USB-PS/2 adapter). Because my carpal tunnel symptoms are worse in my right hand, I've become predominatly a left hand mouzer, but the ability to mouse with either hand w/o the hassle of moving the mouse -- but which ever is more convenient is a major bonus. Sometimes I need to primarly use keyboard keys on one hand or the other in combination with a mouse press. Depending on which hand has to be on the keyboard, I can automatically mouse with the other hand.
Becoming bi-mousual, is a major help for overuse on one-hand mousing problems.
Also...kensington support has been *GREAT*. Lifetime warantee on the mice. If one malfunctions or I just wear it out -- I call and give them the serial #, and they send out a new one (and I return the bad unit or not depending on random audits). I've had them for about 3 years and maybe gotten 2-3 replacements because I've worn down the wheel's such that the ball starts rubbing against the walls of the inside of the mouse and no longer moves. No problem...they send out a new one. I've never had a company (besides Dell with next business day on-site service) be so good with support. Compare that type of support to HP "Depot" service where you are without your part for 1.5 months while they ship the unit to India to be repaired. I don't think so!
Seriously. It's your lively hood. Lawyers don't think twice about spending 1000's of dollars a year to keep up on the law, and electricians don't think twice about shelling out for a high quality Fluke over a cheaper Radio Shack model.
It's no wonder so many programmers get so damaged, when they work with bear skins and stone knives to carve out their programs. It's your hands, your eyes, your back, your spine (ergo seating, proper posture, monitors with print that doesn't cause you to squint or have to bend forward to read). Think about it. Whether your employer pays for it or not -- if they won't, I'd still claim it as a tax deduction as a necessary tool of your trade (IANATC).
-l
1. I tilted the keyboard away, not toward me. I pushed that wrist rest under the closest edge of the kb so now it's maybe 5 degrees of tilt toward the monitor. this flattens the wrist like piano playing would and keeps me from anchoring the heel of my hand to the wrist rest anymore (which led to more twisting from the wrist). (I got this tilt tip from an RSI USENet post.) Pain in wrists and elbows got better in a matter of days. VHS tapes, paperback books, and my current 2-inch empty ring binder all work pretty well for this purpose.
2. Bought 2 Perfit mice, one for each hand. Every 3-6 months i switch mouse hands. This helped wrists and top of shoulders. The deal here is tilt and getting the right size for your hand so you can't so easily plant the heel of your hand on the mousepad. It takes some getting used to, but you can program the 3 buttons to do whatever you like, and I like them so well i've bought 4 of them over the years for various systems. (it works on lots of platforms.)
I tried a graphics tablet as a mouse replacement for many years. I liked it because I was doing a lot of drawing and photo editing and it gave me a lot more precision. But I kept having to put the dang stylus down (it would then dutifully roll onto the floor) and make a keyboard command, then go get the stylus and continue. Even after I eventually trained myself to put the stylus down in a better place, this device switching cost me a lot of time, and the stylus was a right-hand-only device for me.
Eventually I turned the tabet upside down and used it for a mouse pad, at lap level. That helped quite a bit, but it interrupted cat visitations, so it could not continue.
3. I finally cut a T-shaped board out of plywood that fits into my desk drawer slot but sticks out a foot. It gives me enough room, at the right level, for my kb, mice, AND the occasional cat and/or dinner.
YMMV, but these three types of modifications (kb tilt, mouse size, kb/mouse level) cost only about $150 or so to try.
'nuff said. I love this trackball. Precise, wireless, runs for weeks on a battery (I have rechargables, change maybe every 6 weeks) and extremely comfortable.
Only downside is a lack of a scroll wheel, but I use the keyboard / arrow keys for most things like that.
I'd like to second (or third, or fourth) this. I switched to mousing left-handed more than 10 years ago after a bout of tendonitis in my right wrist. I haven't had a recurrence. It took a few weeks to get comfortable, and the first couple of days were awkward. Persistence paid off, though. Now I can mouse either-handed. I didn't bother to change button locations.
I like the speed of selecting a region of text with my left hand while doing a command-key combo with my right.
