Is there is anyone that uses a one-button mouse who often switches the fingers they use (index, middle finger, etc)? These people may exist in theory, but do they exist in reality?
I made this thread since I have been unable to get an answer for my more technical RSI questions here and on RSI newsgroups.
And if those people exist, do they do it out of boredom or are they trying to relieve some kind of RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury)?
Thanks.
I’m using a one button mouse right now. (well, when I’m not typing, that is) I have the round mouse just forward of my palm, the wire between my ring and middle fingers. I click using the second joint of those two. There are times I use just my index, and other times I use my middle. I may be an anomaly, however.
I may be an anomaly, but when I detected some finger stiffness from one-button mouse use, I just switched hands. Even as a right-handed mouse user, I found it surprisingly easy to use the mouse with my left hand for a few weeks, until my right hand felt better.
That’s what I’m talking about… but do you know why you do it? Is it to help relieve physical aching in your fingers and wrist, or is it just some weird habit you’ve gotten into for no particular reason?
Max Torque:
Thanks, though I’m asking about people who use different fingers on the mouse that are on the same hand.
You mean that everyone doesn’t replace that idiotic one-button POS with a three- or four-button mouse or trackball? Man, that’s sad. I wish I could use a scroll wheel with my Mac, too. I love my Mac, but I do get annoyed with some of Apple’s stubbornness, like their refusal to adopt the best of Micro$oft’s features.
What’s preventing you from using a mouse with a scroll wheel? I’ve been using one for years.
Well, I use three fingers when working on a pc. Whenever I switch to a mac, I also use three fingers - to highlight, copy, paste. And then have to realize that it simply doesn’t work on a one-button mouse.
And this happenes every time!
Poor, poor Nametag – you must still be stuck in Mac OS 9 or earlier? But you always answer the Mac posts – I’m sure you’re using Mac OS X to some degree, right?
The first thing I always do is chuck the Apple mouse. Under Mac OS X, I think just about any USB mouse works. I use the Kensington $8 “Mouse-in-a-Box,” Windows version. For some reason the same Kensington Mouse-in-a-Box Macintosh version costs $30. Just plug it in, and scroll wheel works, right-click works, and middle button (the scroll wheel pressed) is at least detected – I map mine to Exposé. Don’t bother with drivers. That’s just a messy pain in the neck.
Hm. Interesting question. I do graphics and I’m on a computer for probably 10 hours a day, and in a single day I will likely use three different Macs and one PC.
The PC has two buttons and a scroll wheel in the center.
One Mac has a two-button mouse. One Mac has a single button, the other Mac is a lap top with the clicky thing as something oyu hit with your thumb like a spacebar.
If I think about it. I tend to do most clicking with my middle finger and ring finger - they usually act together almost like a single unit. When I rock climb I rely heavily on them - probably more so than my other digits - and again, they ofte act together as one unit.
Mainly it’s for strength and control (they are the most centered and in line with the rest of my arm).
On the single button mouse, my index and baby finger just barely rest on the mouse at all. They mostly drape over the side and help a bit with lateral mouse movements. I don’t really “exert” them.
Unlike picnurse one the one button mouse, I use th tips of my fingers… Um, sort of like my hand is in a very relaxed claw shape over the mouse, the way your hand looks when it’s totally relaxed and your fingers curl slightly. I don’t use the round mouse that picnurse described, I have the regular oval shape, the enire front clicks.
I pretty sure I use those two fingers predominantly on the two button mouse too.
When I use a multi-button mouse, I very quickly experience pain and soreness in my hand, wrist, and particularly, in my index finger.
When I use a single button mouse, I don’t have any such problem. I thought about this a while and watched myself use the mouse. Whenever I use a single button mouse, I click the button either with my three middle fingers, or sometimes with my first two fingers (index and middle). I never click the button with just my index finger.
Avoiding pain and discomfort is a very important part of my life, so I would be rather upset if Apple stopped shipping single button mice.
Yes, I am; my beige G3 isn’t really worthy of OS X (and it never even occurred to me that OS X might do that). I didn’t think I answered that many OS X posts; when I do, it’s usually something I looked up.
In any event, I don’t really like the Kensington designs – I like my Logitech Trackman Marble, which, if it now comes with USB and a scroll wheel, will definitely be a part of my next system (I don’t plan to get a new computer untill broadband becomes available in my neck of the woods).
By George, here it is! 
Trackman Marble works just fine with no drivers. Again, mine’s from the cheaper PC shelf of CompUSA. I bought it thinking It’d be good for my wife and I could give up my mouse. She loves it; but I’m left handed so we have the Trackman on the right and the Kensington on the left.