History
(separate page)
Awards
(separate page)
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The Typing Injury FAQ provides a wide variety of information
about repetitive strain injuries (RSI's), resources for dealing with these ailments, and a
broad description of assistive products to reduce injury risk and symptoms. While the
primarily focus is on computer users at risk of injury, health professionals, researchers,
educators, designers, resellers and manufacturers will find a wealth of information of
interest. Many of the resources provided here also relate well to other work environments.
The Typing Injury FAQ has been an online resource for the repetitive strain injury
(RSI) grassroots community since the Summer of 1991 (see history).
It consists of original, RSI-related information; articles and online
postings of others; as well as a vast listing of products to assist working in the office
environment and prevent/reduce symptoms of RSIs (see disclaimers).
In fact, the TIFAQ is world famous for its ergonomic and assistive product
listings, especially for it's Alternative Keyboard FAQ (see feedback).
The TIFAQ's primary "customers" are the RSI-related, online communities -
as defined by the participants in many mail
lists and newsgroups. Secondary
customers to date are those that have used the TIFAQ in printed form, typically printed
from its online sources. Future planned activities will see an expansion of its
information dissemination (see goals and
directions below).
As the TIFAQ can not capture, and hold, the complete fountain of information available
in the RSI arena, it provides listings and hyper-links to a broad display of websites,
mail lists, newsgroups, ftp/gopher sites, and paper publications that contain even more
information, services and products of potential interest to its viewers.
The TIFAQ's extensive Information section is not immediately apparent upon first
entering the website. However, selecting Information
from the horizontal menu bar will display not only a Question & Answer FAQ on RSIs and
Ergonomics, but a variety of additional informational links to a wide assortment of
associated topics and resources.
The characteristics and quality that has made the TIFAQ's Alternative Keyboard FAQ so
popular is now being implemented for the other product FAQs. Question & Answer
FAQs are planned for all major product categories along with references to articles and
research published about them.
Several of the RSI/Ergo Information FAQ sub-categories as well as some Product FAQs are
new and/or under major re-construction. Website enhancements and planned directions
of growth are discussed further in the following segments of this introduction to the
TIFAQ.
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The TIFAQ has moved off of the Princeton and SJSU webservers and onto a commercial
webhosting service (where you are reading this from now). While the initial goal
was to simply use sponsors to defray the costs of creating
"tifaq.com", discussions with other RSI-related organizations and individuals
resulting in incorporating this website, and associated activities, into a non-profit
organization (CTD Resource Network).
All TIFAQ sections have undergone major formatting changes to speed file downloading
(broken up large files and using thumbnail images for products), improved website and
webpage navigation, and continuing improvement of
website content (new Q&A sections for first-level product webpage FAQs,
introductory comments for many second-level product webpages, as well as articles
submitted by professionals in the field).
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Navigating the TIFAQ's Resources
The TIFAQ's current version (Jan'98) now has new tools to help find the
exact information that you are looking for, when you need that quick fact. There are
also improved site navigation aids to assist in your journey through this website, for
when you are not in a hurry and just want to surf around a little. These tools and
aids are described as follows:
- Site Map
- TIFAQ's site map is found on the HomePage and is actually a table of contents of
the website's primary and secondary pages. It provides a complete overview of the
website and facilitates a swift review of the whole website. This site map consists
of hyperlinks, so you can jump directly to the subject of interest once you find it!
- TIFAQ Search Form - Under Repair
- The TIFAQ Search Form link is also found on the HomePage. Use the search
form find TIFAQ webpages containing specific words or combinations of words. The
text search engine allows queries to include Boolean expressions containing the keywords
AND, OR, and NOT, and grouped with parentheses, to more exactly define what is being
sought after. The text search engine will display a weighted list of matching
documents, with better matches shown first. Each list item is a link to its matching
document. Once in a document, you can use the web browser's Find command option to
locate the exact location of the searched for item.
- Website-Wide Menu Bars
- Website-wide menu bars exist on the top and bottom of all first-level webpages of
the TIFAQ. These allow for quick jumps between the Information FAQ and the several
product FAQs and Archive.
