Ok, so I don't have to change my SOP for unpacking new Apple hardware:
1. Open box. Remove instruction manuals, cables, and packaging foam on top.
2. Remove mouse. Smash it to bits with a hammer or similar instrument. Carefully collect pieces and place them in trash can.
3. Continue with unpacking as normal.
It's difficult to imagine using anything less than a three button mouse w/ scroll wheel (3rd button is the wheel). OS X is designed for a two-button mouse w/ scroll wheel.
Once I used Expose with a 5 button mouse, I couldn't imagine going back to a three button mouse!
Every hard-core computer use has their own favorite mouse, so Apple could even ship computers without a mouse and let the user buy one. But that piss off the casual computer users, so I guess Apple needs a default mouse. My vote is for a three-button scroll-wheel mouse, but it doesn't really matter since I'll throw it out anyways.
How about the same functionality of the current mouse, but rocks side to side, to emulate the left and right click. Something like that, anyway.
MOOOOOOOOOOOLE!
MOLÉ MOLÉ MOLÉ MOLÉ MOLÉ! I want to squeeze it and make some guacaMOLÉ!
Okay, back to topic! That's what I'd expect from Apple... being able to rock the mouse side to side or an invisible trackpad on the mouse or something just elegant and not ordinary and "metoo"-ish.
I'm personally enamored of the one button mouse. It's great and I don't miss the scrollwheel since it doesn't really have any buttons at all! You just press down the whole thing with your hand like a giant button. Windows users find it cool.
Now, I don't know if some of you think the same or not, but to me, Netscape has had for YEARS a feature I'd like to have implemented on MacOS X. If you open Netscape and click-and hold, you trigger a contextual menu, so it's basically a right-click without having an additional button. Why Apple hasn't added this functionality to the operating system is beyond me because it's hidden and works like a charm and you don't need to change the hardware layout. You just click and hold and you emulate a right-click. If anyone has Netscape (or Firefox) go ahead and try it. It's the perfect solution to the second-button dilemma.
2. Remove mouse. Smash it to bits with a hammer or similar instrument. Carefully collect pieces and place them in trash can.
I agree. I don't quite get why people are so against a two button mouse, and especially one with some (better) way of scrolling! More functionality doesn't always mean crappier, geez.
I don't think one-button mice have a whole lot of effect on UI design, you can basically use all of Windows with just the left button too, should you want to. Most all of these "contextual" options are also available in the menus in any OS. Bad design is just bad design, period. In essence, you should be able to efficiently use the program without having to access *any* menu (while anything extra or advanced is for more experienced users and belong in the menus).
But still, I'll welcome a multi-button Apple pro mouse.
I like cordless mouses but I hate batteries. And I also hate having to redo synchronization periodically on bluetooth mouses.
I'm currently using a three buttons & wheel mouse which is super-light, cordless, totally battery-free and also ball-free.
Apple should make a Bluetooth Extreme? mouse that has no cord, no batteries, no power supply at all! The power source will only be the Bluetooth Extreme?, which will beam electricity to the mouse through the space-time continuum!
I'd be willing to pay a bit extra for such a feature.
Alternatively, I'd take a rechargeable mouse that comes with a nice little mouse hole (docking bay). My preference, however, is for a corded mouse, one that plugs into the keyboard. Windows users are always bitching about their mouse cords, but I rarely hear Mac users complaining, because with the mouse plugging into the keyboard, there's not much cord to get in the way. Make the keyboard wireless, and keep the mouse on a cord - simple, elegant, and very Mac-like.
i've not been a fan of wireless mice. the latency and the low resolution make them horrible to use for graphics. i ended up getting a high end gaming mouse (the razer diamondback) for all my uses. it's smooth and super high rez, which is perfect for doing graphic design work.
feverishly working on a two-button wireless optical mouse that it intends to release.
I'd be happy if the fever broke and they just worked on getting a two button rat out the door already.
