Posted By Jamie Medford Are the standard keyboards with the number pad on the right hand side actually for left handed people, are right handed people using left handed keyboards? I use my PC for both work and home which involves and lot if typing and use of the mouse. Now the best position for typing is to have the space bar central to your self so you sit quare on with your arms at you side and your index fingers are sitting on the home keys (F & J). Fine for typing but when you want to use the mouse its a bit of a stretch. Move the mouse to a comfortable position and now you are off centered for typing and slightly twisted. Imagine you are left handed with a normal layout keyboard (try it if you like) and move the mouse over to your left. Now centre the keyboard for typing. The mouse is in the correct position and you sit in the correct typing position. Thats why I think normal layout keyboards are for left handed people. I'm not a Occupational Health professional just your standard office worker and never heard anybody comment on this before. Would welcome your views... are normal keyboards more suited to left handed people?

Posted By Tabs The problem is historic I think. Early computers used an epic amount of numbers (line numbering, calculation, etc) so the number pad was an essential part of the larger keyboard. It made sense to put it onto the right hand side as 90% (I think) of the population are right handed. As the computer morphed into a personal computer (for computer, now read word processor) the number keys of a typewriter were also incorporated. I guess a certain amount of people still use the number pad - but I am not usually amongst them unless I am specifically using the Microsoft calculator. The number pad is a fossil, a redundant limb. A useless piece of information: single piece spoons used to mimic the join between handle and bowl which would have been produced when they were two-piece... so they looked like the spoons everyone liked. People get used to what they see, and don't like the idea of loosing that. Maybe it's time we cut the number pad off entirely?

Posted By David Bannister Tabs, for standard WP I concede that the number pad is possibly redundant but for entry of many numbers it is an essential tool. For anyone handling large volumes of numerical data the calculator layout is natural and much easier than the top row of numbers. I find that my mouse position changes from time to time as my arm seeks a more comfortable position. Sadly although I can do lots with my left hand (darts, bowl, saw, use a screwdriver) mousing is not one of them. The trick I think is to maintain sufficient space on the desktop to allow for slight changes of position.

Posted By Andrew Meiklejohn Here's one i made earlier..... http://www.multipledigression.com/type/ it's nearly friday..

Posted By Ron Hunter Enjoyed the link to the crazy typewriter/keyboard- boy, some people nust have way too much time on their hands! But seriously folks, there are lots of different keyboards out there, including left-handers and those without a numeric pad (available as a seperate pad too). Other option of course, if you're hung up on using an "offset" mouse, is to learn the keyboard shortcuts. Everything you can do with a mouse, you can do with a keyboard - & usually more quickly!