Ergonomics of the computer mouse and keyboard from a hardware perspective

It's a pretty interesting fact that we still use the not so ergonomic kludges of many decades ago for our daily work. Let's just skip keyboard layouts altogether, as we all know the truth about them! ;-) You see, for technical reasons, ergonomics wasn't considered for these input devices by the original designers. They simply tried to solve the engineering problems of the day - and they have succeeded!

They always have two driving forces: one, how similar problems have been solved in the past and two, how to construct a device as simple as possible (i.e., to invent as few things as possible at once). They are initially dominated by the limitations of technology of the day, while later on, they must keep in mind to provide an easy migration path for earlier users of the same or a similar invention (Wikipedia: Path dependence).

For example, the typewriter has influenced the computer keyboard in all practically possible ways - i.e., they tried to mimic as closely as possible all quirks of the original, like the well-known planar layout and slanting of the keys. Another example is the computer mouse. The first version was created by literally putting some buttons on a soapbox. Unfortunately, this design dominates to this day, regardless of its lack of ergonomics.

However, it is not too difficult to derive an ergonomic solution for the said two: you just ensure that the user takes a natural posture while handling. For the hands, this means you hold your arms partially extended, with the palms not too far apart and facing each other. This posture can be visualized as grabbing a glass of water in each hand.

There are two simple, logical choices of conformations. In the first, the mouse resembles a vertically extending cylinder like a glass of water, or some minor deformation of the said. One button should be placed on the top for the thumb, while the others could reside on the side, preferably arranged in a vertical row, one for each finger. The second conformation enables holding the device like a pen. Note that I do not consider holding of a pen itself for extended periods of time very ergonomic, however it is unmatched in precision of coordination that enables fine drawing to be done electronically.

Mouse buttons must not require too great force to push, and they should provide little tactile feedback. The fine muscles of the hand were never meant to bang forcefully all day, you know! The buttons could even be relocated to the other hand (perhaps handling two mouse pointers simultaneously?) or on the keyboard, as in my experience, it's a bit easier to precisely and quickly position the pointer for drawing if clicking is done with the other hand. Note that there already exist macro packages for this very purpose.

As the buttons need to be easily clickable, software must be more forgiving about accidental clicks and key presses. This can be accomplished by requiring confirmation of major actions and providing quick undo for all which are practically possible. Note that this by itself is already a pretty good idea from a user friendliness standpoint.

Designing a "perfect" keyboard is a much tougher question. Taken the previously said into account, a split layout seems like a good choice. If you use a pointing device that is physically separate from the keyboard and you promote interspersed use of the two, then you need to place them as close as possible to each other to minimize time and effort needed to switch between the two. There are many possible configurations with the former properties, but I would like to list two conceptually different ones.

The first version resembles a slice from a sphere or a large diameter cylinder. Imagine a sphere that has buttons on one side. The buttons are on the side that is facing away from you. You push the buttons by holding the device in your hands with your palms facing each other.

The second variation is similar to the previous, but is small and planar, ideal for use in portable devices. It resembles a normal keyboard flipped along one of its sides. Actually, the exact layout looks more like if you've rotated each half (the ones containing each hands' keys) of a normal one 90 degrees inwards (in the keyboard plane). You hold it in your hands like you would hold a gaming system's two-handed controller - with your thumbs up.

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