There are practical reasons why one might be restricted to console apps---connecting remotely with no X forwarding, or perhaps being on a romantic computing date with a hopelessly ancient terminal. There are also reasons why one might need a mouse. Graphics or audio editing, games, some website layouts and many other applications call for the more analogue-ish input of a mouse.

Where does this leave software in the middle? Mail clients, web browsers, chat clients, file/directory browsers, PIM and calendar software are all types of application which could feasibly have a keyboard or mouse-based interface. Increasingly, applications are adding features which specifically require you to use the mouse. I come up against this all the time but to pick an easy example (all platforms are guilty here), OS X Finder only lets you move files by dragging with the mouse. Cut and paste was evidently too complicated for their target audience.

I'm a keyboard nut, so having to reach for my three-buttoned friend annoys me when I know that a little more work in the software would allow me to do the same thing more quickly with a quick jump from the home keys.

In my opinion graphical applications should have good support for both keyboard and mouse. I today finally caught up with Vimperator which is an addon for Firefox to make virtually all browsing functionality available directly from the keyboard using vim-like syntax. Firefox provides a good opportunity to try out different interface types with its interface being so heavily customisable using Javascript. With Vimperator, Firefox behaves exactly how I would like. I can still use a mouse when needed, and I can also do things quickly from the keyboard when my hands are there.

It took a third-party effort to get this functionality in place. Sadly I doubt that many application developers are going to put this level of thought into the keyboard interface. It is worthwhile adding that a keyboard interface is required for proper accessibility for some physically-disabled users.

I like modern software. Really. Am I so backwards to prefer pressing buttons which remain stationary on my desk?

Exhibit A: The new mac keyboards. Unlike every non-musical keyboard I've seen to date, new mac keyboards such as the one in my MacBook have perfectly flat keys and a much shallower action than traditional keyboards. Experience has shown that my hands suffer using this keyboard compared with my cheap and nasty USB PC model, particularly when gaming.

I have a theory that touch-typists like me like to use the traditional shallow curve in the top of keys to keep our fingers in place. For normal typing of any text where you're centred around the home keys this isn't a big deal because you can subconsciously align yourself on the dimples on F and J every time your index fingers stray that way.

If you're playing a game where your left hand is shifted one key to the left, for WSAD or something similar, you don't have such an easy way to tell when you're in the centre. I find myself frequently sliding my fingers around in little circles feeling out the edges of the keys so that I can stay squarely in the centre. This isn't an action particularly easy on the muscles and the result is RSI.

So what conclusions can we draw from this?

• Pay some attention to what you fingers are doing. It could be that they're not comfortable and you're subconsciously making do with something you shouldn't.
• Apple should stop making dumb keyboards.
• Gaming on a mac? lolol you are kidding right?!1!

Practise safe computing!