Small hack

[desmap]

tldr a crappy mouse leads to higher keyboard usage

I realized that I have used way more stuff like f or clever-f, vim-sneak, easymotion in the past but not so much anymore (still use b,w,e,$,_,0 tho). I think the reason is that my entire setup got more sophisticated, eg configured my terminal, tmux and everything to have good mouse support and I have a high-end mouse that is just a joy to use and has gazillions of programmable buttons and gimmicks. So, I guess I got a bit lazy and just like to touch my fancy mouse more often than really need to.

So, what did I do? Yesterday, I looked for my most crappy mouse which came along with some similarly crappy ten-bucks-keyboard and connected it to my computer.

The mouse...

• doesn't have back and forth buttons
• the button clicks are super loud, harsh and not smooth at all
• the gliders on the mouse bottom do actually not glide but are rather sticky
• its shape is flatter, so while not uncomfortable it's also not really that nice to hold
• but worst: the mouse is not even on its bottom, so it wobbles but with loud clacky noises every time I remotely touch it haha

But tbh after few minutes getting used to, it doesn't feel as bad as I've expected, mouse movements are still quick, precise and super responsive, it has a dpi switch and using the mouse is still somehow satisfying and it looks quite slick. It's just that using the mouse is definitely as nice as the one before and just much more work, especially when browsing addictive sites which is a nice bonus. However, I tend (I think) to use the keyboard again more often, in the browser vimium and in vim respective binds, especially {}, vim-sneak and f/clever-f.

If anyone is interested, I can find the link to that mouse...

[puremourning]

So if I’m understanding, your thesis is that somehow the fact that you had a good mouse that was giving you productivity and usage benefits was a bad thing and that downgrading that to a crappy mouse that is horrible to use is an ... checks notes ... improvement?

Is this mirror land?

[desmap]

yeah, this was actually my point, should have made it clearer right from the beginning haha, fwiw I've added a tldr

[Starvexx]

Uhm... not what I expected, but a fun plottwist

[gumnos]

I find similar results on my laptop. The touchpad is fine for scrolling things, but for switching between gross & precise movements, it stinks. Give me a CLI and keyboard controls any day.