The History of the Shape of the Mouse
Millennials have grown up understanding what a mouse looks and feels like – they’ve been using them since they were toddlers.
For Boomers and Generation X’ers the mouse was invented during our teenager or young adult years.
I remember the first time I saw and used a mouse. It was on an Atari ST and was a complete alien experience for me.
So, not everyone is used to the unique shape of a mouse.
But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why a mouse is shaped that way?
Why are computer mice an odd shape?
Because it is the most ergonomically efficient design that also allows us to use the mouse like an extended part of our body.
But there’s a bit more nuance to this, and some interesting facts you’ll enjoy reading about.
A brief history of the shape of the mouse
The shape of the mouse was not originally that odd kidney-ish shape you see every day.
In fact, the first version of what’s become known as the mouse was a rectangular cube shape with slight curves and just one button. But it was recognizable as being a mouse.
This 1960s invention was the brainchild of Doug Engelbert and was originally called the “bug” and operated on rolling wheels.
But the modern mouse was conceived by the engineers at Telefunken, as an optional input device for a vector graphic design system. They named this first rolling-ball mouse the “Rollkugel.”
They further developed it to have three buttons to function better with the computers of the time.
It didn’t take long for big computer companies to take notice, and the first commercially available mouse was created by the Xerox design team in Palo Alto, California.
Hewlett-Packard, Logitech, and Apple then all came up their own versions of this device, mostly focusing on making it more ergonomic for the hands than the first cube-shaped mouse. Or in Apple’s case reducing the number of buttons on the device…which always struck me as an odd, and backwards, idea.
What influenced the final shape of the mouse?
The teardrop design, where the palm can rest provides easy access to the buttons and conforms to the shape of the human hand.
So your fingers aren’t splayed to over a larger surface than required, or trying to use a device that doesn’t fit comfortably into the palm of your hand.
Your palm rests on the elevated curvature of the mouse while your fingers rest on top of the buttons. Your thumb can rest on the concave part at the side while your other fingers fall naturally on the other side of the mouse.
This design feels natural, which is important when operating a machine that is supposed to increase productivity.
It’s just a happy coincidence that the functionality of the mouse also resulted in a very streamlined design.
People started calling it “mouse” because it looked like one and had a tail. Although some people still debate the etymology of the name.
There were weirder and odder shaped mouse that was invented throughout the decades, but nothing can beat the comfort of the classic design.
That’s why mice like this never became popular for long.
Around 2004 Logitech created the much more accurate mouse that used lasers instead of a trackball. And in one fell swoop optical mice were born and mechanical mice became antiques.
Future mouse designs
Is the current shape of the mouse the most ergonomic design?
The truth is “Yes but there’s room for improvement”.
While it is a huge improvement over the original rectangular designs, it still doesn’t always feel right with our hands, especially for those of us who have bigger or smaller-sized hands than average.
That’s why some design experts are toying with the idea of a vertical mouse because it’s a more ergonomically efficient format.
But that still limits our ability to interact with computers to purely mechanical devices. And these provide a poor way to interact with augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) systems, for example.
The future of HID (Human Interface Design) devices such as the mouse will change a lot over the coming decade, but it will be use dependent.
One possible outcome is a data glove that would allow you to assign different functions to each finger of your hand but also opens us up to a world of gesture based input.
Yes, just like in The Matrix or Minority Report.
Gesture based input could also become its own form of encryption, with individual gestures tied to a bio-metric signature for very high levels of security in everything from blockchain apps to air-locked computers.
Wrapping things up
The odd shape of the mouse certainly helps us to use our computers for longer periods of time without our hands aching.
It also makes it much better to switch from your keyboard to your mouse.
It’s been fun to for me to see how the mouse has evolved so far and what changes will come in the future.
