Lefty or Righty?

[nosmohtac]

I was just reading the missing application thread, and came across a post wanting a program to have the scrollbars on the left side for lefty's such as myself. I have often wondered how many users here are left handed.

It's always bothered me a bit that all the PPC's have the stylus slot on the right hand side, and I have to reach across to get it. :roll:

I once attended a training course for my job where 5 of the 20 of us in the course were left handed. That's pretty high percentage.

Just curious.

Edit: I just realized that I should have put this in off-topic. Sorry.

[stmfuller]

It's a right-handed world out there...I hate that!
Like when you go to buy food, and the electronic signature's pen only has a long enough rope for righties to use correctly.
A friend of mine complains to the cashier and manager everytime he has to use it. And 99% of the time, he makes them give him a piece of paper to sign.

Personally, I'm sorta Ambidextrous (but I'm mostly left handed) due to the fact that I've played piano since I was 8.
About the only thing I can't do right/left-handed is write.

Of course, you could also say that is due to the fact that left-handed people are used to being discriminated against.

[RickP in AZ]

I am a militant lefty (as in which hand I write with, *not* my political description which is Libertarian :lol: )

In elementary schoool, middle school, and high school I disrupted many a class session by refusing to sit down unless the found me a left-handed desk whenever the class was filled with those irritating chaor/desk combos which had the all-too-tiny writing surface on the "wrong side."

LeftyHack is truly one of the things I miss most from the PalmOS devices. I would love to have this on the Pocket PC but after so many years programmers who have looked into it say that the system "hooks" (or whatever) just aren't there. :(

At least WordLogic provides a Left-Handed setting as does Fitaly, so all is not lost...

Why Microsoft? Why? :?

[Jacob]

Well, 9/10 people statistically are righty's, last time I heard the stat on that.

Unfortunately that means that products are gonna be designed more for the righty in mind ... when was the last time you saw a lefty mouse?

Being a righty (as RickP mentioned as well, this is not my political stance :) ) .. I guess I don't have a problem with this necessarily.

[RickP in AZ]

Well, 9/10 people statistically are righty's, last time I heard the stat on that.

Unfortunately that means that products are gonna be designed more for the righty in mind ... when was the last time you saw a lefty mouse?....

a: 9/10 means 10% of the *general* population is right-handed (I see it as 1 of every 10 people are Lefty,) but what percentage of PDA users? Or more appropriately what percentage of Pocket PC users? I doubt that any such study has been done but a good basis would be the d/l numbers for LeftHack on Palmgear.com which is at: [EDIT: Nuts! Where did they put it? It was actually written by the author of Hackmaster or Afterburner or some other essential Palm app... Is LeftHack even available anymore? Closest I found was "Lefty" at 3000 downloads. This "turns on" the Left handed option in Prefs.]

Mice: Windows and Linux have simple settings to allow the swapping of buttons from "right-handed" to "left-handed," *most* mice are ambidextrous for this very reason. The location of the scrollbars on a desktop/laptop are irrelevant due to the following...

On the smaller sized PDA screen, with the scrollbars for windows and menus located on the right side, a lefty must reach across the screen with the stylus to tap the appropriate arrow or sliding bar. Your hand and the stylus cover up most (if not) all of the screen.

As a righty don't feel bad for not noticing such things, we don't expect you to, but logic dictates that such "right-focus" is the most subtle form of discrimination left in the world. :lol:

[nosmohtac]

As a righty don't feel bad for not noticing such things, we don't expect you to, but logic dictates that such "right-focus" is the most subtle form of discrimination left in the world. :lol:

I agree. I don't want to get too carried away, because I believe that the majority rules in most cases like this, and the rest of us learn to live with it. I don't like the way this country has bowed to the minority on so many other issues, but I think of this more along the lines of special treatment for the disabled.

