Keyboard with numeric keypad on the left as it should be?

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both.

I use both hands indeed.

So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

Because I'm right handed. If I would have to use my left hand I wouldn't
be nearly as fast as I am now on the numeric keypad.

--
s|b

On Tue, 02 May 2017 21:17:45 +0100, PAS wrote:

On 5/2/2017 2:01 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Tue, 02 May 2017 18:55:42 +0100, Gene Wirchenko
wrote:

On Tue, 2 May 2017 12:22:56 -0400, PAS wrote:

On 5/2/2017 11:11 AM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
Just ordered a keyboard without any numeric keypad on it. I was going
to get a "left handed" one with the numeric keypad on the left, which
is far more sensible for right handed people, then the letters are in
front of you and the mouse isn't a way off to the right, but those
cost £50!

Why is every single keyboard made designed wrongly? You can't have
the numeric keypad AND the mouse on the right or they're in the way of
each other.

It's likely a matter of the dominant hand. How many right-handed
people
would have a problem using a number pad with their non-dominant hand?
I'm left-handed but I don't use my left hand with a mouse or the number
pad because it's how I learned to do it and using my dominant hand for
those seems unnatural to me. It goes back to the first time I used a
mouse. At the company I work, when I first started about 25 years
or so
ago, I had never used a PC. The PCs here all had the Microsoft mouse
that was shaped for right-handed use. I used my right hand because the
mouse felt too awkward in my left hand. As for the number pad, I had
previously been taught how to type fast on an adding machine by someone
who was right-handed and I followed suit.

I am left-handed. I use a mouse with my right hand. It makes a
lot of sense: I can scroll through a Web page and take notes.

If you can use your right hand for a mouse, can you not also write
with your right hand?

Absolutely not. I'm left-handed. Although I use a mouse with my right
hand, I cannot write with my right hand.

Probably because you've never tried.

--
You can listen to thunder after lightning to tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it nevermind.

On Tue, 02 May 2017 21:32:07 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both.

I use both hands indeed.

So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

Because I'm right handed. If I would have to use my left hand I wouldn't
be nearly as fast as I am now on the numeric keypad.

Bull****. The left half of the letters part of the keyboard is operated by your left hand, at the same speed as the right half by your right hand.

--
I was on a train this morning, in the loo, when a voice called out "Can I see your ticket please?"
"Not right now," I replied, "I'm having a ****."
"I don't believe you," said the voice, "slide it under the door."
"No problem," I said. "The yellow bits are sweetcorn!"

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:01:55 +0100, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 18:55:42 +0100, Gene Wirchenko wrote:

[snip]

I am left-handed. I use a mouse with my right hand. It makes a
lot of sense: I can scroll through a Web page and take notes.

If you can use your right hand for a mouse, can you not also write with your right hand?

Barely. Slowly and not as well as a kindergartener.

It is partly a matter of training. I have never bothered
training to write right-handed. I did try playing darts right-handed
for a while, and while I could not throw nearly as hard right-handed
as left-handed, I got to be a bit more accurate right-handed than
left-handed.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:32:17 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 16:11:51 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Why is every single keyboard made designed wrongly? You can't have the numeric keypad AND the mouse on the right or they're in the way of each other.

I'm right handed and I use the numeric keypad on a daily basis. It would
be a real PITA for me if the numeric keypad was on the left. I'm pretty
sure my (right handed) colleagues would agree.

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both. So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

Lack of training.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On Tue, 02 May 2017 22:46:20 +0100, Gene Wirchenko wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:32:17 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 16:11:51 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Why is every single keyboard made designed wrongly? You can't have the numeric keypad AND the mouse on the right or they're in the way of each other.

I'm right handed and I use the numeric keypad on a daily basis. It would
be a real PITA for me if the numeric keypad was on the left. I'm pretty
sure my (right handed) colleagues would agree.

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both. So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

Lack of training.

Training? There's only 10 keys.

--
I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. It's because I hate plants.

