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Comment by binarycrusader | Hacker News Reader

Your mouse is closer so you don't have to move your hand as far.

Not if you use a mouse left-handed ;)

But more seriously, I grew up being trained to touch type in the classical way complete with ten-key exercises. I strongly prefer having a full numpad and I actually prefer the extra distance to the right for mouse usage. I've found over the years that the more I move my hands, the less likely I am to have discomfort.

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God damn you cheating lefties! You cant have cake and eat it too! </joke>

I really wish for keyboard options with numpad on the left.

I am using numpad rarely but its handy to have when in need.

This exists.

I have used this keyboard for the past few years, and swear by it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000V5GQ8O

Full num pad, but on the left.

For right-handed people like me, this makes the mouse position more natural, while still letting me use the num pad when needed.

Another option (the one I have at home) is Microsoft's current highest end gaming keyboard the Sidewinder X6 has a detachable numpad that you can move to either the left or right as you see fit (including on-the-fly; the connector is magnetically guided and swapping can be crazy quick).

https://smile.amazon.com/Microsoft-Sidewinder-Gaming-Keyboar...

I don't really use the numpad, but having another enter key by the left hand seems to be a useful feature.

Not hard to learn to use the mouse with your non-dominant hand. It's just a couple of days of practice. And then switch between your left and you right every other day. Don't even have to flip the buttons, just learn to use the index for secondary and middle for primary clicks.

I’m left handed and find it impossible to use a mouse with my left hand.

I'm ambidextrous so it doesn't matter for me. But since I am, I tend to observe who is left and right handed around me since I'm pretty aware of ergonomic shifts between using either hand for certain activities.

Out of left-handed people, around 80% use the mouse exclusively with their right hand. In fact I can only think of one other than you that exclusively uses the mouse with their left (a bookkeeper a few doors down from my office).

I am right handed but use my mouse left handed because growing up my Dad always had the mouse on the left side of the keyboard (because he is lefty). I used to move it to the right side, but gave up because the way our desk was basically required you to rerun the cable.

My thinking was, hey if I can learn to fret my guitar chords with my left hand, than I can learn to use the mouse. I also hold the knife in my right and fork in my left.

> I also hold the knife in my right and fork in my left.

That's the usual way for Europeans.

I never realized Americans did it differently, until we gained an American colleague at lunchtimes, and ... well, it just looked a lot more complicated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_utensil_etiquette#Europ...

I didn't know there was a standard, but I have seen people do the switch before, and it looked inefficient.

I guess I am a reversed-European, despite being right-handed. Fork in right hand and knife in left hand. It's always a bit awkward at first when taking up the cutlery because I have to switch at that time.

Funnily enough, there's also a standard when putting down cutlery on the plate, and I have remarks for this while never for the way I eat (they probably assume I am left handed).

I'm left handed but always used the mouse right handed, but my standing desk's keyboard tray flexes too much with the mouse on the far right. It was incredibly easy for me to switch my mouse to the left side, centering my keys to the middle of the tray eliminating flex and bounce. I still use the same mouse button orientation, I found that switching the buttons makes it incredibly difficult to shift back to right handed at home or in public.

Those exist, look up "southpaw" mechanical keyboards.

A keypadless keyboard coupled with a dedicated numberpad works great.

That is actually a great point.

I'm right handed, but use my left hand for the mouse. Have for years. Took two days to get used to it.

I'm using a Kinesis Freestyle 2 split keyboard with a separate num pad in between the left and the right side. Works nicely for me.

Actually, a programmable keyboard is great for lefties, you can have a numpad on a layer on the left part of your keyboard. Ah, and move the WASD and gaming keys to the right of the keyboard without having to modify all the games each time you play.

I'd recommend everyone to get used to operating the mouse with either hand.

It certainly helps load balancing, and probably has other benefits too. Consider it a DR plan if you suffer a dominant hand fracture, for example.

But the best mouses are tailored for one hand, like the MX Master. I used to switch mouses when I used generic mice, but I'm never going back to those.

The G903 is perfectly ambidextrous, but even something like an old G9X works great as well in my left hand.

I have a Kensington Slimblade as well at home, works great to mix things up.

Oh wow I didn't know about the G903 (not sure how I missed that for almost 3 years), I think I should try it. Although my wrist does like the slight slant of the MX Master. I used to switch between hands 10+ years ago, but gave it up once I got better mice that didn't need me switching - but I had never found one that was ambidextrous.

It also depends on grip style. People who "palm" the mouse are probably more sensitive to the shape of the mouse.

http://www.epicgear.com/en/technologies/types-of-mouse-grip

The best trackballs are right-hand only, too.

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-trackball-m5...

Mine's this one, and works perfectly with either hand: https://www.kensington.com/en-au/p/products/control/trackbal...

The best disaster-recovery plan for when you can't use your dominant hand to operate a mouse is to be able to use the computer without use a mouse.

The reason you can't use the mouse probably makes the keyboard harder

at some point I went all in on having a fully functional setup that didn't need a mouse, I had a laptop with a broken track pad and it didn't bother me at all. Then my first kid was born and it was impossible to do things with one had while I held them with the other. Everything needed chords. the machine required two hands and no less to operate. It was only a week in before I ordered the part to fix the track pad. Now, all my machines can be operated with one or two hands (just like everyone else's)

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