Typophile - Wacom again - Comments

What do other people think

Koppa — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:57:07 -0700

What do other people think of stylus barrel width?

Same. My first experience was with the classic (slender barrel) stylus at work. Instantly comfortable with the tablet. Loved it.

Bought a tablet for home and got the big fat crayon stylus. Disappointed.

1 1/2 year-old daughter bit the trigger out of the crayon stylus and I was delighted to find you can still order the classic stylus.

I recently converted to a standing work station and I cannot imagine ever sitting for 8 hours a day again. Using the stylus and keyboard at belly-button height is perfectly comfortable, and in fact allows for a little exercise when the toes start tapping and the hips start swaying to the ever-surprising iTunes shuffle!

Oh yeah...I do get that rub on the wrist bone, but it’s mildly comforted by a mouse pad...the top of the tablet is propped up by a an old 5/8” thick book to achieve the most natural writing angle for me.

I work with the keyboard

Nick Shinn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:48:07 -0700

I work with the keyboard and monitor bang in front, and the tablet to the right of the keyboard.
The desk is L-shaped. X is where my elbow is.

Received my Wacom tablet

rs_donsata — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:37:35 -0700

Received my Wacom tablet today and fund myself instantly comfortable with it, great response and all.

The only pet pevee would be the USB cable has to be connected on the top side so it collides with the keyboard.

Héctor

This was actually the

Thomas Levine — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:50:30 -0800

This was actually the original reason I got a graphics tablet. (Well, I didn’t technically have tendonitis, but my wrists always hurt.)

I’m not certified in any way in ergonomics, but I’ve read a lot about it. Mice are absolutely terrible for your hands, much worse than keyboards, (I can give you dozens of studies that support this.) and one study referenced in a textbook I read showed essentially that graphics tablets were on average the best of any pointing input device in terms of usability and posture and almost as easy to use as a mouse. I find it easier to use than a mouse.

There are some alternative mice out there that are better in general but put a lot of strain on the thumb muscles. This includes joysticks and the Gyration mice. The AerO2bic mouse looks really good and simple. It’s expensive though. I’ve seen some touchscreen desks, and they look awesome, but they’re still outrageously expensive.

My general recommendation is get as many different styles of pointing input device as you have space for them on your desk, one of which should be a graphics tablet, and use whichever one you feel like using.

If you’re also considering getting a better keyboard, check the altkeyboards Yahoo! group.

Christopher Walken: Thank

DanGayle — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:11:42 -0800

Christopher Walken: Thank you. It’s good, as always, to be here. It’s a treat. But this time, it’s extra special because it’s the final show of the season. After how many shows, Jimmy? 505, actually. 505, Wow! I’ve done it five times - what’s that? A drop in the bucket. So I thought, “What can I do to make my mark?” And then, I thought, “Well, I’ll sing a song.”

singing

“Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that
Goodness knows where the end will be
Or I don’t know where it’s at.
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done.
You say potato, and I say potato
You say tomato, and I say tomato
Potato, potato
Tomato, tomato
Let’s - “

Jimmy Fallon: Chris?

Christopher Walken: Jimmy, wazzup!

Jimmy Fallon: Sorry to interrupt. I don’t know if that’s how the song goes.

Christopher Walken: What do you mean?

Jimmy Fallon: You’re singing the words the same. You have to say, likw, tomayto, tomahto. Tomahto, potahto.

Christopher Walken: Tomahto? What’s that?

Jimmy Fallon: It’s just how they say it.

Christopher Walken: Okay, I’ll give it a try.

singing

“You say potahto, I say potahto
You say totahto, I say totahto
Tomahto, potahto
Potahto, potahto, tomahto, tomahto -“

Jimmy Fallon: Chris, I’m so sorry. You’re doing it the other way now. And I think you have to alternate them.

Christopher Walken: Alternate, shmaltermate! Jimmy, look, they’re all spelled the same on the cards. What do you want from my life?

Jimmy Fallon: I think you’re supposed to go - potayto, potahto..

Christopher Walken: Jim, how old are you?

Jimmy Fallon: I’m 26.

Christopher Walken: Ouch! Look, son.. sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Let me show you. And a-one, and a-two -

I read somewhere that

James Puckett — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:07:58 -0800

I read somewhere that Graphire and Bamboo tablets tend to lag ¿Is it true?

I think that notion is a result of users who only have the budget for the inexpensive tablets also having inexpensive computers. Photoshop and any version of Painter pre-IX are not friendly to the RAM-impaired. Learning to use GIMP usually fixes this problems.

You just reminded me of a

Lex Kominek — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:56:46 -0800

You just reminded me of a classic Walken monologue from SNL :-)

- Lex

dohp ! thanks for the

Ch — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:32:56 -0800

dohp ! thanks for the correction lex... funny thing is
i’ve been on the phone w/ them too and they didn’t correct me.

tomahto tomayto ?

Re pronunciation - I phoned

Lex Kominek — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 06:34:40 -0800

Re pronunciation - I phoned the customer service line once and the guy on the other end pronounced it “WAH-com”.

- Lex

I read somewhere that

Choz Cunningham — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:04:04 -0800

I read somewhere that Graphire and Bamboo tablets tend to lag ¿Is it true?

A while back, under heavy multitasking, in windows 2000, on a 1.3 GHz Athlon with 1 GB ram, I’d have to say no, not at all. Unless everything was lagging. But I think that tables can get a reputation for that when people overload their computers with crazy-complex photoshop brushes - which lag with a mouse, too.

C ! .~

WAY COM

Ch — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:01:27 -0800

WAY COM

I still am confused by the

cuttlefish — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:27:58 -0800

I still am confused by the name of that company. Is it pronounced “whack’em”, “walk’em”, “way-calm”, or what?

I read somewhere that

rs_donsata — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:32:20 -0800

I read somewhere that Graphire and Bamboo tablets tend to lag ¿Is it true?

Héctor

My digitizer (4 keys) acts

Rodrigue Planck — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:28:28 -0800

My digitizer (4 keys) acts just like a mouse, you just have to keep it on the tablet. Wacoms website has no less than 13 pens for the intuos, with different grips.
The Truth shall set you free

I use the Wacom Intuos 3.

Stephen Rapp — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:11:34 -0800

I use the Wacom Intuos 3. Since I work in Photoshop with handlettering/calligraphy a lot, its great for cleaning up lettering. I would find it hard to do with a mouse. The mouse that comes with the tablet is great for navigating the web and such. Before I upgraded my FontLab, I found the pen a little too sensitive, but seems to work fine in FL5.

Stephen

Wacom again

rs_donsata — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:35:11 -0800

I know this has been discussed a couple of times around here as I read that a 6x8 inches tablet is just fine and that some Typophiles are addicted to it but:

Are Wacom tablets really efficient outside Photoshop and Corel Painter?

Can they really replace a mouse in more publishing design oriented tasks like vector tracing or text editing?

I’m asking because I got tendinitis on the wrist and would like to try a tablet for a relief but I have seen these tablets advertised almost exclusively for drawing applications and sloppy tagging (bamboo promo).

Most of my work is done on Illustrator and Indesign, I do use photoshop frequently but mostly for adjusting the color, sharpness and contrast on photos.

Héctor