Re: OT: Laptop for College Bound Student?
On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 04:06:55PM +0000, Paul Johnson wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-06-12 at 11:54 -0400, Robert Baron wrote:
>
> > Mac input devices have come a long way. I have an older
> > MacBook Pro in
> > front of me and the bumps are on F and J. It also has a nice
> > touchpad which
> > maps the following:
> >
> > 1 finger tap = left-click
> > 2 finger tap = right-click
> > 1 finger drag = mouse move
> > 2 finger drag = scroll (vertical and horizontal)
>
> I believe the original design decision was to make an easier to use
> input device. Expecting people to learn obscure mouse gestures to do
> the same thing everybody has already been doing with standard buttons is
> fundamentally contrary to that goal: It's time Apple got around to
> admitting that and putting a reasonable pointing device on the MacBook
> in the first place.
Actually, using two fingers for the second mouse button is very natural, as
is dragging around with two fingers as if you were dragging around the area
you are looking at. I originally thought the lack of a second and third
button would really get in my way, but I took to the two-finger gestures
very quickly.
> > I also use a (tragically no longer manufactured) Kensington
> > Expert Mouse PRO trackball which has appropriate buttons that
> > just work. In fact, essentially any third-party USB input
> > device Just Works. And the "Mighty Mouse" that comes with
> > desktop systems supports right-click out of the box (though it
> > requires changing a preference).
>
> And you have to know that the secondary click is squeezing the mouse. I
> never found that out on my own and was only informed of that last night.
> Why hide the secondary function so thoroughly? It's like Apple is
> trying to design hardware that is as obscure to use as they accuse the
> Windows UI itself of being.
Nope, the right-click is just the same as any other two-button mouse.
Pushing the mouse down with a finger to the left of the top of the mouse is
a left-click, pushing the mouse down with a finger to the left of the top
of the mouse is a right-click. The squeeze is an entirely different
operation, and can be bound to a variety of actions. If you just use the
mouse as you are used to using a two-button mouse, it just works (assuming
you have enabled the right-click in preferences).
> Paul Johnson
--Greg
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