Musing on interacting with my computer

[ilai]

Sometimes if I work for long stretches at a time, my wrists, elbows, or shoulders start to hurt. I blame mousing mostly, and typing on the keyboard to a lesser extent.

I would really like some sort of half-physical interface where you can pull items off the screen, look at them and manipulate them, and put them back. For example, if I use my calendar program, I should be able to "peel off" individual appointments as if they were sticky notes on my screen, and "paste" them back in different time slots. I would be able to grab one with two hands and stretch or compress it to a desired length, and get rid of it by ripping it off the screen or scratching it out. If I'm editing text, I'd be able to cut out paragraphs by imitating slicing motions around them, lift them out of the screen, and stick them onto the edge of my monitor while I figure out where they go. Then I could paste them back on the monitor to insert them into existing text.

This doesn't really seem doable, does it. Actually what this sounds like is I'm pretty wedded to the concept of sticky notes and paper. Hmm. I guess for now a touchscreen would do. I also want a pony.

Comments

[jeff-simpson.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure google calendar does the drag+drop, stretch to resize calendar events. The only thing missing is the touch screen.

although, I have to say - as cool as direct-manupulation is, the mouse itself is actually kind of a genius idea - you have WAY more sensitivity than you'll ever have with just a finger, and the speed/accel/resolution is all adjustable, which you can't do with a touchscreen.

Imagine touchscreen came out first, and somebody came up with a genius invention where you could manipulate the entire screen without your wrist leaving the desk. Higher accuracy means less real-estate dedicated to window controls and menus. If we hadn't already grown so used to the mouse, it would be the invention of the year.

How sensitive is your mouse? I can go the entire width of my screen in about 3" of mousepad - if you have to move your hand every time you want to get to a menu, that would explain the arm stress.

[puffy-wuffy.livejournal.com]

Hmm . . . I know that there are stylus-based interfaces that might do some of what you seem to want. HP has the iPAQ, I think if you Googled stylus, you'd probably get a ton of results, too. The two hands thing is a no go, though. Most touchscreens can only deal with one/two input at a time.

I think that Apple will probably come up with something like this, and has applications in their latest OS that are similar to what you are talking about. They just need a touchscreen Macbook, or touchscreen screen.

[aaltair.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure my teres major gets really screwed up by mousing. At least, there's this lump that really hurts - the massage therapist says it's the power behind the fine motor control of the fingers and hand.

Anyway, I think if you were committed, you could get the pony a lot sooner and for a much lower cost than the pseudo-physical display you want.