COMMENTARY--Every time somebody introduces a new way to interface with your computer, I wonder how many people would benefit in a refresher course in an existing technology that they've already got.
Let's look at your options for entering data. You could invest in a really fancy mouse, optical, of course. The mouse has its place, but apart from the very particular needs of certain mobility-challenged groups, it's lousy for straight data entry. Don't believe me? Try entering data using those onscreen keyboards you get on certain PDAs. Now try typing at more than about 2wpm. Mouse data entry is about the same.
Light pens seem to have dropped off the computing radar for everything but certain industrial applications where they're more or less the only choice. Their common use replacements are touch sensitive screens, which is great if your computing experience consists only of pressing the shiny onscreen buttons. For higher end users you could buy a graphics tablet and some OCR software, or a Tablet PC, and rely on handwriting recognition. That's not a terrible option, as long as your software recognises what it is you're trying to jot down, and as long as you don't accidentally take to it with liquid paper.
Voice recognition is coming along nicely as a technology, but it's only really practical if you have your own office or enclosure. If I were dictating this column to voice recognition technology, it'd probably pick up the four surrounding phone conversations, two arguments and large quantity of other background noise. The end result wouldn't make for terribly legible copy.
Wait long enough, and somebody's bound to deliver on thought recognition technology, but that has its own perils. What happens if you're dictating a long memo and the office member you've got a heavy lust for wanders past? Your company invoices could instantly become a work of powerful erotic fiction, and consequently grounds for your dismissal.
I'm still in the camp that likes the common keyboard. Before the light pen, before the graphics tablet and even before the mouse, there was the keyboard. With a keyboard you can zoom around most applications at the highest speed using only eight fingers and one space-bar-controlling thumb. Sure, there are some nasty applications that don't like this rather Luddite approach, but that's OK. A break or two from keyboard punching is a good thing. More on that later.
While everyone uses a keyboard, the one area they often don't use is the rather large number of keyboard shortcuts open to them. I couldn't get by without keyboard shortcuts, and I'm not just talking about the regular CTRL-C/CTRL-V options that most people are aware of. If F5 isn't the refresh option in a software program, I want to know why. Likewise, if the windows key on a notebook isn't next to the space bar, how else I am able to drop straight to the desktop (Windows-M or D) or to Windows Explorer (Windows-E)?
Keyboard shortcuts can also be something of a lifesaver. Not long ago I had the unenviable task of assisting a poor retailer whose mouse had gone missing right when I wanted to arrange some short term finance for some necessary household appliances. They had no idea how to even launch software, let alone move between data fields; enter the keyboard shortcut maestro. A few deft key taps later, and I had new whitegoods and a hefty debt.
Mind you, a title like "The keyboard shortcut maestro" suggests that I might need a cape and a secret cave somewhere, and I just don't have the legs to carry that off.
Microsoft seems to have something of a love/hate relationship with keyboard shortcuts. On the one hand, on my desk I have a Microsoft Office Keyboard, mainly because I like the integrated wrist rest. It has integrated keys designed to replace common keyboard shortcuts, and they're the freshest and best maintained keys on my entire keyboard, mainly because I never use them. If they were overlaid over the spots where the original keys are, then I'd use them -- but that would defeat the whole point. On the other hand, Microsoft do maintain a rather neat guide to common shortcuts here. A quick Google search will find you a trove of other sites -- 220,000 at the time of writing, although there's sure to be a few stray porn results in there somewhere.
The one thing that's bad about keyboards is rather like the main thing that's wrong with radioactive waste. Prolonged exposure isn't terribly good for you, never mind what certain comic books might have taught you as a youngster. I'm not talking here about approaching someone else's coffee stained board and risking some kind of unknown glowing communicable disease that eats away the webbing between your fingers. I'm talking common or garden repetitive strain injury, or whatever it is that ergonomics experts want to call it this week. Otherwise known as common old finger crunching pain. If you type for long enough, it will come and bite you in the wrist.
There's essentially two ways of dealing with the problem. Well, OK, three, but pouring petrol all over your keyboard and lighting it is a touch extreme, and the burning plastic fumes may be carcinogenic. That aside, you could invest in a fancy ergonomic keyboard. For those with particular wrist problems they can be exceptionally good, and you gain the added benefit that practically nobody will try to use your PC, as they'll probably find the keyboard a touch too challenging. Aside from the regular models sported by firms such as Microsoft and Logitech that tend to rely on a split key design, there's also a wealth of rather more odd-looking options that should be able to alleviate almost any keyboarding problem.
The second alternative is software remedies. Cheaper than an entire new keyboard, software ergonomics concentrates on getting you to do what you should be doing in the first damn place -- taking breaks on a regular basis. You've got a large choice of software options out there to remind you to take a break, and many of them are free for personal use, which is a nice bonus. The only challenge with the software approach is convincing your boss that you're still actually working when there's no keyboard activity going on. A quick reminder of the number of sick days lying on the beach (sipping a cooling beverage, naturally) that would be required in the event of a crippling keyboard injury should do the trick.
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