Alternatives to Clicking

[Demesnenyx]

I noticed my wrists become fatigued much quicker when I click too much and I tried macroing two keys on my board as replacements with autohotkey. One of the issues I had was timing clicks and releases which I would have never thought was going to be a problem, but particularly with dragging and dropping, it was pretty bad. Does anyone have an alternative to clicking? (tried track pads and have an evoluent, but I still prefer a standard mouse.)

[CPTBadAss]

Isn't there an option in Windows to setup a gesture to replace clicking? If not, I wonder if you could setup a program where if you made a gesture or motion with your mouse, it could be substituted as a click. Like if  you drew a circle over a link.

Also, I seem to remember there being a plug-in for your browser where you can navigate websites with just your keyboard. Apparently it's like vim? I think it's Chromium but I'm not sure.

[vindaon]

You can try a programmable mice with buttons on the side, maybe clicking with the thumb might be better? I'm not sure.

Also, I seem to remember there being a plug-in for your browser where you can navigate websites with just your keyboard. Apparently it's like vim? I think it's Chromium but I'm not sure.

Don't know if there's one on Chrome, but Firefox has a plugin called Vimperator

[Liar]

There are keyboards with built in mice https://www.massdrop.com/buy/tex-yoda (as an example)

If you really can't bare to change mice types, have you tried a wrist brace?

When I switched to an MMO mouse, my wrist hurt while clicking the new thumb buttons, this brace, http://www.amazon.com/ACE-Deluxe-Wrist-Brace-Medium/dp/B005YU8VR0 alleviated nearly all discomfort

[davkol]

Been there. A wall of text follows.

The obvious part: distribute strain evenly. I've been using ambidextrous pointing devices and simply changing hands every now and then since I experienced the first issues three years ago. This means I click with my palm/thumb and ring/little finger on a trackball, and index/middle/ring finger on a mouse—sometimes left-handed, sometimes right-handed. The nice thing about trackballs/rollermice/trackpoint is that you can press buttons without moving the cursor at all, and the hand can be in any relaxed position. Although, I don't use a trackpoint anymore, because it put too much strain on the index finger.

Replacing mouse switches by something like Cherry MX is worth consideration as well. Or emulating them on the keyboard; it can be done in firmware (TMK) or software (mouse emulation on numpad, some remapping software).

Alternatively, you could use a pen (Wacom tablet/digitizer), because tapping it requires nearly zero force, but don't have to deal with impacts like on a trackpad (touchpad) or a touch screen. It's annoying to grab it though, and there are issues with lack of buttons/scrolling. However, that leads to a bunch of useful tools that help emulate clicks. Over the years, I've tried several utilities that either click automatically (e.g., KMouseTool in KDE Desktop) or emulate secondary/tertiary click (e.g., OnBoard virtual keyboard in Ubuntu). Hold-to-click is kinda unpredictable in the end and messes with some software (esp. drawing) though. BTW some trackballs have a physical lock for drag'n'drop.

Reconsider the way you interact with GUI. There are plenty of options in X.Org (not sure about other systems). For example, I've recently switched to "focus follows cursor", which saves me a lot of unnecessary click when simply switching windows. This is great combined with keyboard-controlled tiling. Although KWin doesn't support tiling anymore and the extension script is broken, I've setup hotkeys for quick tiling (maximize horizontally/vertically/both, move to the upper/bottom left/right quarter/half of the screen, switch focus to the window to the left/right/top/bottom, etc.). I press, say, Super-L and the window is instantly moved and resized, no cursor action involved.

Speaking of hotkeys, many of them suck, e.g., one-handed Control-[ZXCV]. There's a curled/contorted pinkie involved, meh. Therefore, I alternate hands all the time, but it requires all modifiers (Control, Alt, Shift, Super, AltGr, Fn, L1,…) symmetrically on both sides. Or better, don't use chording at all! Sticky keys do work, but they're far from perfect. Modal vi-like controls everywhere! VimFx adds vi-like hotkeys to Firefox without changing the default controls/UI (Vimium is the equivalent for Chromium); it allows access to only a limited subset of features though, then Vimperator (or Pentadactyl) comes into play. Vim for text editing is the obvious choice, but I prefer Emacs with evil/god-mode, because it can do much more than just text editing. However, the other apps are trickier. angelic sedition has managed to simulate the modal command interface nearly everywhere though, using utilities such as xdotool.

