A left-handed person can reverse the mouse buttons in Windows if he wants, but otherwise I handle it the same way. I just move the mouse to the left of my keyboard instead of the right, and I keep my index finger on the left-clicker. It handles the same for me.

Actually, I can use the mouse with either hand just fine. It just depends on whichever wrist isn't crying that day. :P I'm technically left-handed with a pen, which is why I mentioned switching the mouse side.

Danial.Beta wrote:

But seriously, how did you know I am left handed?

I know everything about you. =P

What, you think trolls don't do their research? I'm insulted...

Danial.Beta wrote:

I am left handed, but I normally work a mouse with my right.

Same. Interestingly, I have a right-handed coworker who uses his mouse with the left hand. He says it's because of carpal tunnel issues - he had to switch after years of using the right.

This is another one of those instances where I don't believe it really matters which hand you use when you're first starting out. It takes some amount of time to get used to it with either hand, so why not go with the one that everyone else uses? There's a slight asymmetry designed into many mouse setups, so there's a small advantage to doing it right handed anyway.

Of course, you could argue the same thing for handwriting. Writing from left to right means that we lefties always have to deal with smudging as we move our hand over the letters we just wrote. Why didn't our parents or teachers just have us start with the right hand from the beginning? Not that I'm complaining - it's kind of cool being left handed. Like we're in a special club that only the top 10% of people get into. ;)

This reminds me of a discussion I was having with Tom last time I was down at his place. I was playing guitar, and we were talking about left handed guitarists since I'm a lefty. My argument is that anyone who plays a left handed guitar is stupid. Much moreso than with a mouse, when you play a guitar for the very first time, your hands have no idea what to do. It doesn't matter at all whether the right hand strums and the left hand fingers, or vice versa. You have to learn all the muscle movements from scratch either way. If anything, you'd think that maybe your dominant hand would want the more difficult job of fingering, but this is precisely the opposite of how lefty and righty guitars are laid out.

So why does any left handed person choose to play guitar "left handed"? It boggles my mind. There's no advantage, and lots of disadvantages. Namely, left handed guitars are more expensive and harder to find. Many guitar models don't even come in a left handed version. Why would you restrict yourself that way?

I can hardly write with my left hand, much less my right. The only time that I think using my right hand to work the mouse actually hampers me is when I play video games and do artwork. I just don't think my right hand is precice enough to hit the target in such fast paced action. Although I can use my left hand with the mouse, the lack of doing it in the past means that my wrist gets tired very fast. But because I have a second PC sitting next to me now, I tend to mouse with both hands.

What is really hard is to try to use both mice at the same time.

Mike H wrote:

This is another one of those instances where I don't believe it really matters which hand you use when you're first starting out. It takes some amount of time to get used to it with either hand, so why not go with the one that everyone else uses? There's a slight asymmetry designed into many mouse setups, so there's a small advantage to doing it right handed anyway.

There was once a day when they all had those annoying curves to them, so you either learned using your right hand or didn't learn at all, especially if you're learning in school. (Wasn't hard at home, my parents are both right-handed, but all of my siblings are left-handed.)

Of course, you could argue the same thing for handwriting. Writing from left to right means that we lefties always have to deal with smudging as we move our hand over the letters we just wrote. Why didn't our parents or teachers just have us start with the right hand from the beginning?

Yeah, my handwriting is horrible because teachers don't know how to properly teach it to left-handed people, the right-handed people always end up with better handwriting.
Trying to force someone to use their right hand instead of their left hand can be highly damaging to their wrist and arms, you have a dominant hand for a reason, it's not something you learn it's nature, you can learn to write with your offhand, but it'll never be as comfortable as with your dominant hand.

This reminds me of a discussion I was having with Tom last time I was down at his place. I was playing guitar, and we were talking about left handed guitarists since I'm a lefty. My argument is that anyone who plays a left handed guitar is stupid. Much moreso than with a mouse, when you play a guitar for the very first time, your hands have no idea what to do. It doesn't matter at all whether the right hand strums and the left hand fingers, or vice versa. You have to learn all the muscle movements from scratch either way. If anything, you'd think that maybe your dominant hand would want the more difficult job of fingering, but this is precisely the opposite of how lefty and righty guitars are laid out.

I actually learned to play guitar left-handed, but I eventually forced myself to become right-handed because left-handed guitars are harder to find and usually more expensive.

So why does any left handed person choose to play guitar "left handed"? It boggles my mind. There's no advantage, and lots of disadvantages. Namely, left handed guitars are more expensive and harder to find. Many guitar models don't even come in a left handed version. Why would you restrict yourself that way?

Haha, I typed the above statement before I even saw this, we wrote almost the exact same thing!

Want to play a fun game? It's called, count the Logitech products. Those guys at Logitech must love me. That photo shows only 5 of my Logitech products. That doesn't include my second joystick, my PS2 wireless control, my joypad, my second headset, or my second mouse. They make such great products...

Anywho, if you want some other pictures of my room, you can find them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Danial.Beta/Computers

Sarm wrote:

It annoyed the teachers and they made me choose one hand and stick with it. When I think about it, that really pisses me off now because I would've preferred to be able to write fine with both hands.

Mine made me use my right hand for writing. :(