Jeff mentioned the Colemak keyboard layout on Twitter. Seems pretty cool - most of the benefits of Dvorak, but a much less drastic change from the standard QWERTY layout. For instance, control-z, control-x, control-c, and control-v all stay the same. Anyone tried it? ...
Wikipedia says that RSI is also called 'work related upper limb disorder', but I'm getting serious knee pain when I'm sat working for long periods (18+ hours). Has anyone else experienced this, and have you found a solution?...
I believe most of programmers sit in front of the computer for hours hours. This may cause painful shoulders, sometimes you may find it is hard to lift up the arms. If our hands stay on keyboards, hours later you may find the fingers get very cold. Do you have the similar problems, how do you deal with it? ...
I'm suffering from early RSI symptoms and am looking for a way to avoid injury. My physiotherapist has determined that the worst thing I seem to be doing is using my mouse at such a weird angle. The problem for me is, I keep my keyboard positioned such that my left and right forearms are angled in the same amount, i.e., my body is cent...
A friend of mine is trying to convince me to learn to type in Dvorak. The main reason I would consider switching is to relieve the strain on my hands from long periods of typing. Is it worth the effort to learn a new keyboard layout? For those of you who have switched, have you found your typing faster or felt less strain on your hand...
I've been worried more and more about RSI lately. Especially of the dreaded "Emacs Pinky" as I'm an avid emacs users. How do you guys beat RSI? I thought we could share ideas for beating this common problem. EDIT: Advice here is not meant to replace advice from a medical professional. If you are having serious pain, go see a doctor. ...
Hi, My left wrist has been feeling 'numb' recently, or really hot, like it's on fire, with pain localised in a specific area.. typing has been very uncomfortable. After a few days of pain and 2 sleepless nights, I ended up at the hospital, convinced I'd fractured my left wrist (which I had done a few years prior, hence the concern). T...
I've been suffering from a lot of elbow and forearm pain lately, and apparently it's caused by my arms and elbows constantly pressing against the desk. My doctor says I'm damaging the nerves on my elbow, and if I don't use elbow pads (or spend less time with the computer), it will get worse, and I will be risking permanent damage to the...
Has anyone tried using foot pedals in addition to the traditional keyboard and mouse combo to improve your effectiveness in the editor? Any actual experiences out there? Does it work, or is it just for carpal tunnel relief? I found one blog entry from a programmer who actually tried it: So now I can type using my feet for most of th...
We programmers are at great risk of RSI. After 10 years, I was having shoulder problems and switched to a trackball, which helped, then switched to my left hand which helped even more. I'm looking for a good finger-operated trackball with a scroll wheel. (I do not like the ones where you control the ball w/ your thumb. My thumb isn't as...