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Keyboards are Good; Mouses are Dumb

Posted by timothy on from the trackballs-are-savants dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Most emacs/vi users know this, but it seems the more I use the mouse, the less output I am making. The keyboard does seem to make much more of a mind-meld than the imprecise mouse. Paul Tyma hits it on the head."

14 of 569 comments (clear)

  1. Nice read and all, but... by inkdesign · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...when did opinions become news??

    1. Re:Nice read and all, but... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I mean pure text/command line/keyboard only is great if you're a programmer. But I need a mouse for doing art/graphics and it's much easier than having to tab 30 times till the correct hyperlink is selected in my browser...guess it just depends on what it is you're doing ;)

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    2. Re:Nice read and all, but... by Frymaster · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Yeah, I mean pure text/command line/keyboard only is great if you're a programmer. But I need a mouse for doing art/graphics and it's much easier than having to tab 30 times till the correct hyperlink is selected in my browser.

      exactly. before everyone blows their top about vim or emacs or even bbedit, let's all take a deep breath and say:

      "the right tool for the right job"

      --

      2 1337 4 u!

    3. Re:Nice read and all, but... by shotfeel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "the right tool for the right job"

      Still as true today as back in the old Usenet days when people would waste their lives argueing over CLI vs. GUI. I guess there's a whole new generation that hasn't figured it out yet.

    4. Re:Nice read and all, but... by Tiger4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unfortunately, there are programmers using CLI out there developing tools for GUI users. The GUIs function, sorta, kinda, after a fashion, but the programmers never have to actually use them, so they don't understand all the complaints and whining over how crappy the GUIs are. This should sound really familiar to Linux developers. If it doesn't, perhaps you are POTP. The Apple HIG have been out for, what, about 20 years now?

      --
      Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, and let us slay him... and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
  2. Maybe in some tasks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Imagine trying to use a CAD program, or even browse a web-forum without a mouse. The mouse still wins in some applications.

    (Didn't RTFA).

    1. Re:Maybe in some tasks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I make my living with a CAD program. While I wouldn't want to use it without the mouse, I am much faster than many of the people around me because I use the keyboard more. Rather than hunting around for a little tool button to click, I just type the command with my left hand. It's faster and it keeps my spacial focus on my drawing instead of on the interface. Like the blurb says (can't read the article), the keyboard is more of a mind-meld, because a touch-typist doesn't have to think about typing, it just happens. The best mouse user still has to look at where there mouse is going in order to be able to click the right thing. I shouldn't have to look at the interface, only the thing I'm working on.

      So, the keyboard and mouse are both useful interface devices. IMO The efforts to make everything point-and-click are misguided, because they throw out a very powerful interface device. I usually consider it a Windows disease, because Windows is more likely to aim for a least-common-denominator (It's a design choice). Programs like AutoCAD that grew from a Unix Workstation mentality assume that the user is intelligent, and provide power for those that want it. Autodesk Inventor seems much more stifling to me, because the interface (Created for Windows by Windows users) is designed to force me to use it their way, not mine, and they want me to click on things with the mouse.

  3. Ok quick, draw me a corporate logo by theurge14 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Use Illustrator and only your keyboard. Go!

  4. imprecision by unk1911 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I agree completely. The mouse is imprecise and takes too long, requires very good hand/eye coordination. When I have to work on a repetitive task I can either write a macro or have the exact sequence of key-strokes down and do the job much faster.

    The mouse is better when the datasets that you are working on are not localized / scattered around the screen (it's like a cassette tape vs. cd-rom which can quickly access random parts of data without rewinding)

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    ahref=http://unk1911.blogspot.com/http://unk1911.b logspot.com/>

  5. Not quite. by Daniel+Baumgarten · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can you imagine how many times I would have had to hit 'tab' just to get to this textarea if I only had a keyboard and was using w3m or something? I shudder at the prospect.

    --
    "Screw slashdot." -- Linus Torvalds
  6. Yeah? by Valar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Try using photoshop without a mouse.

    Or maybe, the correct answer here, like in every field, is USE THE PROPER TOOL FOR THE JOB.

    --

    ====
    Crudely Drawn Games
  7. Of course... by rasafras · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He is sinply assuming that all anybody ever does is navigate file menus and some word processing. Choosing icons from a desktop, clicking buttons, things like that are not just eye candy... they matter. And for the things I do, multimedia editing and stuff, the mouse is more than essential. I agree fully with the poster that pointed out this is a thinly veiled 3 emacs news item, and rather terrible news. HEY, GEE GUYS, KEYBOARDS ARE BETTER THAN MICE FOR WORD PROCESSING.

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    webpage
  8. Of Course Mouses are dumb... by billnapier · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because mice would have been the smart way.

  9. No kidding by lawpoop · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The mouse is a selection tool, a filter. The keyboard is a creative combinatorial tool. There is a reason why every modern desktop computer has both. Actually there are probably several reasons.

    We're comparing shovels to screwdrivers here, folks.

    --
    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
    -- Pablo Picasso