Mouse welding

Posted by: wfaulk

Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 15:48

I have a new job as of a few weeks ago, and, unfortunately, a larger portion of my job is now helping people with Windows issues.

What I've noticed is how many people have the mouse welded to their hands. It amazes me how many people have to use the mouse. I get the impression that they'd type with it if they could.

For example, logging into a Windows machine usually looks like this:

Ctrl-Alt-Del
Move mouse to username entry field
Click
Type username
Move mouse to password entry field
Click
Type password
Move mouse to "OK" button
Click

Whereas when I do it, it's:
Ctrl-Alt-Del
Type username
Hit tab
Type password
Hit enter
Posted by: g_attrill

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 16:29

I'm also amazed at how slowly people perform basic tasks which I assume they do every day, even simple tasks in Word and Outlook that should become second nature.

Also the number of people who don't know Ctrl+C/V for copy/paste, the delete key removes characters to the right of the cursor etc...

Gareth
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 16:30

Ahh, you've hit upon my favorite of those cases. I see that all the time. I'd say that about 75% of the people that I've observed during my time as a support person do what you're describing. Another thing I've observed is that it seems only 10% of the people I've assisted know how to Alt+Tab.

It saddens me that to these people, tab will always represent an indentation in a document.

But I don't think the issue is that they're welded to the mouse. The problem is that they switch too much. If I'm typing anything longer than four letters, I have both hands on the keyboard. Other wise, it's right hand on mouse, left pinky almost always on Ctrl
Posted by: StigOE

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 17:34

Or possibly that their first use of a PC was with Windows, not DOS, so they haven't had the need to use keyboard shortcuts?

Stig
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 17:52

Quote:
to these people, tab will always represent an indentation in a document

You think that it's that they don't know that tab will switch to the next entry field?
Posted by: eliceo

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 17:54

Posted by: tfabris

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 18:34

Quote:
You think that it's that they don't know that tab will switch to the next entry field?

Correct.

As much as I get annoyed by the little help pop up balloons in Windows and Office, I think that'd be a great addition to the login screen. It could detect when people are doing the click, type, click, type thing, and it could (hopefully unobtrusively) remind them that they can press tab.

Wow, listen to me, I sound like a Microsoft employee or something.

(As I type this on a late RTM candidate of Vista. )
Posted by: RobotCaleb

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 19:13

Google used to, and probably still does, tell you that you could hit enter rather than clicking the search button.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 19:15

Quote:
Quote:
to these people, tab will always represent an indentation in a document

You think that it's that they don't know that tab will switch to the next entry field?

Exactly. They honestly do not know. After observing those same people in other situations where it would be easier to hit tab, they just do not use it.

It's exhausting watching them fill out an order form!
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 19:17

Quote:
Google used to, and probably still does, tell you that you could hit enter rather than clicking the search button.

It did? Neat, I didn't see that. Where did it tell you?

I don't see it doing that now though, either in IE or Firefox.
Posted by: andym

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 20:29

I like the fact that typing Shift-Tab reverses the tab order in OSX. Keep forgetting to try it in Windows to see if this works there.

I was putting an order in over the phone this afternoon and I could hear the woman muttering 'control and c...... and...... control and v' under her breath as she copied details from one field to another.
Posted by: webroach

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 20:39

Quote:
Keep forgetting to try it in Windows to see if this works there.


It does.
Posted by: tanstaafl.

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 20:42

10% of the people I've assisted know how to Alt+Tab.

Not to mention Shift-Tab.

Or Alt-F10 to emulate a right-click.

tanstaafl.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 21:14

Quote:
Or Alt-F10 to emulate a right-click.

As I recall, I had to look that one up for you. That's a pretty obscure (but potentially incredibly useful) one.
Posted by: drakino

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 21:25

Quote:
As much as I get annoyed by the little help pop up balloons in Windows and Office, I think that'd be a great addition to the login screen. It could detect when people are doing the click, type, click, type thing, and it could (hopefully unobtrusively) remind them that they can press tab.

Wow, listen to me, I sound like a Microsoft employee or something.


To properly sound like an MS employee, you need to make sure such a feature is on all the time, even for all the users who already know to hit tab. Or, maybe allow it to be turned off by hiding a checkbox 8 levels deep in some arcane control panel and offer no way to search for it. If the checkbox is there, make sure any patch to the system turns it back on, even if the patch is to something different.

Clearly you haven't been at MS long enough to be fully aligned with the collectives thought patterns :-)
Posted by: Redrum

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 22:10

What pisses me off is when I tab and it does not go to the next field because of lazy programing.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 23:04

Quote:
What pisses me off is when I tab and it does not go to the next field because of lazy programing.

Sometimes it's not just lazy, it's ignorant. It's the programmer's equivalent of not knowing you can press Tab: not knowing you can set the tab order of UI elements.
Posted by: oliver

Re: Mouse welding - 03/11/2006 23:17

Quote:
Quote:
What pisses me off is when I tab and it does not go to the next field because of lazy programing.

Sometimes it's not just lazy, it's ignorant. It's the programmer's equivalent of not knowing you can press Tab: not knowing you can set the tab order of UI elements.


I love when you hit tab, and it goes either 3 fields down or up, or just randomly skips around the form, because people forget about the tab orders.
Posted by: lectric

Re: Mouse welding - 04/11/2006 02:40

Don't forget that alt-shift-tab reverses alt-tabbing order. On XP and beyond, Windows-L locks the workstation, I LOVE that one. And of course, Windows-pause is system properties, useful for tech types. I used to HATE the windows button, now I can't live without one. For anyone who has ever lost a window on the screen because it's flown past the edge, alt-minus then m then arrows to move it around, or just alt-minus then x to maximize.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Mouse welding - 04/11/2006 03:55

The Windows key on current keyboards is still a lot more useful in Mac OS than it is in Windows. I wish MS had created even more Windows key shortcuts. Such as creating new folders, closing windows, quit, etc...

My GF still doesn't use CTRL-C/V - I'm pretty sure she always uses the Edit menu. I really can't stand to watch her use a computer. Even though she uses one every single day and has for at least 5 years. Of course she's always had pretty crap machines and is currently burdened with a Toshiba notebook with a useless trackpad and equally useless IBM-style pointer thingy. Though I suppose that's even more reason to use the keyboard.
Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: Mouse welding - 06/11/2006 19:46

Quote:
Quote:
Google used to, and probably still does, tell you that you could hit enter rather than clicking the search button.

It did? Neat, I didn't see that. Where did it tell you?

Up at the top of the results page, right under the search box.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Mouse welding - 07/11/2006 00:58

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Google used to, and probably still does, tell you that you could hit enter rather than clicking the search button.

It did? Neat, I didn't see that. Where did it tell you?

Up at the top of the results page, right under the search box.

It's funny, it didn't do it on my work computer with either browser, but it worked at home.
Posted by: Roger

Re: Mouse welding - 07/11/2006 08:27

Quote:
Quote:
Google ... hit enter rather than clicking the search button.

...Where did it tell you?


I think that part of the page cycles through a relatively small collection of Google tips, so it's not always there.