5 ms·

Why are you using a wacom tablet to browse the web? Isn't that for drawing?

stan_rogers 14y ago
Once you go absolute-position, it's hard to go back. With a mouse, you need to be aware of where the cursor is; with a tablet you just need to know where you want it to be.
- darkstalker 14y ago
  Never used a tablet, but I guess you have to build muscle memory to correctly map tablet -> screen coordinates, right?
  - stan_rogers 14y ago
    It takes about an hour of use to get there, honestly; it's not quite like keyboard chording. And you adjust very quickly when things change — I have no trouble going back and forth between a large Intuos (12x8" active area) and the Bamboo Connect (5.8x3.6") I carry around in my laptop bag (except that I really miss the spinner and buttons).
    - jacobolus 14y ago
      > It takes about an hour of use to get there, honestly I assume you have a great deal of previous drawing experience? In my experience, people without tens of thousands of hours of drawing experience find it extremely difficult to adapt to using a wacom tablet to control the mouse. I’m sure it can be done, but an hour is an incredibly optimistic time estimate.
      - ansgri 14y ago
        Strange, as I've got used to my Wacom Bamboo in less than half a day without much drawing experience.
      - jasomill 14y ago
        I've been using tablets since 1995 or so, and I can hardly write legibly, let alone draw. My motivation was realizing how much I preferred the trackpad on my PowerBook to a mouse, and the lack of any decent desktop trackpads at the time. So I tried the tablet, which worked even better! One tip: try the various sizes of tablet, as tastes differ; some find the larger tablets tiring, others find the smaller tablets fidgety, and, in my own experience, display size also plays an important role (the "large" Intuos is perfect paired with a 27" display, for instance, while the "small" feels more natural paired with a MacBook Air; while you can compensate by restricting the active area on the tablet, I've never been a big fan of doing so, nor with spanning the tablet area across multiple displays).
      - stan_rogers 14y ago
        For the record, I'm a photographer, not a graphic artist. Sure, I doodled a bit as a kid and have tried my hand at drawing from time to time (who hasn't?) but tens of thousands of hours is at least an order of magnitude off as an estimate, and the time I did put in wasn't consistent or contiguous.
- edanm 14y ago
  Can you go into more detail about the benefits of using a Wacom tablet instead of a mouse? I know absolutely nothing about Wacom tablets, but this sounds interesting and I'd love to hear more.
  - wickedchicken 14y ago
    Wacoms use a pretty natural hand-eye coordination that your brain is wired for. Styuli have been used by humans for a few millenia now with no real issues, until one prominent human decided he didn't "want a little scribble thing" and subsequently wiped out the market for them. If you're using touchpads, going from touchpad to stylus is exactly the same switch as going from finger paint to pen. If you're using a mouse, then using a stylus allows for less awkward wrist motion. Absolute positioning is AWESOME for static or mostly static UI elements: menu bars, browser tabs, buttons on websites since your brain can calculate 'ahead of time' how much it needs to move. It's also much more accurate when performing small motor movements (hence why it's used for drawing, but this also comes in to play for highlighting text). It does not perform as well when scrolling, which is where relative positioning works better.
  - peterjmag 14y ago
    I used a Wacom Bamboo tablet full time at my last job for about two years, even whilst coding and browsing. I noticed a marked decrease in wrist pain and fatigue compared to using a mouse all day. It's a much more natural position for your wrist.
wickedchicken 14y ago
In 1998 I would have said, "because it's elite." In 2012 it's because I got swag.

Once you go absolute-position, it's hard to go back. With a mouse, you need to be aware of where the cursor is; with a tablet you just need to know where you want it to be.

darkstalker 14y ago
Never used a tablet, but I guess you have to build muscle memory to correctly map tablet -> screen coordinates, right?
- stan_rogers 14y ago
  It takes about an hour of use to get there, honestly; it's not quite like keyboard chording. And you adjust very quickly when things change — I have no trouble going back and forth between a large Intuos (12x8" active area) and the Bamboo Connect (5.8x3.6") I carry around in my laptop bag (except that I really miss the spinner and buttons).
  - jacobolus 14y ago
    > It takes about an hour of use to get there, honestly I assume you have a great deal of previous drawing experience? In my experience, people without tens of thousands of hours of drawing experience find it extremely difficult to adapt to using a wacom tablet to control the mouse. I’m sure it can be done, but an hour is an incredibly optimistic time estimate.
    - ansgri 14y ago
      Strange, as I've got used to my Wacom Bamboo in less than half a day without much drawing experience.
    - jasomill 14y ago
      I've been using tablets since 1995 or so, and I can hardly write legibly, let alone draw. My motivation was realizing how much I preferred the trackpad on my PowerBook to a mouse, and the lack of any decent desktop trackpads at the time. So I tried the tablet, which worked even better! One tip: try the various sizes of tablet, as tastes differ; some find the larger tablets tiring, others find the smaller tablets fidgety, and, in my own experience, display size also plays an important role (the "large" Intuos is perfect paired with a 27" display, for instance, while the "small" feels more natural paired with a MacBook Air; while you can compensate by restricting the active area on the tablet, I've never been a big fan of doing so, nor with spanning the tablet area across multiple displays).
    - stan_rogers 14y ago
      For the record, I'm a photographer, not a graphic artist. Sure, I doodled a bit as a kid and have tried my hand at drawing from time to time (who hasn't?) but tens of thousands of hours is at least an order of magnitude off as an estimate, and the time I did put in wasn't consistent or contiguous.
edanm 14y ago
Can you go into more detail about the benefits of using a Wacom tablet instead of a mouse? I know absolutely nothing about Wacom tablets, but this sounds interesting and I'd love to hear more.
- wickedchicken 14y ago
  Wacoms use a pretty natural hand-eye coordination that your brain is wired for. Styuli have been used by humans for a few millenia now with no real issues, until one prominent human decided he didn't "want a little scribble thing" and subsequently wiped out the market for them. If you're using touchpads, going from touchpad to stylus is exactly the same switch as going from finger paint to pen. If you're using a mouse, then using a stylus allows for less awkward wrist motion. Absolute positioning is AWESOME for static or mostly static UI elements: menu bars, browser tabs, buttons on websites since your brain can calculate 'ahead of time' how much it needs to move. It's also much more accurate when performing small motor movements (hence why it's used for drawing, but this also comes in to play for highlighting text). It does not perform as well when scrolling, which is where relative positioning works better.
- peterjmag 14y ago
  I used a Wacom Bamboo tablet full time at my last job for about two years, even whilst coding and browsing. I noticed a marked decrease in wrist pain and fatigue compared to using a mouse all day. It's a much more natural position for your wrist.

wickedchicken 14y ago

In 1998 I would have said, "because it's elite." In 2012 it's because I got swag.