I mean, something like 84% of Americans believe in God, His name is printed on all of our money, yet it is somehow offensive to use His name in the Pledge of allegiance. Sorry I digress. I get tired of some of the other little things as well, I'm 6'4'' and I step into a public restroom to find that, unless I want to get the bottom of my jeans of slacks splashed, I am going to have to get down on my knees to use the urinal, because they are only 2" off the floor so as not to upset the little people. :lol:

BACK on TOPIC: Ok. I really do think that this right minded thinking, however unintentional, is not entirely their fault. I guess we need to take action and let our voices be heard, like all of the other groups. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease". 0X

[stmfuller]

I agree. I don't want to get too carried away, because I believe that the majority rules in most cases like this, and the rest of us learn to live with it. I don't like the way this country has bowed to the minority on so many other issues, but I think of this more along the lines of special treatment for the disabled.


This wouldn't be a case of the majority "bowing" to the minority. It would just be allowing people the choice that they always deserved. Being left handed is a choice (I should know, because while I am left handed...I act like a right handed person)...and just like people should not be discriminated against for being overweight, gay (which some argue is a choice as well), or heck even married! Neither should a person that uses their left hand to write.

Wouldn't it have been just as easy for the makers of the devices that you must sign in stores designed for both hands? Moving the cord from the right side to the middle is NOT a big deal, and it would be just as easy for right-handed people to use as it is for leftys.

It all boils down to being allowed to have a choice. If I had the chance to do things the "correct" way for me (scroll bars on the left side of the screen etc) I would do it. but since M$ hasn't given that choice, I'm stuck without that choice...and infact, I'm being disriminated against.

[Jacob]

As a righty don't feel bad for not noticing such things, we don't expect you to, but logic dictates that such "right-focus" is the most subtle form of discrimination left in the world. :lol:

It's alright.. I never thought I discriminated against leftys and still don't think I do.

I also don't see leftys as a cultural group - neither do I see righty's :P

Anyways.. I do think there should be products marketed towards leftys, I just understand why there aren't as many.

I too would be interested to see a legit survey of PDA users, computer users etc.... It'd be interesting, not necessarily that meaningful, but interesting.

[Roosterman]

I was born left handed but my dad said there has never been a left handed third baseman :) . So everytime I picked something up with my left hand he would put it in my right hand. Looking at how much left handed pitchers earn, I bet he wishes he hadn't changed me to a righty. I can due just about everything with my left hand that I can with my right, just not as good.

[Janak Parekh]

I think I'm the precise opposite of RickP. :lol: I am a lefty, but the righty tendencies don't bother me on Pocket PCs at all. I also mouse, throw, and cut righty -- just writing and stylusing are left-only tasks for me. In fact, I hate lefty desks. It might come out of the fact that I played piano for many years, which requires fairly equal development of both hands.

--janak

[Dave Beauvais]

I voted lefty, but I suppose I am somewhat both. I write and hold eating utensils with my left hand, but I throw, cut with scissors, and use a mouse or trackball with my right hand. In fact, when I am working on a system where a "true" lefty has placed the mouse on the left side of the keyboard and swapped mouse buttons, it takes actual effort to point where I want and click the correct button. :)

I am now grateful that when I was learning how scissors work that my school didn't have left-handed scissors because I'd be screwed now. :) "Dave, could you cut those lables apart?" "No... I, uh, don't know how the scissors work." When was the last time you saw a pair of lefty scissors in the "real world?" :lol:

--Dave

[nosmohtac]

I think most lefty's could say that they are somewhat both, but I think that most of this is a result of something being taught to them as if they were a righty. I can't throw with my right hand, but I swing a bat, golf clubs, or hockey stick right handed. When I was a few years older and realized that I was doing this, I tried to do it left handed. I found that I could hit the ball or puck farther, but it felt very awkward. My dad didn't have to teach me to throw the ball, so I threw it with my left. He did teach me how to hold and swing a bat, so he showed me the way he did it, which was right handed.

Not that many votes so far, but it is interesting that the percentages are fairly close.
I often wondered what you would find if you could take 10,000 or so lefty's and question them separately. How many personality traits and special interests would be shared by a large percentage.