Lovin' 2 buttons.....

do you use the right click function?

  • Yes

  • No

  • Haven't Tried it

  • What's This Right Click You Speak Of......

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DJ_XTC

DJ_XTC

Online ADC and NRA Member
I decided to see what would happen if I used the right button on my Kensington Orbit Trackball on the dock. No delay in getting pop-up menus. the right button can be used in any Carbon and Cocca app I have found so far with out having any special type of mouse software running!!! Maybe Apple will release a 2-button mouse in the future... Nah probably not, but they sure have put a Hell of a lot of support for the second button in OS X.


As A side thread, what interesting uses, if any, have people found in OS X for the right click fuctionality.

 
You can also use scroll wheels in Cocoa apps and Carbon apps that have added support for them.

The most useful thing when right-clicking is show package contents on files that are actually folders.
 
In the beta, right clicking on a background window would bring it to the front of it's app layer, but leave it in the background, which was cool, but it's gone now.

Apple probably won't ship a 2 button mouse standard, but they should at least have one as a BTO option at the Apple store.
 
I think Apple will ship a 2 button mouse, but only after OSX is shipping on EVERY system.
 
I dont think so...
Since OS X is derived from nextstep, and in nextstep there was no real use of the second mouse button, I doubt that OS X will ship with one.


Admiral
 
You never know. They did build in support for right-clicking and scroll wheels after all.
 
... and as the macally mice have a programmable 2nd button, so did the NeXT... so I don't know what logic that previous post came from. Anyway, anyone had any luck getting their 2nd button on their macally ADB mouse (this is a beige 233 G3 running OSX) to function properly? On all my G4s it works great with the macally iOptinet mice.

On Apple releasing their own Two button mouse, I think they are too proud to admit there might actually be a legitimate reason to have another button.



PS-please no "see Macally website" emails. Yes I've been there, and no, no drivers there.



Matty
 
The two-button mouse support really leaves something to be desired for those of us that use the mouse with our left hand. Now I have to alternate-click everything, because there's no option to swap the buttons. I guess I'll just have to rewire the mouse... ;-)
 
Originally posted by davidbrit2
The two-button mouse support really leaves something to be desired for those of us that use the mouse with our left hand. Now I have to alternate-click everything, because there's no option to swap the buttons. I guess I'll just have to rewire the mouse... ;-)
Click to expand...

If you have a Kensington mouse the mouseworks software will let you swap the buttons functions. I'm right-handed but I swapped it out for my father (left-handed) to try X.
 
Maybe I'll just have to go get a Kensington if Contour doesn't hurry up and release OS X drivers.
 
A mouse is a mouse.
I wonder how many people are really dependent on two buttons for their everyday needs
(this question excluded professionals, on their work system). For the sake of argument let me jst say that even on the PC at work which run windows I use the right click seldomly....

I dont think I am missing something, why is everyone so stuck up with the right click? Please explain to me your reasons. It sees frivolous, but that's just my opinion :p


Admiral
 
The alternate button for many people is a convenience for performing actions other than the default double click or drag action. Most of the time, yes, I do just want to open something, or move it around, but when I need to do other things, it's nice to not have to reach for the keyboard as much. And it works wonders in games like Unreal Tournament that use an alternate fire. Yeah, so I'm not productive all the time; sue me.
 
I thought that the single button mouse was a symbol of the mac's simplicity and ease of use. If so, I doubt they'll adopt a 2 button mouse.
 
I just want to say my ipinon on the right mouse button. I don't have one right now, because my kensington trackball died, after several years of serving me. A replacement is on its way, not a kensington this time though. Anwyay, back to the subject. I have realy missed that second button (the third and fourth too :)) specialy under MacOSX where the conextual menus are even more widespread. I use wintel machines at work, and using the right button saves alot of time. I am surprised Mac didn't have it from the begining, its one of the few features they didn't "borrow" from Palo Alto. I guess we can thank Steve for that one ;)
 
History. Simplicity. Pride.

Bah.

What about Think Different? Can't I think different(ly) than other people and prefer a two-button mouse while others prefer one button?

We're back to fighting about preferences: how pointless.

Kudos to Apple for shipping one-button mice: two buttons confuse a lot of people. Power users have the option of buying a better mouse for $30, and the OS supports it.

Everyone's happy. Except the ignorant folks who think the worth of an operating system is measured by the number of buttons on the standard mouse. How many times have you heard people say, "An OS with one mouse button isn't a real OS?"

-Rob
 
One button was ok in the beginning when UIs were very simple and the user had few choices.
These days, software usually has so many options that gathering the context-sensitive ones on a context-sensitive pop-up menu is really very useful.

If a user is not particularly computer-literate/experienced, then perhaps having 3 (menu, context-menu, keyboard) ways of doing things is a bit daunting, but people grow and learn and generally appreciate the easier ways of doing things.

For example, how many people actually use scroll-bars when they can use the scroll wheel?

Personally, I'd like to see more consistant support for context sensitive menus.... eg, in Finder, "get info" is an obvious choice, but it's missing. "open using" would be good to, especially as the option is there in the inspector window to choose which app to open a document with.

For info, and perhaps to understand where I'm coming from: I'm a software developer; using NT/UNIX at work and Windows/Mac OS at home.

 
I am all for thinking differently.
As a matter of fact I would not complain if I had a two button mouse :) ....

Here is an idea. Ship a two button mouse and have a separator clip between the buttons. IF you want to use one button, leave the clip in, this making the 2 buttons into one. If you want to use a two button mouse, remove the clip and voilà! You have a two button mouse :D


Admiral
--> weekend inventor <--
 
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