Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!thetone!swilson From: swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: typing Message-ID: <70047@sun.uucp> Date: 24 Sep 88 18:01:13 GMT References: <1018@lakesys.UUCP> <870239@hpcilzb.HP.COM> <28502@think.UUCP> Sender: news@sun.uucp Reply-To: swilson@sun.UUCP (Scott Wilson) Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View Lines: 34 In article <28502@think.UUCP> barmar@kulla.think.com.UUCP (Barry Margolin) writes: >In article <870239@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes: >>I agree. Most (non-secretarial) people who don't deal with computers >>regularly aren't touch typists. So if they have to type a lot (like >>on an IBM PC) vs. using a mouse, they will probably not be very pleased. > >I always find statements like this surprising. Didn't most people who >have to use computers on a regular basis go to high school, and >probably also college? Didn't they have to turn in term papers and >reports? Am I the only one whose high school teachers required the >papers to be typed? I would have been lost in high school with my >jr.high typing class. I had a typing class in jr. high, then went to high school, then college, and then two years as a software engineer and I still couldn't type! Only recently have I decided to learn touch typing. I found hunt-'n'-peck to be too slow and error prone, so now I know where all the keys are (even ^%$#&) and type faster (although still very error prone). Maybe I'm just slow, but I found it took several weeks of conscious effort to relearn typing. I think somewhere in between mouse/icon interfaces and command line interfaces there lies a very easy efficient input method. What I would really like to see is some way to move a mouse cursor without having to move your hands from the keyboard. I suppose a track ball requires moving your hands less distance from the keyboard than a mouse, but I think we can do better. Someday I'll design a keyboard arrangment with a track ball operated by the thumbs in such a way that your fingers don't have to leave the keys at all. -- Scott Wilson arpa: swilson@sun.com Sun Microsystems uucp: ...!sun!swilson Mt. View, CA