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bbleeker comments on Low Hanging fruit for buying a better life - Less Wrong
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A general piece of advice: spend (relatively) more money on things you interact with the most, time-wise (as well as intensity-wise).
For example, if you spend a noticeable chunk of your working day with a coffee mug by your side, see if you can find a better mug (e.g. a double-wall one). Don't settle for a crap computer mouse, find and buy one which works well with your hand and mousing habits (and get a better keyboard as well, while you are at it). Etc., etc.
If you type ten-fingered, get an ergonomic keyboard. They really help prevent RSI. When I tried it, I could feel the difference within an hour, and I really hate typing on a flat board now.
If you type hunt-and-peck, learn to type ten-fingered, then get an ergonomic keyboard.
By the same principle, learn Dvorak before getting the ergonomic keyboard.
I seem to recall that Dvorak keyboard's advantages tend to be much overstated. You also lose an important ability: to come up to any standard keyboard and start touch-typing.
I don't know what kind of response you're after. I got an objectively measurable 10wpm speed improvement, but more important (but not measurable) is that my fingers stopped hurting. I could equally say the advantages of ergonomic keyboards tend to be much overstated.
No you don't. Or at least, I didn't.
I am not after any particular response. As far as I know, the claims about the advantages of the Dvorak keyboard are controversial (see e.g. this) and there are no rigorous universally-accepted studies which show it has a clear advantage.
As to you getting rid of RSI, I am glad it worked for you, but I don't see why your experience should generalize to everyone. As a counterpoint, I touch-type on a regular (QWERTY, non-ergonomic) keyboard and my fingers don't hurt. Instead, I get RSI from the mouse (I deal with it via more keyboard commands and a trackball) -- but I don't post "get rid of your mouse" as a general advice.
There is a big differences between:
"I use layout X and don't have RSI" vs "I had RSI with layout Y then switched to layout Z and stopped having RSI"
I would be inclined to say that the latter is strong evidence that layout Z is better than layout Y for avoiding RSI, whereas the former is only weak evidence for layout X
Don't think so. RSI is Repetitive Strain Injury, so any change in the pattern of use will make it better.
Like I said - there is weak evidence for the former.
However - if you don't have RSI, then it may not be because the layout is not optimal... it might be because you are less prone to RSI, or because you're young and able to bounce back from RSI easily, or because you just haven't been typing long enough to develop RSI yet.
Whereas somebody that already has RSI... already has it, so if you change layout and the RSI goes away - that's pretty good evidence that the layout-change has had a direct effect on the RSI.
In the spirit of this thread, take a typing class. I find that taking classes are an effective way to get over motivation blocks, if that's what is preventing you from learning touch typing.
Well, try one out, but I don't think they're automatically better.
I type ten-fingered on a flat keyboard (though an IBM model M buckling spring type) and my brief experiences with the "ergonomic" keyboards led me to abandon them. On the other hand, my job is not data entry :-)
Speaking about RSI, I find that what's important is to keep one's wrists elevated about the keyboard. My wrist rests are about two inches high.
An ergonomic mouse is good too. Looking up vertical mouse on eBay shows the kind of thing I mean. Reduces twisting by the forearm. That was a good investment for me, but then I suffer from RSI.
Wireless thumb trackball FTW. Logitech M570. Why would one have to move the shoulders to move a pointer on the screen, a thumb should be enough. Also doubles as a remote control for media PC, enables gaming on TV through it from the couch where it is awkward to push a mouse around, and so on.