[clug] [OT] quest for keyboards that's migrated into mouse handedness

[Conrad Canterford]

On Wed, 2010-02-03 at 22:14 +1100, Jim Croft wrote:
> what a relief - I thought I was the only weirdo that did that... :)
> jim

> On Wednesday, February 3, 2010, Mike Carden <mike.carden at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I run the mouse on the right hand side at home and the left hand side
> > at work to balance out the wrist forces.

Nope, not at all weird.

Using different hands between home and work was recommended to me during
a "workplace assessment" (OH&S desk/chair/computer setup check, in case
you've not encountered one before). I'm the other way around - left hand
side at home, right hand side at work. There isn't room on the righthand
side of my desk at home, so the work one has to be on the right.

When I have had the mouse on the left at work it has been amusing to
watch workmates struggle with the concept when using my computer. I
don't swap the buttons over, and that apparently breaks their minds more
than having the mouse on the "wrong" side. Having said that, I found
nothing more frustrating than trying to use a left-handed workmates
computer where she *had* swapped the buttons over. That was just plain
wrong.

Its probably also amusing to workmates on the odd occasion I try and use
my coffee cup to move the mouse pointer if I'm not thinking about where
I am, so it all balances out.

On the keyboard front, I use a Belkin natural at home and a M$ Natural
at work. I like the Belkin better, as it has very little (vertical)
inclination. I actually have paper wads taped to the front underside of
my M$ keyboard at work to counter the inclination and keep my wrists
flatter. I think the newer versions may come with this feature built in.
Both have over the years developed a distinctive creak with pressure on
the wrist landing pad.
For key feel, I really liked my old Sun (Type IV I think?) keyboard. A
light key pressure, very quiet.

Conrad.