On Tue, 02 May 2017 22:45:43 +0100, Gene Wirchenko wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:01:55 +0100, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 18:55:42 +0100, Gene Wirchenko wrote:

[snip]

I am left-handed. I use a mouse with my right hand. It makes a
lot of sense: I can scroll through a Web page and take notes.

If you can use your right hand for a mouse, can you not also write with your right hand?

Barely. Slowly and not as well as a kindergartener.

It is partly a matter of training. I have never bothered
training to write right-handed. I did try playing darts right-handed
for a while, and while I could not throw nearly as hard right-handed
as left-handed, I got to be a bit more accurate right-handed than
left-handed.

Which is why I think anyone can be either handed if they try.

--
What do you call it when a blonde drives down the street with her head out the window?
Refueling.

"James Wilkinson Sword" wrote in
news
If you can use your right hand for a mouse, can you not also write
with your right hand?

Absolutely not. I'm left-handed. Although I use a mouse with my righ
t
hand, I cannot write with my right hand.

Probably because you've never tried.

Using a mouse involves few actual small motor skills, which is vastly
different than writing in any form. And yes, anyone can learn to write with
their non-dominant hand with enough practice and exercise, but it is not
something one would normally do as long as the dominant hand is available.

As another example, I suffer from 'lazy eye' in my right eye. If I patched
my left eye for probably weeks if not months, my brain would develop the
necessary connections to use my right eye, but until it does I would be
essentially blind to all but basic large shapes.

As a further example, I found out in '85, at the age of 30, that my
previous optomitrist had been placing no correction in the right lens of my
glasses, assumedly because it would do no good. The optometrist I went to
at that time did put correction in that lens, and I started to develop some
depth perception, to the point that I can actually catch most balls thrown
to me.

"s|b" wrote in :

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both.

I use both hands indeed.

So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

Because I'm right handed. If I would have to use my left hand I wouldn't
be nearly as fast as I am now on the numeric keypad.

Since the keypad is on the right side of the keyboard, it would be
extremely awkward to try using it with my left hand. As I stated in a
previous post, it takes a lot less small motor skills to use a keypad as
opposed to writing. Even if the keypad was on the left side, I would be a
'one finger' typist using it until sometime down the road I might actually
develop the coordination and small motor skills in my left hand. There is a
reason children learn to write much faster than adults do that are trying
to learn to work with their formerly non-dominant hand. Up to about seven
or eight years of age, our brains are in an advanced learning mode, and
find it easier to develop the necessary connections and coordination. There
is a reason cursive didn't used to be taught till third grade - our motor
skills were not developed enough to have the fine control necessary. Also,
it is much easier for our brains to do the initial learning, than to
reprogram them later when/if we try to switch dominant hands/vision etc.

On Tue, 02 May 2017 23:14:37 +0100, Tim wrote:

"s|b" wrote in :

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both.

I use both hands indeed.

So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

Because I'm right handed. If I would have to use my left hand I wouldn't
be nearly as fast as I am now on the numeric keypad.

Since the keypad is on the right side of the keyboard, it would be
extremely awkward to try using it with my left hand. As I stated in a
previous post, it takes a lot less small motor skills to use a keypad as
opposed to writing. Even if the keypad was on the left side, I would be a
'one finger' typist using it until sometime down the road I might actually
develop the coordination and small motor skills in my left hand. There is a
reason children learn to write much faster than adults do that are trying
to learn to work with their formerly non-dominant hand. Up to about seven
or eight years of age, our brains are in an advanced learning mode, and
find it easier to develop the necessary connections and coordination. There
is a reason cursive didn't used to be taught till third grade - our motor
skills were not developed enough to have the fine control necessary. Also,
it is much easier for our brains to do the initial learning, than to
reprogram them later when/if we try to switch dominant hands/vision etc.

"Used to be"? So why the change?


--
The tired doctor was awakened by a phone call in the middle of the night. "Please, you have to come right over," pleaded the distraught young mother. "My child has swallowed a contraceptive."
The physician dressed quickly, but before he could get out the door, the phone rang again.
"You don't have to come over after all," the woman said with a sigh of relief. "My husband just found another one."

