Like the Madonna of Peripherals, the Mouse keeps Reinventing Itself: The Picks, Pros and Cons
By Geoffrey A. Fowler
I said goodbye to my mouse last month. It was time to advance, I thought, to a higher plane of input, a trackpad that works like a tablet’s screen. Instead of point and click, I’d swipe and flick.
A few weeks in, I was missing my mouse. Moving a folder across a 27-inch iMac screen with the trackpad was like lugging a grand piano across the Sahara—I had to keep taking breaks along the way, as I ran out of pad.
This can’t be progress. Determined, I rustled up a dozen of the latest input devices, regular mice and trackpads, but also vertical mice, pen- and knob-shaped mice, a touch-screen stylus, even a controller that lets you wave your hands around without touching anything, a la “Minority Report.”
What I discovered: Thirty years after the Macintosh took the mouse mainstream, I couldn’t find anything more precise or comfortable for operating a computer. More important, I found the mouse has managed to reinvent itself over the years—it’s like the Madonna of PC peripherals.
One reinvention stood out during my testing, a mouse whose unconventional look belied its natural grip: the Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse by Microsoft. Other standouts I tested were Apple’s Magic Mouse, the Penclic Mouse and Logitech’s Ultrathin Touch Mouse.
Picking a control device is kind of like choosing shoes—some go for Air Jordans, others for Christian Louboutin heels. Everyone has their own size and physical fit—sometimes even a medical need. (My right-handed editor swears by a trackball mouse in his left hand.)
Though PC sales have declined in recent years, mouse unit sales slipped only 3% in the past 12 months, according to industry research firm NPD. In other words, a good chunk of laptop buyers are adding mice to their productivity ensembles.
To test my efficiency using a mouse and other input devices, I used a program scientists developed to study the speed-accuracy trade-offs in human muscle movements, called Fitts’s Law. My scores, based on clicking scattered dots on a screen, were at times nearly twice as fast with a mouse as with a trackpad. Most hands are more relaxed on a mouse, so starting and stopping are easier, say the ergonomists.
(You can try it for yourself with different kinds of devices—and wade through a tutorial about Fitts’ Law. Skip to Step 20 for the test itself.)
Of course, for flipping pages or pinching to zoom, finger gestures on a touch screen or trackpad are the more efficient way.
Both Apple and Microsoft have integrated finger gestures into their latest computer operating systems. Apple sells iMacs with a trackpad option. Microsoft built the latest Windows version in the hope that users touch the screen itself.
A touch-screen monitor on a desktop or laptop sounds good, but it invites what some call “gorilla-arm” fatigue. After forcing myself to use only the touch screen on a Windows 8.1 laptop, I found myself propping it up at an angle in my lap so my hands could rest on the side. (Microsoft says the touch screen is meant to supplement, not replace, other inputs.)
Then there is a problem of universality: Designers haven’t yet come up with a common language for touch on computers. In Windows 8.1, a swipe from the left lets you switch between apps, while on a Mac trackpad, three fingers, moving in the same direction, open a widget dashboard. And neither movement is particularly intuitive.
The emerging world of touchless computing confuses things more. The Leap Motion, which tracks the movement of hands, lets you do cool tricks. But every compatible program comes with its own set of new moves you have to learn. And the accuracy of floating fingers is low. Leap Motion says its device isn’t a replacement for the mouse, just an accessory for software that benefits from 3-D controls.
Mouse designers have made leaps in ergonomics. Many are now more vertical, better mimicking the posture of a hand in its natural resting state. “Your fingers are curled into your palm, but not all evenly,” says Edie Adams, an ergonomist at Microsoft.
My favorite mouse was one she worked on, Microsoft’s wireless Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse ($60 or less). It looks like a plum, with an overly ripe area where you rest your thumb. It is comfortable enough to use for hours, the mouse equivalent of orthopedic shoes. And props to Microsoft for apparently getting it to run on one pair of AA batteries for a whole year. I’ll even use it on my Mac.
The runner-up was the even more vertical $90 Penclic. That familiar pen shape gave me a sense of control I wasn’t expecting.
Today’s mice also do a better job at adding features through gestures, so they don’t get overloaded with extra buttons. Apple’s $70 Magic Mouse may be less comfortable to hold over extended periods than the ergonomic options, but it does the best job of integrating touch commands on its smooth, flat surface—such as swiping with two fingers to advance through pages or browse photos. Logitech’s $70 Ultrathin Touch Mouse puts similar gesture functionality into a body small enough to travel with a laptop.
The idea shouldn’t be to try to “out-mouse the mouse” with new kinds of inputs, says Josh Clark, a computer interface designer and founder of the firm Global Moxie. Rather, we’re moving to a world of technology and input devices designed to fit specific times and places: touch screens on the go, voice activation for TVs, hand gestures to browse a store display with products.
I spend a growing part of my day with smartphones and tablets, but like many professionals, when I need to get work done, I’m still sitting in a chair facing a big computer screen. And there, the mouse remains king.
–Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com and on Twitter at @geoffreyfowler
I said goodbye to my mouse last month. It was time to advance, I thought, to a higher plane of input, a trackpad that works like a tablet’s screen. Instead of point and click, I’d swipe and flick.