Ugh, I've gone too far, haven't I?

[nobodysbusiness]

I got one of these after I started getting some trigger-finger soreness:
http://www.gamingmouse.com/ergonomics/usb-foot-pedals/omnipedal-quad/

It's been several months and I'm still using it every day. Something to think about.

[Demesnenyx]

Thanks for all your replies, It seems there isn't really just one solution. TO BE HONEST, I really wanted to ask if there was indeed a mouse with keyboard switches built in instead of whatever mice usually use. I only know of one, but it was a MX Blue thumb button. It was an SC2 mouse, but I don't remember exactly which one.

Ugh, I've gone too far, haven't I?

I don't think so! It's annoying to deal with/important to fix these problems early on! I commend you to be honest!

I too have tried using touchpads, tablets, and rebinding keys, but nothing beats using the standard mouse. I guess you gotta make compromises somewhere.

I use windows and the windows snapping sounds similar to what you described. Here are some shortcut keys that I use daily for anyone that's using windows

Windows Key + Left Key/Right Key: Snaps the windows to the left or right for a comparison/side-by-side view

Windows Key + Up Arrow/Down Arrow: Maximizes the window or minimizes the windows respectively.

Windows Key + Number Key: Minimizes or brings into focus the corresponding program on the taskbar.
Ex. If Chrome is the first item on the taskbar and I hit Win + 1, it will pull it up or minimize it.

Start + Program Name into Searchbox, After Program is Selected -> Enter
(I literally almost never click on icons because of this.)

There is also a way to macro programs on your start menu and desktop. If you right click > properties > in shortcut key you can choose which key you want to use. The default will bind whatever key you press with ctrl + alt. I believe you can also use ctrl + shift.

Chrome Shortcuts:

Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down: Goes to the next or previous tab.
Ctrl + W: Closes a tab.
Ctrl + D: Bookmarks current tab.
Ctrl + T: Opens a new tab.
Ctrl + Number: Same thing as Win Key + Number Except w/ Tabs.
Ctrl + Shift + B: Shows or hides bookmark bar.

Ctrl + Click: Opens tab to link in a new window.

This still involves clicking, but I use this because using the wheel to accomplish this task is a lot worse on my wrist than a regular click. You can also do this by right clicking sometimes, but that just means you click twice.

There are probably some other ones I'm forgetting because I do them on instinct now, but those really help minimize moving my cursor around.

If you really can't bare to change mice types, have you tried a wrist brace?

I have never tried using a wrist brace while using the computer, but I have after I'm done using it. I will look into that keyboard, looks like a nice board as well!

You can try a programmable mice with buttons on the side, maybe clicking with the thumb might be better? I'm not sure.

Also, I seem to remember there being a plug-in for your browser where you can navigate websites with just your keyboard. Apparently it's like vim? I think it's Chromium but I'm not sure.

Don't know if there's one on Chrome, but Firefox has a plugin called Vimperator

This might work, I have never actually tried this. I guess it depends on the mouse though. Some mice I've used have really rigid side buttons to prevent accidental key presses. I am currently using chrome so I'll have to research, but this sounds like a great plug-in, I do something similar with my Poker II's programming function. That way I reduce clicking a lot when browsing only.

I got one of these after I started getting some trigger-finger soreness:
http://www.gamingmouse.com/ergonomics/usb-foot-pedals/omnipedal-quad/

It's been several months and I'm still using it every day. Something to think about.

I have tried a cheaper variant of something like this and it didn't work too well. This one is pricey, but then again, it probably works a lot better too. You get what you pay for after all orz.

[pyro]

Not sure if I understand correctly, but seems you tried to map macros to some keyboard buttons? Have you tried plainly mapping mousebuttons 1:1 to keyboard keys instead?