On Tue, 02 May 2017 23:06:00 +0100, Tim wrote:

"James Wilkinson Sword" wrote in
news
If you can use your right hand for a mouse, can you not also write
with your right hand?

Absolutely not. I'm left-handed. Although I use a mouse with my righ
t
hand, I cannot write with my right hand.

Probably because you've never tried.

Using a mouse involves few actual small motor skills, which is vastly
different than writing in any form. And yes, anyone can learn to write with
their non-dominant hand with enough practice and exercise, but it is not
something one would normally do as long as the dominant hand is available.

No such thing as a dominant hand. Do you really think most of us are right handed? We write with our right hand because it's more convenient not to smudge the ink.

As another example, I suffer from 'lazy eye' in my right eye. If I patched
my left eye for probably weeks if not months, my brain would develop the
necessary connections to use my right eye, but until it does I would be
essentially blind to all but basic large shapes.

So it can be fixed.

As a further example, I found out in '85, at the age of 30, that my
previous optomitrist had been placing no correction in the right lens of my
glasses, assumedly because it would do no good. The optometrist I went to
at that time did put correction in that lens, and I started to develop some
depth perception, to the point that I can actually catch most balls thrown
to me.

Why would he not correct a faulty eye?

--
Our parents got divorced when we were kids and it was kind of cool.

We got to go to divorce court with them. It was like a game show. My mom won the house and car. We're all excited. My dad got some luggage.

"James Wilkinson Sword" wrote in
news
On Tue, 02 May 2017 23:14:37 +0100, Tim wrote:

There is a reason
cursive didn't used to be taught till third grade - our motor skills
were not developed enough to have the fine control necessary. Also,
it is much easier for our brains to do the initial learning, than to
reprogram them later when/if we try to switch dominant hands/vision
etc.

"Used to be"? So why the change?


Many schools don't teach it at all these days.

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:32:17 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 16:11:51 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Why is every single keyboard made designed wrongly? You can't have the numeric keypad AND the mouse on the right or they're in the way of each other.

I'm right handed and I use the numeric keypad on a daily basis. It would
be a real PITA for me if the numeric keypad was on the left. I'm pretty
sure my (right handed) colleagues would agree.

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both. So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

I use the numbers on the top of the keyboard rather than the one on
the right. There wasn't a separate numbers pad when I first used a
typewriter.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software for Windows http://www.npsnn.com

On Wed, 03 May 2017 06:36:56 +0100, Tim wrote:

"James Wilkinson Sword" wrote in
news
On Tue, 02 May 2017 23:14:37 +0100, Tim wrote:

There is a reason
cursive didn't used to be taught till third grade - our motor skills
were not developed enough to have the fine control necessary. Also,
it is much easier for our brains to do the initial learning, than to
reprogram them later when/if we try to switch dominant hands/vision
etc.

"Used to be"? So why the change?


Many schools don't teach it at all these days.

I ignored it and wrote the way I thought most easy. I do sort of join things together, but only half the time and not deliberately. I also dot the is and cross the ts as I go along, not at the end of the word/sentence, or I'd forget.

--
No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

On Wed, 03 May 2017 09:27:38 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:47:40 +0100, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 19:32:17 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 16:11:51 +0100, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

Why is every single keyboard made designed wrongly? You can't have the numeric keypad AND the mouse on the right or they're in the way of each other.

I'm right handed and I use the numeric keypad on a daily basis. It would
be a real PITA for me if the numeric keypad was on the left. I'm pretty
sure my (right handed) colleagues would agree.

Which hand do you type the letters with? I assume both. So why are numbers difficult with the left hand?

I use the numbers on the top of the keyboard rather than the one on
the right. There wasn't a separate numbers pad when I first used a
typewriter.

When I first used a typewriter you had to bang the keys not press them. And wo betide anyone who banged them too rapidly, or you'd have to lose a finger trying to untangle the hammers.

--
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.