10 potential chapters in a book about healthy and productive computer use for power users
After about 25 years of using computers up to 12 hours a day I have developed some techniques to stay healthy. Even though I have a fairly high output of text I actually type only about 20% of the characters. I'm using speech recognition or macros for the rest.
1. Use macros
Automate your operating system as much as you can. Learn to write the scripts for repetitive tasks.
2. Use speech, recognition
3. Practice, navigating and selecting text using the keyboard and separately using a mouse
Practice this the same way you would practice your golf swing. This seems silly until you realize that you were cutting and pasting things hundreds of times a day. You might as well get good at it.
4. Invest in Grammarly
If you do any sort of professional writing, this will save your tremendous amount of time and make you sound more intelligent.
5. Have multiple mice, trackballs, tack pads and other input devices
This lets your hand have multiple natural positions. It also let you use the best tool for the job. The trackpad is excellent for left and right scrolling and zooming but not so great for selecting text. I have transitioned to using trackballs.
6. Have a standing keyboard and mouse, and a sitting keyboard and mouse
For less than $100 this let you sit and stand without having to reset your desk
7. Buy the largest OLED monitor that you can fit in your space
I use a 65 inch OLED TV. It looks amazing and I am looking at it for 10 to 12 hours a day. I can keep it in 4K resolution and I don't need to wear glasses.
8. Use window, snapping features and learn the keyboard shortcuts
Be able to snap your windows two different quadrants in the screen. This is built into the windows operating system and it's available for a variety of apps for the Mac
9. Learn keyboard shortcuts for all of the apps that you use
10. Buy a stream deck and invest a few hours in learning how to become a power user
saves me hours over the course of the week. It also means that I do tedious tasks more regularlyThe single device saves me hours over the course of a week. It also means that I do tedious tasks more regularly.
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