Musing on interacting with my computer

Apr 05, 2009 09:10

Sometimes if I work for long stretches at a time, my wrists, elbows, or shoulders start to hurt. I blame mousing mostly, and typing on the keyboard to a lesser extent ( Read more... )

ui

Leave a comment

Comments 3

jeff_simpson April 5 2009, 15:19:37 UTC
Pretty sure google calendar does the drag+drop, stretch to resize calendar events. The only thing missing is the touch screen.

although, I have to say - as cool as direct-manupulation is, the mouse itself is actually kind of a genius idea - you have WAY more sensitivity than you'll ever have with just a finger, and the speed/accel/resolution is all adjustable, which you can't do with a touchscreen.

Imagine touchscreen came out first, and somebody came up with a genius invention where you could manipulate the entire screen without your wrist leaving the desk. Higher accuracy means less real-estate dedicated to window controls and menus. If we hadn't already grown so used to the mouse, it would be the invention of the year.

How sensitive is your mouse? I can go the entire width of my screen in about 3" of mousepad - if you have to move your hand every time you want to get to a menu, that would explain the arm stress.

Reply


puffy_wuffy April 6 2009, 14:39:17 UTC
Hmm . . . I know that there are stylus-based interfaces that might do some of what you seem to want. HP has the iPAQ, I think if you Googled stylus, you'd probably get a ton of results, too. The two hands thing is a no go, though. Most touchscreens can only deal with one/two input at a time.

I think that Apple will probably come up with something like this, and has applications in their latest OS that are similar to what you are talking about. They just need a touchscreen Macbook, or touchscreen screen.

Reply


aaltair April 8 2009, 06:30:46 UTC
I'm pretty sure my teres major gets really screwed up by mousing. At least, there's this lump that really hurts - the massage therapist says it's the power behind the fine motor control of the fingers and hand.

Anyway, I think if you were committed, you could get the pony a lot sooner and for a much lower cost than the pseudo-physical display you want.

Reply


Leave a comment

Up