- Webpage [Back] [Up] [Next] Navigation Links
- Back-Up-Next navigation links are provided near the top and bottom of second-level
webpages. These are not as fancy as the first-level menu bars, however most
second-level pages are connected in an order (usually the same order as listed in the
associated first-level page) so that you can jump forwards and backwards through the
information or product area that you are in, or up to the originating first-level webpage.
- Webpage Table of Contents
- Most of the larger webpages include a table of contents in the standardized, light-blue
border along its left side. In first-level pages, most of these links are
likely to be pointing to second-level pages with more detailed information or references
than what is provided on the first-level page. Table of content links in second-level
webpages predominantly refer to sections within the webpage itself. An exception
would be when related information also exists elsewhere in the website and is also
included in the table of contents to cross-reference it and provide ease of access.
Note: Most webpages, and their internal sections, that are
listed in a hyperlinked table of contents will also have a "return to table of
contents" link or a link to return to that webpage's parent page. This reduces
the need to constantly use the brower's scrolling bar or Back button while exploring the
TIFAQ.
- TIFAQ and Product Images
- Small TIFAQ and product images are often hyperlinks. Most of the small TIFAQ
graphic logos, located at the top and bottom of the webpages, will take you to the
TIFAQ's HomePage. Product images will typically expand to a larger version of
the product image if clicked on (watch for the browser arrow to become a little hand -
indicating a hyperlink).
Note: Product images in the TIFAQ's webpages are kept
"thumbnail" size to reduce loading time. Please keep in mind that larger
product images are typically big files and may take a considerable amount of time to
download if you are using a slow modem.
- Frequent Hyperlink Auditing
Every effort is made to periodically check the accuracy of our hypertext
links within and outside of the TIFAQ, however, if you should find a broken link
or other functional problem with this website, please let
us know.
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- The Typing Injury FAQ is an educational site only and does not provide medical
advice. The advice, tips, and data that you find within this site must not
replace the diagnosis and proper treatment from trained health professionals familiar with
repetitive strain injuries (RSIs).
If you are experiencing any injury symptoms,
please go see a medical professional right away.
- TIFAQ's information is the most current and accurate that we have access to, however, we
do not provide any guarantees that any given piece of information or product listed here
will work for you. Your use of information on this website is at your own risk.
The TIFAQ will not be held responsible for injuries or product damage that may
occur from using information or products provided here, in good faith, as an educational
service to you.
- Opinions expressed in the TIFAQ are those of the author(s) only, and do not represent
those of our sponsors, manufacturers, resellers, nor anyone else, unless clearly
identified otherwise. Errors and false statements inadvertently included in this
website will be removed immediately upon notification of the webmaster.
- Inclusion of any given company and product is not an endorsement of such but simply
providing information on what products have been developed or made, are currently
available on the market, or are in development.
- Registered, trademarked names that are included in the TIFAQ are the property of their
respective companies.
- Financial interests to manufacturers and product resellers are limited to those sponsors
of the TIFAQ pages who allow us to provide this information to you free of charge from a
commercial webserver.
- Content is the sole domain of the TIFAQ owner and respective authors of hosted articles.
Comments and suggestions are welcome from
all TIFAQ users - whether sponsors or not.
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The Typing Injury FAQ, and its associated articles, are copyrighted by their respective
authors with all rights reserved.
Re-use/publication of the information provided in the TIFAQ is permitted freely,
as long as its original source is cited, and that it is provided freely and without charge
(not for profit).
For use of individual articles hosted by the TIFAQ, contact the respective author(s)
for permission to use.
Please let us know if you use the TIFAQ's information, as it is always nice to receive feedback on its use and benefits.
:-)
This FAQ may be cited as:
CTD Resource Network, Inc. (1998-1999). Typing Injury FAQ: The RSI community's
online resource. Online at http://www.tifaq.org
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Don't forget to also check out TIFAQ's History,
Awards, Sponsors,
and Website Statistics which have their own pages!
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