imported_Spencer

It's puzzled me for years (SlashDot)...

Quote:

"There is a short article at Gear Live that tries to explain why Apple still sticks with a one-button mouse. It points out the fact that although it is perfectly possible to use a two-button mouse on a Mac for 7 years now, developers are forced to rethink their design approach and can't flood the right-click menu. No article of this kind would be complete without mentioning that users get confused with two buttons. There's a rumor that John Carmack once asked Steve Jobs what would happen if they'd put one more key on the keyboard."

I still think it's silly that Macs don't implement the two button mouse. Who cares if developers would have it rough implementing it for the next version of their software? It only makes sense...

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philipe

I'm confused about what you're saying. Macs do implement two button mouse behavior, the article is just pointing out that the reason Apple doesn't actually make a two-button mouse standard is to discourage developers from forcing people to use the right-click. That's usually used for a context-sensitive menu, but Apple is perhaps aiming for the more user-accessible option of being sure any contextual menu items are also available some other way. Sounds like a good explanation to me. They even started having an "action menu" in Finder in 10.3 to replicate everything that appears when you control-click/right-click in Finder.

imported_Errant

Yeah. What he said!

I think its merely a choice of style for most Mac users, but most Mac users will go with the one-click. There is a trend among Apple customers to desire simplicity and ease of use, and I think one-clicking is a hallmark of this trend. I have a one-button mouse, but I find the times I need to control-click are about 5% of the times I click.

In gaming, its a much different story of course. Carmack was making his joke from the point of view of the game developer; more buttons mean more direct gratification and less of a disjunction between the player and the game. Instead of thinking ( I need to click the mouse, hold the spacebar, and release control), its (hit the right mouse button). On the internet, however, and in graphics, text editing, many things in the right click menu are eaither a) accomplishable by keystrokes or b) not used on a majority basis.

I have two mice. Both are wireless. I use my normal one for normal purposes/school/work/email/other.

I plug in my five-button mouse when im playing NWN or some other game ported from the PC to the Mac. Thats really where this becomes an issue; PC developers can always assume their user has at least two buttons, usually three, and they can capitalize on this liberally. Mac game developers are more "one-button concious", and their design usually revolves around just one click.

Hell, we should all be buying game controllers for computer games anyway. As a console devotee in the gaming arena, I really find it awkward to *play* with a keyboard and mouse.

Just my opinion :)

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"This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
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Complex

I still find it frustrating no matter what that article says when I'm using a Mac and it only has a one button mouse. I keep trying to click where I would think the other button would be.

TGF

Its an ajustment. I am getting a Mac in May and it will be an ajustment for me to remember to use the control button instead of the right click, but i'll get used to it.

TheCleaner

I doubt it. Although Apple make the nicest mouse to look at and feel, if you are anything more than a casual user you'll be buying yourself a 2+ button mouse, you could get away with one button under OS 9 but certainly not with X

imported_Errant

I really think thats a matter of opinion... to tell you the truth I rarely use the right click button. The only time I do is when I select "Delete File", and even then thats only when I'm lazy and don't feel like using the keyboard shortcut. ;)

Sometimes though, it is nice. I still think that 90% of mouse clicks are one-button. But when you want to "Open With...", you do have to command click/right click.

I have a three button mouse now... I bought it for a few games I just got that don't even USE the left click. (WoW..) To tell you the truth though, I don't really use the right button as much as I use the scroll wheel. Its nice to be able to scroll up/down webpages with just a little bit more control than Page Up/Page Down.

Although sometimes I still use Page Up/Page Down. Case examples include PDF files that I can view the entire page on my monitor... I don't like viewing page breaks, seems like a waste of space to me, so often I just hit PgUp PgDwn to go through the file.

Websites tend to be more scrollwheel, tho.

__________________
"This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go."
-Theodore Rothke, The Waking.

webmastermac

Im not sure maybe your not aware- however you have the right to buy a 2 button mouse you know. Not like the mac doesn't support the feature.

[end of sarcasm]

TGF

It does support a 2 button mouse but to use one would be contradictary. You go one way or the other.

TheCleaner

philipe

Heh, I've had a similar experience to that tech support incident related in the GearLive article, but from the other perspective. Just 8 years ago, I was already learning C programming, interested in how computers worked, etc, but had always used a mac. My friends had PCs, but those seemed the strange, foreign interface to me.

So in school we had some class where we were doing something on PCs, and we were told to right-click on something. This was a foreign concept to me. I thought for a minute, then reached for the keyboard, and hit c-l-i-c-k. Yup. I wrote "click." It didn't seem like a good idea to me either, but I sure couldn't think of another way to use that instruction.

imported_Errant

?

Ok ... now that threw me for a loop.

Are you implying
a) To use a one-button mouse is a contradiction to the multi button support..
b) To use a two-button mouse is a contradiction to the one button
manifesto?

Clarify, por favore.

__________________
"This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go."
-Theodore Rothke, The Waking.

TGF

To use a 2 button mouse (Windows) in place of a one button mouse (Mac) would be contradictory to the idea that one button is for mac and two buttons is for windows

imported_Errant

Ah! Ok.

I'm going to get a 15 button mouse for my Mac (Gaming, Editing, Laziness), so I guess I'm a contradiction to the norm ;)

I still think one button is ok tho. Hey, at least there is a button!...

I know, sounds dumb. But there was a day, a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, when people didn't have buttons or mouses or buttons for mouses! They had keyboards...poor poor people! Although programming was a little simpler back then. None of this "unexperienced user" nonsense we must not only live with, but develop, today in programming.

__________________
"This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go."
-Theodore Rothke, The Waking.