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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: an idea
From:       "Michael E. Peligro" <optimus () philwebinc ! com>
Date:       2002-09-15 6:58:01
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On Wednesday 11 September 2002 04:19 am, Poletti Don wrote:

> BTW: I always have my panel at the top of the screen. and at work on
> Windows I put the taskbar at the top. Since most mousing occurs at the top
> of windows
> this makes getting to the panel faster. I think there was a study on this.

It's easy to figure out why most mousing occurs at the top of windows even 
without doing a study on it. Whether you use your left or right hand, the 
natural movement of your hand with the mouse is always to the top.

Assume you use your right hand. When you move the mouse to the top, all you 
do is flick your wrist from the right-to-left (left to right if you're lefty) 
slightly upward, and follow through with your fingers. All that moves are the 
wrist and fingers, and the movement to the top with the wrist flick comes 
naturally because of the skeletal leverage and range of movement inherent 
with the wrist.

Moving to the bottom is unnatural to do because the mouse sits comfortably in 
your hand. When you drag to the bottom, you have to exert the extra effort of 
moving your arm a little bit, since the mouse is already lodged inside your 
palm, and you cannot move the mouse inward to your hand because there's no 
space to move. The arm-movement involved in mousing to the bottom makes it 
uncomfortable and unnatural.

I also have my kicker at the top. It seems more easy to move to the top spot 
rather than down because of the ergonomics involved. It would be even better 
if the kicker defaults to the top.

Regards,
Michael

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