Weapon of choice

Diogo Rapazote

Hi everyone

I would like to know what do you use to design type on your computer?
Do you you use a regular mouse or any other, like a gamer mouse?
Do you prefer to use a tablet and a pen?
Let me know!
I'm currently looking for a substitute to my apple mouse since working on it for hours has given me a really bad tendonitis.

Robin Mientjes

I use the worst tool – the trackpad of my MacBook – and I think what’s really helped me protect my wrists has been AntiRSI, an app that interrupts me every ten minutes for a short break, and every hour for a much longer one (you can set your own times, if you prefer). I believe it’s more useful in the long run to improve your habits than to change tools every time the old one starts hurting you.

Of course, you’re also free to go, ‘ahh, that’s why your fonts look like that’, but I’m not going to feed the monsters

Chris Lozos

Robin, you are on a roll ;-)

Chris Lozos

I just use a mouse.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

I've used the same lowly Logitech MX300 for about twelve years.

But my favorite remains the Amiga's "pregnant badger" model from the '90s:

Mark Simonson

I have been using the recent Apple mouse ("Magic Mouse") for quite a few years now without any issues. When I first got it, I got pains in my hand. I went back to the "Mighty Mouse" for a while, which I'd been using in some form since around 2000. But I got tired of the tiny little trackball needing to be cleaned and eventually switched back to the newer one. Except, on the second try, I didn't get any pain from it. Not sure what the difference was.

Back in the nineties, I was getting pain in my arm from using a mouse (the old teardrop shaped Apple mouse). After trying some different things, I figured out that the problem was the height of my chair relative to desk surface. Even earlier I discovered that repetitious mouse dragging was a sure path to pain.

I also get numb fingers when using a Wacom stylus. Interestingly, not with the Apple Pencil on an iPad.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Mark Simonson said:
I figured out that the problem was the height of my chair relative to desk surface.

I think that's often the main problem. I once had mouse-use pain but then realized it was because my forearm was resting against the edge of the desk.

Jens Kutilek

Logitech for life! These things last at least 10 years of heavy usage.

Georg Seifert

In the iMac I use a tiny Microsoft mouse (I like its wheel better than the one from Logitec (to loud)). On the laptop I love the trackpad. It can be very precise and the hand are much closer to the keyboard.

Kent Lew

I really like my old Kensington trackball. I find the support pad keeps my wrist and arm at a good angle and the large ball lets me navigate my large screen pretty easily, especially with the customizable acceleration.

Jani Paavola

Logitech Performance MX mouse: Works for me.

Paul Miller

I sometimes work on my laptop and sometimes on my desktop.

On the laptop I have a Logitech wireless gaming mouse, G602 and I have the extra buttons set up to do useful things in Font Creator. Wireless mice suit a laptop where you don't want lots of wires spread about.

On my desktop machine I have a very ordinary Logitech M500 corded mouse because it is simple and reliable, it should be the other way round really because I only play games on the desktop machine.

Both mice are roughly the same size, weight and shape.  Both these mice fit my hand well and I can highly recommend them.

Nick Shinn

I’ve been using a Wacom tablet and stylus since 1990, specifically to pre-empt carpal issues, which were a big thing (newsworthy) back then; have managed to stave off debilitation, except for a small callous on the end joint of the little finger.

Christian Thalmann

I'm using the MacBook Pro trackpad. By now it's more familiar to me than a mouse — I've even played through a few 3D games with it (such as Borderlands II — lots of fun!).

Michael Jarboe

I switched from a Logitech MX mouse to a Wacom Intous Pro Pen and Tablet about five months ago because I was experiencing recurrent wrist and shoulder pain. Prior to the switch I made all kinds of adjustments to make my mouse use more ergonomic to no avail. Switching to the pen and tablet has been a game changer for me, even though it took some time to get accustomed to the change.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Jameson R Spires

Logitech M705 mouse and slanted mouse pad, and a Microsoft Natural 4000 Keyboard. The keyboard is fairly ugly, the keys are loud (the spacebar is even louder) and they wear out quickly (~1 year), but I have not found anything close to being as well designed ergonomically. Most mice with programmable buttons are too big, the M705 is nearly perfect.

Justin Penner

When I switched from Windows to my first MacBook (Air) I was shocked by how comfortable and precise the touch pad is. I rarely use anything else.

I do occasionally switch to a gaming mouse if I'm doing a lot of vector work and my fingers or wrists are getting sore.