I do it in 2 steps:
First, remap an unused non-modifier key to a convenient location with remapkey.exe (intuitive GUI-tool) from this toolkit: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17657
Then make this key a mouse-key-modifier in Autohotkey.
 
I remapped NumpadIns onto the default Left-Control position with remapkey as an example. If you skip this step you might end up ctrl+click'ing the whole time.

Code: [Select]

NumpadIns::return
#If (GetKeyState("NumpadIns", "P") = 1)

; when using right hand for mouse and left hand for buttons
*q::XButton1
*e::MButton
*w::RButton
*f::SendInput {LButton 2}
Space::LButton

; bonus: use actual mouse buttons to cut and paste
*LButton::^v
*RButton::^c
*XButton2::backspace
*XButton1::delete

#If
The #If in the last line is not a mistake.

You might also want to take a look at nonmechanical keyboards like the Lenovo Compact USB Keyboard
(typing on it right now, chiclet-wise I consider it one of the best).

Lastly, there's the "Single-Click to open an item (point to select)" in Windows' Folder Options. You can turn off point-to-select, in the registry, should it become annoying, and use ctrl+click instead (I'll attach reg-files that work for Windows 8, but should also work for the others).

[davkol]

I too have tried using touchpads, tablets, and rebinding keys, but nothing beats using the standard mouse.

Honestly, nearly everything beats the mouse in one way or another. The problem is availability… and habits.

Mouse buttons are impossible to click without risking an unwanted cursor movement. Therefore, gripping—sometimes too tight—is pretty much necessary. The shape forces only a very limited amount of ways to grip the mouse, click buttons or rotate the wheel. Moving the cursor without risking an accidental click isn't exactly straightforward either, although it isn't that much of a deal for most healthy people.

Neither symmetrical trackballs, nor rollermice (or similar devices) have any of these issues.

Moreover, most mice are rather low quality these days.

I use windows and the windows snapping sounds similar to what you described. Here are some shortcut keys that I use daily for anyone that's using windows

(…)

Special keys are in pretty bad spots on the 'standard' keyboard.

[jacobolus]

Mouse microswitches are awful. Something less stiff with 2+ mm of travel makes a big improvement. I find Cherry ML switches are pretty good for mouse switches, though my hacked together prototype was pretty half-assed, and fell apart after a week of use.

[Demesnenyx]

Honestly, nearly everything beats the mouse in one way or another. The problem is availability… and habits.

Mouse buttons are impossible to click without risking an unwanted cursor movement. Therefore, gripping—sometimes too tight—is pretty much necessary. The shape forces only a very limited amount of ways to grip the mouse, click buttons or rotate the wheel. Moving the cursor without risking an accidental click isn't exactly straightforward either, although it isn't that much of a deal for most healthy people.

Neither symmetrical trackballs, nor rollermice (or similar devices) have any of these issues.

Moreover, most mice are rather low quality these days.

Special keys are in pretty bad spots on the 'standard' keyboard.

This is true, but everything else just feels so out of place for me even when I try to get used to it. What do you suggest I try instead of the mice of today? After this post I decided I'm just going to leave my touch pad plugged in, buy a cheaper tablet, and switch to my left hand every once in awhile.

Not sure if I understand correctly, but seems you tried to map macros to some keyboard buttons? Have you tried plainly mapping mousebuttons 1:1 to keyboard keys instead?

I do it in 2 steps:
First, remap an unused non-modifier key to a convenient location with remapkey.exe (intuitive GUI-tool) from this toolkit: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17657
Then make this key a mouse-key-modifier in Autohotkey.

You might also want to take a look at nonmechanical keyboards like the Lenovo Compact USB Keyboard

Show Image

(typing on it right now, chiclet-wise I consider it one of the best).

Lastly, there's the "Single-Click to open an item (point to select)" in Windows' Folder Options. You can turn off point-to-select, in the registry, should it become annoying, and use ctrl+click instead (I'll attach reg-files that work for Windows 8, but should also work for the others).