A few weeks in, I was missing my mouse. Moving a folder across a 27-inch iMac screen with the trackpad was like lugging a grand piano across the Sahara—I had to keep taking breaks along the way, as I ran out of pad.
This can’t be progress. Determined, I rustled up a dozen of the latest input devices, regular mice and trackpads, but also vertical mice, pen- and knob-shaped mice, a touch-screen stylus, even a controller that lets you wave your hands around without touching anything, a la “Minority Report.”
What I discovered: Thirty years after the Macintosh took the mouse mainstream, I couldn’t find anything more precise or comfortable for operating a computer. More important, I found the mouse has managed to reinvent itself over the years—it’s like the Madonna of PC peripherals.
One reinvention stood out during my testing, a mouse whose unconventional look belied its natural grip: the Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse by Microsoft. Other standouts I tested were Apple’s Magic Mouse, the Penclic Mouse and Logitech’s Ultrathin Touch Mouse.
Picking a control device is kind of like choosing shoes—some go for Air Jordans, others for Christian Louboutin heels. Everyone has their own size and physical fit—sometimes even a medical need. (My right-handed editor swears by a trackball mouse in his left hand.)
Though PC sales have declined in recent years, mouse unit sales slipped only 3% in the past 12 months, according to industry research firm NPD. In other words, a good chunk of laptop buyers are adding mice to their productivity ensembles.
To test my efficiency using a mouse and other input devices, I used a program scientists developed to study the speed-accuracy trade-offs in human muscle movements, called Fitts’s Law. My scores, based on clicking scattered dots on a screen, were at times nearly twice as fast with a mouse as with a trackpad. Most hands are more relaxed on a mouse, so starting and stopping are easier, say the ergonomists.
(You can try it for yourself with different kinds of devices—and wade through a tutorial about Fitts’ Law. Skip to Step 20 for the test itself.)
Of course, for flipping pages or pinching to zoom, finger gestures on a touch screen or trackpad are the more efficient way.
Both Apple and Microsoft have integrated finger gestures into their latest computer operating systems. Apple sells iMacs with a trackpad option. Microsoft built the latest Windows version in the hope that users touch the screen itself.
A touch-screen monitor on a desktop or laptop sounds good, but it invites what some call “gorilla-arm” fatigue. After forcing myself to use only the touch screen on a Windows 8.1 laptop, I found myself propping it up at an angle in my lap so my hands could rest on the side. (Microsoft says the touch screen is meant to supplement, not replace, other inputs.)
Then there is a problem of universality: Designers haven’t yet come up with a common language for touch on computers. In Windows 8.1, a swipe from the left lets you switch between apps, while on a Mac trackpad, three fingers, moving in the same direction, open a widget dashboard. And neither movement is particularly intuitive.
The emerging world of touchless computing confuses things more. The Leap Motion, which tracks the movement of hands, lets you do cool tricks. But every compatible program comes with its own set of new moves you have to learn. And the accuracy of floating fingers is low. Leap Motion says its device isn’t a replacement for the mouse, just an accessory for software that benefits from 3-D controls.
Mouse designers have made leaps in ergonomics. Many are now more vertical, better mimicking the posture of a hand in its natural resting state. “Your fingers are curled into your palm, but not all evenly,” says Edie Adams, an ergonomist at Microsoft.
My favorite mouse was one she worked on, Microsoft’s wireless Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse ($60 or less). It looks like a plum, with an overly ripe area where you rest your thumb. It is comfortable enough to use for hours, the mouse equivalent of orthopedic shoes. And props to Microsoft for apparently getting it to run on one pair of AA batteries for a whole year. I’ll even use it on my Mac.
The runner-up was the even more vertical $90 Penclic. That familiar pen shape gave me a sense of control I wasn’t expecting.
Today’s mice also do a better job at adding features through gestures, so they don’t get overloaded with extra buttons. Apple’s $70 Magic Mouse may be less comfortable to hold over extended periods than the ergonomic options, but it does the best job of integrating touch commands on its smooth, flat surface—such as swiping with two fingers to advance through pages or browse photos. Logitech’s $70 Ultrathin Touch Mouse puts similar gesture functionality into a body small enough to travel with a laptop.
The idea shouldn’t be to try to “out-mouse the mouse” with new kinds of inputs, says Josh Clark, a computer interface designer and founder of the firm Global Moxie. Rather, we’re moving to a world of technology and input devices designed to fit specific times and places: touch screens on the go, voice activation for TVs, hand gestures to browse a store display with products.
I spend a growing part of my day with smartphones and tablets, but like many professionals, when I need to get work done, I’m still sitting in a chair facing a big computer screen. And there, the mouse remains king.
–Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com and on Twitter at @geoffreyfowler
About Us
This blog is sponsored by ErgoBack, a company committed to providing ergonomically designed products including chairs and desks for the home/&office. We believe promoting ergonomic health in people's everyday lives is an important part of keeping individuals happy and healthy. Visit our online store at www.ErgoBack.com for the best deals on ergonomic chairs, desk, computer stations, and more.
This blog is sponsored by ErgoBack, a company committed to providing ergonomically designed products including chairs and desks for the home/&office. We believe promoting ergonomic health in people's everyday lives is an important part of keeping individuals happy and healthy. Visit our online store at www.ErgoBack.com for the best deals on ergonomic chairs, desk, computer stations, and more.
