keyboards/RSI/switching costs

[Chris Jack]

James Laver wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Chris Jack <chris_jack at msn.com> wrote:
> >It also has the advantage of no numeric keypad - so there's significantly less travel between keyboard and mouse.
> 
> That's distinctly not an advantage for those of us who type numeric
> IDs into database driven applications.


I have a separate numeric keypad which I could put on the other side of the mouse - but personally I never use it so it sits on the other side of my desk where I sometimes use it to plug USB devices into (cos it's got a couple of USB ports). If you've never had significant pain from RSI, you may not realise how much extra pain travelling over the numeric keypad is. It is a classic bad design. When you travel from the keyboard to the mouse - your hand is in the air and holds extra tension. Numeric keypad = extra travel = extra tension. Extra tension+inflamed tendon = extra pain. Anyway, if you're not suffering from RSI, you may not want to shell out the rather exorbitant sums for such a keyboard - but I suspect it helps ward off getting RSI in the first place - so a mythical future version of yourself with RSI may berate your current self for sticking with a numeric keypad between keyboard and mouse.

Chris
 		 	   		  
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