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Comment by htns | Hacker News Reader

A drawing tablet is better than a literal mouse. They are pretty cheap, have better ergonomics, and you can use them proficiently pretty much instantly.

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For you, yes. I (and a lot of other people) have a disorder that makes my hands shakes when the muscles are tense [0]. This means that the only way I can interact precisely is with my arm laying down on the desk and only the fingers moving the mouse. This is just one example of a wide variety of problems/annoyances. To everyone out there design user interfaces: please remember that people are not either perfectly fine or with disabilities in a black&white fashion, there is a lot of grey in between.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_tremor

My father has ET. I have often watched him use the mouse two-handed. One arm driving tensely (with tremor) and the second hand holding the wrist of the first (with less as not engaged in fine work).

I have early signs. I often wonder if I will eventually be pushed into the grey disability area parent mentioned moreso from UI "progression" than from ET progression

I lived with (not that bad) ET since I've memories more or less, and I'm still under 30. Nonetheless, I encounter daily "difficulties" in doing basic things like typing my code on the door keypad (I miss the correct button and I need to re-enter the code), signing on the POS while the delivery guy keeps it floating mid-air in front of me, etc. Those are obviously nothing compared to real disabilities, but some of them could be easily avoided with a bit of smart design of UI.

Not for CAD/CAM. I’ve tried it, but, for my money and time a mouse is way more effective for managing multiple, detailed selections.

Are you using a 3D mouse?

For you perhaps; I find these very hard to use. Something hand-eye coordination that really does not work for me while a mouse is no issue at all. And I tried because the idea feels nice.

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