2-1/2 inch heavy trackball. Buttons that don't click, they "thwack". The older models look like something from NORAD, but the newer ones...well, look like something from NORAD. Usually sold by companies that sell equipment for people with disabilities and the Armed Forces. With a standard mouse or trackball, you keep too many muscles rigid and tense to be precise. With a P+G, you just move the massive trackball. Remember Missile Command? Imagine it on your desk...oh, and around $300-$400 USD each. I've rebuilt one of mine twice (its from 19...87?).
i use ms mouse optical blue with a scroll wheel. /. article and move the mouse down
works perfect. of course setting mouse acceleration
and pointer speed to max will minimize you overall
wrist movement. also keeping the mouse clean
will help. it just s#ck to have an opticaL mouse
stick to the table. i clean it daily.
i'm still waiting for the super light mouse that you
could blow over the table...
another suggestion for windows user: middle click
on a long
slightly. this will make the computer scroll down
slowly so you don't have to keep your hand on the
scroll wheel...
The 3M joystick mouse seemed like a good idea, but most of the people we had try it didn't like it. We have just started using the Evoluent Vertical Mouse and so far the feedback has been extremely positive.
I paid the going retail price for a Windows screen reader and got a free Unix computer!
What I'd like is the following:
A "wave" style (think Microsoft Natural) keyboard, without the stuff off to the right of the main keyboard; but with two analog controllers for your thumbs below the spacebar. The analog controllers would be similar to the dual analog controllers for the PS2 - combination analog directional and single button. One would move the pointer, the other would act in a similar fashion to the scroll wheel on a regular mouse. Left and right click would be available by pushing in the analog controllers.
Obviously, the analog sticks would need to be smaller than the PS2 ones...but probably larger than IBM's trackpoint.
I think I'll mock up a photo of this in the GIMP when I get home tonight; it might explain it better...
--Ender
Loose things are easy to lose. You're getting your hair cut. They're going there to see their aunt.
Well, I found that the GoldTouch mouse was quite good at relieving stress. It takes a little getting used to, because it's meant to nestle further back in the palm of your hand. If you use it that way it's great, but for a while the tendency is to let it slip back up front and grasp it with your fingertips like a normal mouse, and it sucks when used that way.
Beware of weight. I once tried a mouse that was in a very good-fitting ergonomic shape and even came in multiple sizes. It fit perfectly into my relaxed hand, with no effort at all to grip it. But it was a heavy clunker and using it killed my wrist because of the excess force required to get it moving. (The GoldTouch is nice and light.)
Also consider a trackpad. I don't like them as much as a mouse, but I find that when I use the computer too much I can just occasionally spend a day on the touchpad and my wrist recovers substantially from using the mouse. I have the Kinesis ergo keyboard, and used self-stick velcro to mount a trackpad on the keyboard between the key wells--that's particularly sweet because I can put the keyboard right in my lap without having a huge keyboard tray and having to reach out to the side for the mouse.
Right now I'm using a Kensington Optical Elite and it's OK for me. The shape is somewhere between normal and GoldTouch, and you can grip it either way: between thumb and fingertips or back in the palm.
I'm coding for a living, meaning I often sit 12-16 hours a day in front of the computer. I tried half a dozen mice for comfort and ease of use, because my right wrist started to hurt like hell. and then I found the solution - a 10 euro mousepad with a gel pad. you rest your wrist on it while using the mouse. within days, my wrist pain was gone. sure, it somehow hinders your movement, meaning I now suck at unreal tournament, but that's a small price to pay.
I guess you should be able to pick up a gel mousepad (and a matching keyboard pad) at any computer store, if not, here is a link.
Karma
Hell, I'd settle for one that's not friggin' tiny. I have big hands, and it seems to me that mice just get smaller and smaller as the years go by... I wish there was an equivalent to the IBM model M for pointing devices...
*sigh*
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it!
You might want to try one of these Quill Mice, theyre expensive as all get out, but they have a nice feel - when you click you can really feel it in different muscles than normal. I tried one out and thought the position was pretty comfortable.
A No scroll wheel solution is comming in the form of a Multifunction 5 Degree of Freedom device that has just been patented. It is both rightie and leftie. Look at www.elegantsol.com and tell me what you think!
To design a good mouse, you have to investigate the principles of good design. In the world of sports, one item has remained unchanged in its basic design since the birth of the sport. We should base the mouse on this.
Of course, I'm talking about the hockey puck.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.