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I did try mapping 1:1, and thanks, I'll take a look at everything else!

Mouse microswitches are awful. Something less stiff with 2+ mm of travel makes a big improvement. I find Cherry ML switches are pretty good for mouse switches, though my hacked together prototype was pretty half-assed, and fell apart after a week of use.

If there is something like this on the market, I would definitely pay for it ._.

[Oobly]

You could replace the microswitches in the mouse for lighter ones. Also, have you considered a vertical / better angled mouse since you mention it's your wrists getting fatigued? Do you rest your wrist on the desk? If so perhaps try raising it / keeping it straight when moving / clicking. You could also try a hard rest of some sort and rest the hard nub of your palm on it (not flat on your wtist because that puts pressure on the tendons / blood vessels, etc)

[rsantos97]

I got one of these after I started getting some trigger-finger soreness:
http://www.gamingmouse.com/ergonomics/usb-foot-pedals/omnipedal-quad/

It's been several months and I'm still using it every day. Something to think about.

That's a good suggestion.  I have been wanting to get something like this for a while, don't know why I haven't yet.

[Sc0tTy]

I wanted to give my 2 cents.

FYI: I am a full-time software developer and spend between 8 and 12 hrs a day (or more ) behind a computer.

A few years back (probably 5) I started to get pain in my thumb from gripping the mouse too hard and pain in the MCP joint (thats what its called according to a quick Bing search) of the index finger.

The first thing I did is switch hands, I could already mouse with my left hand so this wasn't a problem for me. But after a while I would get aches in my arm (probably because it just wasn't used to be used that way that much).
Then I tried mice with trackballs, they also relieved my problems for a while but then my thumb would act up again, instead of gripping I was now using it to click or to use the ball, they also weren't very comfortable.
( I still have one of them though for my server management on location, with little or no room for normal mouse movement, it rocks).

Like most things: third times the charm!


I bought a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch (v2 then, I have two v3's now) and never looked back.
This thing was an absolute lifesaver for me, I have no problems 'mousing' anymore.

Once I got over the change and found the right settings (by default its in 'drawing mode', you need to switch to 'mouse mode' and find the configuration thats right for you: acceleration and speed-wise),
it only took a few days to become quicker with the pen then I was with the mouse.

I got the version with Touch, this allows me to scroll, zoom and use other gestures. And it also has four shortcut buttons that you can configure any way you'd like.

Another upside is that your hand stays on its side instead of rotating when using a mouse.
If I use a normal mouse for more than a couple of hours I still get pains but I can use this thing without any discomfort!

I'm thinking of buying the Intuos Pen & Touch as an upgrade, they changed the name and look from the v3 Bamboo P&T I currently have
http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/intuos-pen-and-touch-medium

So in short: if you have any discomfort while using a mouse try one of these babies, it saved my (professional) life.

[LarsMarkelson]

Not sure if you know about this OP but Logitech released a mouse specially designed to have better/easier clicks: The Logitech G302 and G303

It actually works for me! Whereas Zowie mice with their hard clicks gave me finger pain relatively quickly, I can use these new Logitech mice for a good amount of time before experiencing finger pain.

[Sigmoid]

Just think about the productive tasks where you use a mouse. Outside graphical work, where using a pointing device makes perfect sense, almost all instances of mouse use are superfluous.

When navigating and editing text, most of us immediately reach for the mouse. Same with spreadsheets.

In part this is the PC keyboard's fault, or of the OS and user applications. There are important functions missing, others unclear. You can't navigate and select from a read-only text field with a keyboard. Modern software increasingly eschews keyboard commands to using pointing devices.

But it's also our fault, for taking the easy way out with the mouse. For example I only recently learned that you can use shift and ctrl with the arrow keys to navigate words and edit selections in Windows. I still have no idea how to edit (as opposed to overwrite) a cell in Excel or Calc without using the mouse.

[Irinam]

I still have no idea how to edit (as opposed to overwrite) a cell in Excel or Calc without using the mouse.

With "F2" you can edit the framed cell

[hoggy]

Have you looked at dwell clicking software?