Jess McCarty

I swear by ergonomic mice - the really weird ones that look as though they've been rotate 90° onto their side. Takes some time getting used to (your hand, wrist and arm are in a handshake position) but it's virtually eliminated the repetitive strain injury I developed in my right (mousing) wrist. Anker has a decent budget entry model available on Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/jmdn8cm) but the best one out there is Evoluent's: https://evoluent.com/ It also effectively repels "Here, let me show you," ADs

John Hudson

I gave up on regular mice when I had a repetitive strain rotator cuff injury about about ten years ago. I experimented with a number of ergonomic mice of the kind Jess describes, but in the end settled on the Logitech trackball that I've been using ever since. I really like not having to move my arm around at all. It only took a couple of days to get used to controlling cursor movement with my thumb.

James Puckett

I’ve been a Kensington trackball user for over twenty years. It’s easy on the hand, if I’m not moving the ball it just stays put, and it saves desktop real estate because it doesn’t move. I’ve tried dozens of other peripherals over the years and none of them made me as happy. The only drawback is that they stopped making them in all white, which looked great when the ball was swapped for a billiard ball.

If I did have to go back to a mouse it would be the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer. Microsoft’s designers absolutely nailed that design, which is why it’s still selling after 18 years. Sometimes I miss the days of Windows 2000, an Intellimouse, and a Trinitron CRT running at 1600x1200. But I don’t miss the modems!

Ray Larabie

I like having my mouse really close to the keyboard so I use a keyboard without a number pad. After destroying arrow keys on countless keyboards, I finally got something with no number pad and mechanical keys I can solder in: the Razer Black Widow Tournament.

David Vereschagin

Add me to the list of those using a Kensington trackball. It doesn't need a lot of room and I rest my hand on it rather than clutch it. With two screens, it makes it easy to fly between them with just a brush of the trackball.

I also switch sides every few months to prevent overuse of one hand.

Georg Seifert

I had a bigger Microsoft mouse years ago but what I like about the small one I use now is that I can move it with my fingers and not with the hand or arm. I just hold and move it with my thumb and two fingers.

Ofir Shavit

I also can't use any other device but the simplest, most standard, compact and light plastic mouse. my current one doesn't even have a brand on it. I handle it with the tips of my fingers with minimum effort. 
Years ago I suffered a lot of wrist and finger pains from mice I had to fight with for long hours, I moved from it to Wacom tablet and pen for several years (as a total replacement for a mouse, not just for creative work), it also operates with no efforts so never caused me pain and fatigue, even though the pen buttons were always a bit tricky to operate. I used to set the tablet's "active area" to about 9x7cm (something at the size of a track pad or even smaller) which enabled very quick and easy cover of the screen with reasonable accuracy. 
It may have been that I lost the tablet's pen or gave it to someone one day, I'm with the most humble mouse out there since.

Paul Miller

I once had a mouse which was superb.

It was a brand name I've never heard of and it was very cheap and made in China.  It had a wheel and forward and back buttons as well as the left and right buttons.  It was big and hand shaped (shaped to fit your hand when placed over the mouse with groves for your ring finger and pinky).  It was very comfortable to use, but it only lasted a couple of years and I have never seen a mouse like it since.

Oh well ...

Ray Larabie

If you want to keep your favourite mouse going forever, switches are usually standard sized parts and easily replaced. Some Logitechs have a weird switch but you can find those on eBay. Sometimes, I steal a switch from one of the many functions I never use. Often they hide the screws under the pads so you should keep spares before opening. For replacement pads, check eBay for "Teflon skates". I trace and cut my own. It's like a new mouse each time.

Patric King

I use a Wacom tablet and have since college, which i credit for keeping me from having tendonitis. I'm at a standing desk about 60% of the time, and move from my studio to the living room couch in the mid-afternoon. I do however have deep shoulder blade pain from leaning into the monitor at the standing desk to stare angrily at details, but that's mitigated by crossing my arms across my chest and rolling across a tennis ball on the wall every few hours. hurts like the devil but is great for upper arm and shoulder tension.

Diogo Rapazote

That was a great insight! Thanks!
Anyone with experience with vertical mouses? I was planning to give this one a try.
https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Ergonomic-Vertical-Precision-Optical/dp/B00HEX9JSK

Kent Lew

Isn’t that basically what Jess was talking about?

Diogo Rapazote

Yep! that's it! It looks like a good solution. It seems a fusion between mouse and tablet (at least regarding the hand posture)
I missed it while scrolling. Thanks for the highlight Kent!