The ache in my forearm was getting progressively bothersome last night and I knew I was only a few days away from being forced to halt all computer activity. Unfortunately, it’s how I make a living!
I bought my first Wacom tablet today, plus a full-sized Apple keyboard to improve my posture and expand my hand/arm range of movement before the symptoms of repetitive strain injury worsened.
About four years ago I had this problem — too much mouse work all at once — and I trained myself to mouse with my left hand to give my right hand a break. Then I switched back and forth. It was annoying because I programmed combinations of keystrokes for shortcuts and they were hardly shortcuts anymore after switching my mouse hand, but at that time I was remote controlling a Windows machine with another Windows machine. The keyboards were essentially the same.
However, an Apple keyboard layout is different from a Windows keyboard (the notebook version especially so) and unhelpfully asymmetrical: the Function and Control keys are only on the left side of the spacebar and I use combinations of Fn+, Ctl+, Apple+, Option+ and Shift+ in my Mac environment. With the Apple keyboard and the old-school one-button Apple mouse, I remote control a Windows machine and keyboard but the keystroke combinations between environments differ once you get past the basic copy/cut/save/paste, especially in Excel. Switching the mouse back and forth between the right and left hand is not efficient anymore because a notebook keyboard layout is condensed. Which also means there is no numeric keypad and entering figures is SLOW by comparison.
I can’t believe I lasted this long with my current setup! I’ve considered adding different devices, but the ergonomic keyboards take up far too much space and wireless mice are a) not as responsive or precise as wired mice, and b) with batteries are too heavy for constant use, causing muscle strain.
Although I prefer the reduced clutter of wireless devices, I just haven’t found any that match up to the responsiveness of wired devices — especially mice.
I read lots of user reviews for pen tablets and I hadn’t come across anyone who went back to a mouse after switching to a tablet. In the end I decided to buy a Wacom Bamboo instead of splashing out another $20 on a mouse and software I wouldn’t use on the Bamboo Fun. I also bought the full-size Apple keyboard to put my 17″ PowerBook screen further away from me (it’s big enough!), which improves my posture so I’m not leaning forward to hunch over the condensed notebook keyboard. Also, it keeps the computer cleaner and cooler because I’m not touching it anymore.
As for the Wacom pen tablet, it took a little while getting used to the pen motion and sensitivity, maybe an hour or so. There’s a lot more precision and control once your brain wraps around how to coordinate your hands with all the devices together. I also noticed I can perform most functions faster with the tablet than with a mouse, especially with the four programmable buttons at the top of the tablet, plus a touch circle that can zoom or scroll. There are also two click spots on the pen that can be programmed; I’m currently using the default right-click/context menu and scrolling options. That extra range of movement and a more posture-friendly layout is something I really should’ve invested in long ago!