unfamiliar with no fixed taskbar

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by bobw

Hold the Control Key while clicking, same as right click, or get a two button mouse.

Just as a follow-up, any two-button mouse with (or without) a scrollwheel should work. Logitech makes great mice.

[morning]

Thanks anyway, I was looking to not have to use two hands to right click without the mouse. It's not the worst thing in the world. Just though it might be out there.

does anyone know why there is no right click button on the mac? the sub menu that it accesses is there... I just was wondering... it seems odd to make something so dificult to get to.

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by morning

Thanks anyway, I was looking to not have to use two hands to right click without the mouse. It's not the worst thing in the world. Just though it might be out there.

does anyone know why there is no right click button on the mac? the sub menu that it accesses is there... I just was wondering... it seems odd to make something so dificult to get to.

I agree that it seems odd to make this so hard to get to. But I try not to bring it up with long-time Mac users because it tends to create a nasty little flame war between those who agree that two-buttons are more efficient, and those who feel that one button is. (Now this thread will veer off-topic into a place somewhat like purgatory.)

Apple's getting there, however. Though it was a poor excuse for a two-button mouse, IMHO, the Mighty Mouse was Apple's first try at two buttons. We'll see where it goes. Seems a little odd to me that they are giving it away with iMacs, but not with any other models. Now they have two standards, it seems.

[simbalala]

Originally Posted by morning

Thanks anyway, I was looking to not have to use two hands to right click without the mouse. It's not the worst thing in the world. Just though it might be out there.

You don't need to use two hands. Just hold down the mouse button for a second and the menu(s) pop up.

It's not hard.

[Mikuro]

Originally Posted by simbalala

You don't need to use two hands. Just hold down the mouse button for a second and the menu(s) pop up.

It's not hard.

This works in the Dock, but hardly anywhere else. It is NOT standard behavior.

I don't know of any way to remap a laptop's button, but I don't use laptops much, so I've never tried. Maybe USB Overdrive could help you, but I'm not even sure if the trackpad and button on laptops use USB, so this is sort of a shot in the dark.


At this point, I agree that Apple needs to add the second button. Their software design philosophy has strayed from their hardware design philosophy. It used to be that you never needed the contextual menu for anything, but that's not the case anymore. There are lots of things, like spell checking, that have no home besides the CM. That's really bad interface design, but that's the decision Apple made, and their hardware should reflect that.

It's important to note that even so, Macs don't rely on CMs nearly as much as Windows does. This is largely thanks to the Mac's top-anchored menu bar, which is much more efficient than the window-based menus on all other platforms (the reason nobody else uses the Mac's menu style is because it's one of the few things Apple clearly locked a patent on).

I have a three-button mouse, and I actually remap the second button, because I don't find CMs useful enough to justify such a prime position.

But Apple's been walking the fence for too long here. Pick a side and do it right!

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by simbalala

You don't need to use two hands. Just hold down the mouse button for a second and the menu(s) pop up.

It's not hard.

The wait is a killer though. Who has time to click, hold, and wait? When I know exactly what I want to do, waiting even one second longer than I have to is annoying, especially when I am working fast and have a good rhythm going.

[ex2bot]

Morning, if you can pinpoint when you are "control-clicking", we may be able to suggest alternatives. Be sure to search on Versiontracker (www.versiontracker.com). There may be a utility to remap the mouse button to right-click.

In general, it doesn't take most people long to get up to speed on OS X, especially when you get help in forums. And we enjoy helping people.

Those few who expect OS X to be a Windows XP clone--and who won't tolerate anything different--are very unhappy. But you don't sound like you're that inflexible.

Which Mac did you buy?

Doug

[fryke]

There are several tools to do multiple clicking and scrolling with the trackpad on an Apple notebook. Search macupdate.com and versiontracker.com for "trackpad". Should give some results.