🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct5.085406.4875@liveware.com> todd@liveware.com writes:
	[stuff deleted...]
> The keyboards are supposed to be really good based on the ergo
> feel and the person's ability to adjust the keyboard to different
> angles/heights.  In theory this is a good idea, but really the bloody
> problem in my experiences has been how you are able to rest
> your wrists.  This really has to do with the resulting extension
> of your wrists, as well as the amount of pressure that builds up
> during long times at the keyboard.  Simson does make a good point
> in that you can't expect any keyboard to help you out if you do
> 20 hour a day of typing.  The recommended portions of typing might
> be 1-2 hours and then some rest.  Do read the article from Dan Lavin
> and Simson's subsequent opinions/experiences.  I have seen the keyboard
> and again I say it sucks, as well as the mouse.  But then the current
> hardware human interface sucks too.  Is the new stuff better, only
> time can tell.
> 
> Todd
	Nothing (new keyboards, adjustability, layouts, etc.) can substitute  
for a work station with good ergonomics. When typing, you should not rest your  
wrists anywhere (that is ideally, wrist rests are alright, but not great...).  
The real problem with the keyboard (short of lack of inquiry into ergonomics)  
with the keyboard is that when your thumb hits the space bar, it pops out of  
the socket at the extreme end of the motion. This can wreck the cartilidge  
(sp?) and cause premature arthritis. The problem is that your hand has a  
natural angle of inclination which the keyboard does not match (your hand wants  
to be about 5 degrees off vertical, while the keyboard is 90 degrees). Having  
to splay out your wrists is why your thumb dislocates, and is a major cause of  
carpal tunnel syndrome (one variety of repetitive stress syndromes related to  
typing). Dvorak keyboards help, but the best thing you can do for yourself is  
to calculate what an ergonomic workstation should be for yourself, and  
build/adjust one (get a book on ergonomics or architecturual furniture design,  
it will tell you about keyboard height, monitor height, work surface level,  
angle of divergence from monitor, etc.). And on a last note, why hasn't NeXT  
made the mice fit your hand. I have yet to meet someone with a hand that fits  
the mouse, and I find it a real pain in the butt compared to my ADB and  
X-terminal mouses.
--
Robert Seymour					rseymour@reed.edu
Departments of Physics and Philosophy
Artificial Life Project				NeXTmail preferred
Reed Solar Energy Project (Sunrayce 1993)
Reed College, Portland OR