Help me brainstorm a custom HID for work

[Jamesbeat]

I work with architectural plans.
Part of my job is 'clicking off', which is essentially tracing the outlines of rooms on a plan using the mouse.

The software that I use has various keyboard shortcuts, but the two I actually use are A and S. A triggers the selection tool, and S switches to a hand icon that I can use to grab the plans and move them around.
I have to do this 'clicking off' very precisely, because a few pixels on a plan can equate to several inches in real life, so I have to do a lot of zooming (mouse scroll wheel) and grabbing in between clicking.

I use a Logitech gaming mouse because I need the accuracy of a laser mouse, and it works great. One nice thing is the fact that I can set the weighted scroll wheel to spin freely so I can zoom in and out with very little finger fatigue.

The keyboard is another matter entirely.
I'm sure many gamers can relate to my problem; having your hand poised over the WASD keys (or in my case, just the A and S keys) makes the back of your hand ache after a while.

I had the idea of making a device with two buttons, hooked up to a keyboard controller, that will send an A and an S signal to the computer.
If designed correctly, I should be able to eliminate the hand fatigue, and if the device can be held in my hand, it will allow me to sit more comfortably and give me the freedom to shift my sitting position from time to time to further counter fatigue.

The electronics part and construction details I can handle. What I'd like is some sugestions for the design of this hand held device, specifially something that is comfortable to hold for long periods and will allow me to keep my fingers relaxed when not actuating the buttons.
I have a couple of ideas, but the more brains working on a problem like this the better, plus I think you guys might have some fun helping me.

[IvanIvanovich]

Mouse dosen't have thumb buttons? I would have bought one with them to assign forward to A and back to S.

[Jamesbeat]

Yes it does have thumb buttons, but I have to shift my grip to use them and it turns out that it's actually easier to use the keyboard than that approach.
It's hard to describe, but I kinda get 'into a rythm' when I'm doing it, and it needs two hands.
I can't think of a better way of describing it than that, but imagine trying to play a WASD-and-mouse game with just the mouse by assigning mouse buttons to the task and you'll get what I mean.

[E TwentyNine]

How about a second mouse on the left with buttons mapped to that functionality?

On a side note I don't have a problem with WASD positioning hand ache, haven't heard of that before.

[Jamesbeat]

How about a second mouse on the left with buttons mapped to that functionality?

On a side note I don't have a problem with WASD positioning hand ache, haven't heard of that before.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best!
That is actually a really bloody good idea, I could also hold it in my hand and operate the buttons with my thumb if I disabled the actual optical tracking part of the mouse.
You've saved me a lot of work, but ruined a fun project

The reason my hand aches with the keyboard is that I tend to rest my palm on the keyboard, and raising my index and middle fingers so that they are poised above the keys gives me hand cramp after a few hours.
If I rest the fingers on the keys, I tend to get accidental keypresses from time to time, which can sometimes be disasterous.

I don't know if I'm just weird or what, but I was a bit surprised that this wasn't a common complaint amongst gamers, considering the similarity of the setup.
I would put it down to the many hours I spend doing it, but gamers can also play a game for many hours at a stretch.
Maybe gamers don't notice it because they're actually having fun

[IvanIvanovich]

I do use my MX Revolution like this sometimes, I map all sorts of things to those buttons dependant on the application or game. For me on that particular mouse they are positioned perfectly and I don't have to change my grip or anything like that. It's part of the reason I refuse to replace it even though the dpi is getting to be noticably low now that I am using 1440p.

[daerid]

Great idea with the mouse there. Not sure how you'd go about disabling the tracking part though.

[E TwentyNine]

Great idea with the mouse there. Not sure how you'd go about disabling the tracking part though.

Electrical tape over the sensor.

[daerid]

This threads just full of lo tech awesome solutions. Love it

[Jamesbeat]

I was thinking of removing the led, but tape would work too

I guess I have a habit of overthinking things huh.