Laziness and the keyboard

In a bout of laziness, I just had a look at all the draft entries that I started writing but never published, in the hope of finding something I could simply shine up a bit to make it suitable. Unfortunately, none of them are good enough: each would need at lot more work to make them readable. Mostly because they are too ambitious - when optimistic, I attack big items like the search for knowledge or whether there is such a things as objective reality - and also because I believe you should only publish stuff that someone might like to read.

  

Of course, this entry is not all that interesting either. But I have noticed that some of my most popular entries (in terms of numbers of visits) are about blogging, so I am quite curious to see how this entry will fare, in comparison to others.

 

I will keep you posted!

....

As promised (to keep you posted): this has indeed become one of the more popular entries. I think it is safe to say, however, that it is one of my least interesting entries ever. I guess people arrive here while searching for more ergonomic ways to use the computer.

As I spend many hours a day using a keyboard, I can understand that this is real issue, so here is my advice in a nutshell:

• make sure your posture is correct, which means a chair and table that you can adjust to your height
• find the most comfortable position for the keyboard and/or find an ergonomic one
• make a list of frequent actions that are uncomfortable or laborious (often involving the mouse)
• check to see if no keyboard shortcuts exist for these actions already. (You would be surprised at the number of people who use the mouse to click on certain default options that appear in interactive menus (like "do you want to save this file Yes/No"), when all you need do is hit the Return or Enter key).
• if no keyboard shortcuts exist, there are ways to create your own, but this is too much to explain in a simple overview. In any case, many programs (and certainly internet browsers) allow toolbar customisation that can help speed up things. Put links that you use everyday on your desktop, or in your links toolbar (but not at the bottom of a long long list of Favourites, or in a folder that is in another folder in another folder etc.)