::scr Dressing up the computer

[Arvid Gidhagen]

> why haven't touch screens become prevalent?

Another reason (besides the purely hand-ergonomic ones) why I
personally would never want a touch screen for my computer is that
it makes the screen smudgy with fingerprints... I'm REALLY anal
about this. I hade dirt on my screen. Especially greasy dirt.
(But this is an ergonomic reason too, dirty screens are harder
on the eyes).

> Whenever I use a trackball for some time, I get bad wrist pains

The scroll wheel on my new mouse is a nice idea, but it kills my
middle finger.=20

I was toying with the idea of a version of the "clitoris" [0]
that IBM use on their notebooks, ie. a small analogue joystick
placed somewhere on the keyboard. Not in the middle of it,
rather placed somewhere where the numeric keypad is now.

like this: http://www-und.ida.liu.se/~arvgi575/joystick.jpg

Perhaps constructed like the PlayStation analogue joysticks
so that you could press on the entire joystick as a "click".
(hm, so that's where I got the idea from... it's basically a
rip-off then.) Don't know what the optimal sensitivity or size
would be, but I imagined it large enough that you would be
able to place the palm of your hand on it without discomfort.

Not a million miles away from a mouse or a trackball, but
it would enable you to have the keyboard in your lap without
having to reach for the mouse. And it's less fiddly than a
keyboard-mounted trackball.

I'm not sure as to exactly what the benefits of relative vs.
absolute pointing devices actually are, though.


- Arvid

[0] funny in Swedish, where the word for mouse is "mus" - but
    "mus" is also slang for "vagina". Hence, the bright red
    little knob that IBM use is obviously the most sensitive
    part of the "mus"... Well I think it's slightly funny
    anyway. When mice were introduced, people actually
    seriously recommended that they should be called "r=E5tta"
    ("rat") instead of "mus" so as to avoid any naughty
    associations. That never caught on, however.