BW and catfur proof keyboard

Yowie wrote:

Is it kind of wet-feeling and a bit sticky? I don't mean that it's
actually either wet or actually sticky, just asking if it has that kind
of feeling to the touch.

No, it feels like, well, silicon rubber. Like those new nifty baking
trays, or um, well, anything else made of silicone rubber :-)

OK, I think I can describe what I was thinking of. There are these joke
toys that are made to look like bugs, such as a spider. You throw it at
the wall, and it sticks to the wall, sort of. Some of it gets unstuck,
though, while other parts don't, and gravity starts to pull it downward.
The illusion is that it's a spider crawling slowly down the wall. Drives
cats insane. (Eventually they get covered with cat hair, which make them
completely ineffective as "spiders crawling down a wall", although they
might still be fun as "prey the cat can carry from room to room".)

If you've ever had a toy like that, you know what it feels like. Soft,
squishy, a bit sticky, and it feels like it should be wet, but it's not.
I have no idea what those toys are made of, but I'm imagining that the
keyboard is made of the same stuff. Looks like it, anyway.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

wrote:
Yowie wrote:

Is it kind of wet-feeling and a bit sticky? I don't mean that it's
actually either wet or actually sticky, just asking if it has that kind
of feeling to the touch.

No, it feels like, well, silicon rubber. Like those new nifty baking
trays, or um, well, anything else made of silicone rubber :-)

OK, I think I can describe what I was thinking of. There are these joke
toys that are made to look like bugs, such as a spider. You throw it at
the wall, and it sticks to the wall, sort of. Some of it gets unstuck,
though, while other parts don't, and gravity starts to pull it downward.
The illusion is that it's a spider crawling slowly down the wall. Drives
cats insane. (Eventually they get covered with cat hair, which make them
completely ineffective as "spiders crawling down a wall", although they
might still be fun as "prey the cat can carry from room to room".)

If you've ever had a toy like that, you know what it feels like. Soft,
squishy, a bit sticky, and it feels like it should be wet, but it's not.
I have no idea what those toys are made of, but I'm imagining that the
keyboard is made of the same stuff. Looks like it, anyway.

Yup, I know that stuff, and no, the keyboard doesn't feel anything like
it. Best I can describe it is like... well, the rubber buttons on remote
controls and calculators. Except its *all* that rubbery stuff, not just
the keys/buttons.

Yowie

On Aug 24, 12:42*pm, wrote:

I just had an ergonomics consultation at work, and something I learned
(that I had no idea about) is that keyboards that slope upwards *away*
from your hands (ie, so the higher edge of the keyboard is further from
your body) is actually bad for your hands, because it forces them to bend
upwards, too. That's very bad for the carpal tunnel area. A keyboard
that's completely flat (or maybe even sloping the other way? I didn't
ask about that) is much better for your hands.


The conventional keyboard isn't that good for your hands anyway- the
problem is that whilst there are ergomonically designed keyboards most
typists simply can't use them as they're used to the conventional
QWERTY keyboards. I only ever encountered them once and that was at a
typing test during an interview- I immediately asked to have the
keyboard changed to a conventional model I am not that good a typist
anyway (5 years as a medical secretary and I am still waiting for them
to realise I only use 2-3 fingers!)

Useless fact of the day for anyone who doesn't know it- the QWERTY
design was made to actually slow typists down- otherwise on manual
typewriters the bars with the letters on would have got tangled up

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
After yet another keyboard dying due to the ingress of cat fur, crumbs and
coffee, I"ve invested in a Flexible keyboard. Its really thin, just sort
of pimpled rubber. Its the same size as a normal keyboard, so touch typing
isn't an issue. Its also really quiet and can't be easily damaged by a
random cat walking across it or knocking it onto the floor.

The only thing I don't like about it is that its not slightly sloping
upwards, like traditional keyboards. But if this one lasts more than 6
months (unlike all the others), it will be a good investment.

It looks like this:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/20...000_Green.html

(yes, mine is green)

Yowie

Wow, that looks like a good idea for an office that comes equipped with
cats! My keyboard is so worn out that the printed letters on most of the
keys have disappeared. DH is totally baffled as to how I manage to type
anything - LOL!

Nose Kisses,

CatNipped

Yowie wrote:

Yup, I know that stuff, and no, the keyboard doesn't feel anything like
it. Best I can describe it is like... well, the rubber buttons on remote
controls and calculators. Except its *all* that rubbery stuff, not just
the keys/buttons.

Got it! Remote control buttons I do understand.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

Lesley wrote:
On Aug 24, 12:42 pm, wrote:
I just had an ergonomics consultation at work, and something I learned
(that I had no idea about) is that keyboards that slope upwards *away*
from your hands (ie, so the higher edge of the keyboard is further from
your body) is actually bad for your hands, because it forces them to bend
upwards, too. That's very bad for the carpal tunnel area. A keyboard
that's completely flat (or maybe even sloping the other way? I didn't
ask about that) is much better for your hands.


The conventional keyboard isn't that good for your hands anyway- the
problem is that whilst there are ergomonically designed keyboards most
typists simply can't use them as they're used to the conventional
QWERTY keyboards. I only ever encountered them once and that was at a
typing test during an interview- I immediately asked to have the
keyboard changed to a conventional model I am not that good a typist
anyway (5 years as a medical secretary and I am still waiting for them
to realise I only use 2-3 fingers!)

Is that a DVORAK keyboard?

Whilst I type quickly (for a non-proffesional without formal training),
and its based on proper touch-typing techniques, because I am 'self
taught', I have bad typing habits, and as I mentioned above can only do
the the letters, I never bothered to do the excercises for the numbers
and symbols.

What I found was that during the learning process, my typing speed went
down to almost zero. I could type fairly fast with the 3 finger method
before, which I was 'unlearning' and still wasn't skilled enough in
touch typing (kept trying to use my old and reliable three finger
method). These days, its *mostly* touch typing, but I tend to look at
the keyboard far too much to be a proper touch-typist.

I would assume that my typing speed would again drop to almost zero if I
had to re-learn a different keyboard. I"ll stick to QWERTY, ta.

Useless fact of the day for anyone who doesn't know it- the QWERTY
design was made to actually slow typists down- otherwise on manual
typewriters the bars with the letters on would have got tangled up

Can you sit on my table at the trivia night?

Yowie