new ergo toys

I've got this wacky Kinesis Evolution keyboard that bolts onto my chair that I've been using for many years now. It lets me type with my arms down by my sides, and I love it.

It also has two trackpads (one in each side of the keyboard). But I hate trackpads, so I don't use them. So instead, I just had a plain old mouse on the desk in front of me.

The other day I got a little bolt-on platform for the mouse that lets it sit lower than the surface of the desk, which is nice; now I can use the mouse without moving my arm as far. This platform is a little sketchy, though, in that it's flat along one axis, but along the other axis it kind of bows up in the middle, meaning the mouse rocks/tilts. Also, I suspect that the fabric covering it will last about a month before it's all frayed around the edges.

I also just got an Evoluent VerticalMouse 2 (left-handed version). It seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure I'm liking this yet. The button layout takes a little getting used to: there are three buttons and a scroll wheel under your fingers, and one button on the other side, under your thumb. On the left side, from top (index finger) to bottom, the buttons are "left/right/middle", with scroll-wheel-press being "middle"; and the button under your thumb is "right". Which wasn't obvious at first, but kind of makes sense.

The problem I have with it is that I find it almost impossible to move the mouse without pressing a button. I don't know where to put my fingers to hold on to the thing to drag it around! Most of the time when I reach for it, I end up clicking by mistake, and when I'm dragging, I click the "middle" (bottom left) button all the time. I guess you need to drag with it cupped in the heel of your palm, but I'm not used to that yet.

I really just wish there was a version of the Kinesis Evolution keyboard that had a trackpoint and a scroll wheel instead of trackpads.

Update: Mostly I got used to it, so I can move it without clicking; but I have the bottom left button disabled anyway, since that's the one I click by accident, and I don't particularly need it.

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