Quote:
With Apple now profiting from low-priced consumer electronics as it makes a push to reclaim market share from Windows, a two-button mouse is 'almost an essential,' sources said.
Even at Apple, Windows users get catered to before Mac users..
I'd be happy with a one button mouse and a scroll wheel or scroll pad.
I doubt Apple is working on something that is just another old mouse design. If they are going to break away from one button, I am betting they finally figured out something that will surprise us all at its shear simplicity.
Control clicking your way around is a waste and an extra step, talk about making something more complex. Very powerful, often used and useful tools are relegated to a key on the keyboard which will scare any newbe more then discovering the right mouse button. (Which key was I suppose to click and do I need hold it down before clicking, during or after and... what is it for again?)
With Web pages a scroll wheel is one of the most powerful and simple to use tools available to make navigation simple, easy and effective.
Life, Society and how computers serve us is radically different from when the Macintosh UI guidelines were established. Email and the Web are in most peoples life blood now. Having to hold the Control key down for quick access to cut, paste, delete, spelling, etc., makes more problems then it solves.
Then a $19 USB two button mouse is yours for the buying. *shrug*
And note you said 'quick' access... primary access needs to be through the single button at all times. Quick access can be through other means. That's the whole scaling to the user benefit I was talking about.
And yes, the computing world has changed a lot since 1984... but the basic principles of discoverability, usability, and scalability haven't. It isn't the users that are the problem, it's the developers. They continually want to write applications for themselves, not end users. It's just the nature of the beast. Not everyone is a UI and usability designer, so Apple makes sure to provide tools (Cocoa, for instance) that take care of the heavy lifting. Part of the philosophy is ensuring that developers can't shoot themselves in the foot any easier than can be. (Because we will. Oh yes, we will.) Drilling into their heads that 'you can only ever rely on one mouse button' is part of that training process, especially when you have developers coming over from X11 or Windows, where multiple buttons are ubiquitous... but never really standardized.
Again, I use a multi button mouse. I love doing so. But I also recognize that developers are a lazy and short sighted lot, and we'll screw it up given half a chance. Shipping a multi-button mouse as default would quickly blow any chance of maintaining UI consistency that the Mac has. And let's face it, that's one of the main strengths of the platform.
if apple goes for a two button mouse i'd hope the second button is NOT a right (cntrl-)click, but rather customisable or even DYNAMIC button - by default say EXPOSE or, if over a link in safari, open in new tab (?-click)
a scroll wheel is also invaluable and doesnt detract from the simplicity of the one button mouse - its obvious what it does. (if it clicks as well that may start to cause trouble)
i prefer a 5 button mouse (with extra buttons on both sides - dont forget us lefties!) but the least used button is the right click!!
If a 2 button mouse is true, i will probably not have a scroll wheel as we know it. Probably a touch-strip with scroll functionality in the middle flush with the housing. That would be in keeping with Apples integrated look.MAcMaice are pretty nice, though.
I'd like the Apple wireless mouse to gain a Logitech MX1000 style laser optical technologty (very precise compared to other optical mice), a tilt-wheel (vertical/horizontal scrolling basically) or two-button mouse to have the features IK mentioned.
I wanted to add that the control key is very close to the option and command keys. This is important because a truly efficient "pro" user will almost always have his or her hand on these keys when the other is on the mouse. To say that the control key is inefficient I think assumes that using your left (non-dominant hand) index finger is less efficient than using your right (dominant hand) middle finger. I guess it also assumes that your non mousing hand is at your side otherwise, when, at least when I use the mouse, it's usually on the keyboard already. I'm not convinced of the efficiency argument. This is coming from a person who uses a three button mouse, BTW.
Well, the current Apple one button is just about the most perfect mouse you can buy, period.
There is a UI argument being made, we know it well. Let's skip, since no one can legitimately deny the positive effect of a one button UI orthodoxy.
Then there is the argument about speed and ease of use: this is the one in which ALL of the multibutton proponents don't have a fvcking clue.
Why?
Scroll wheels are the most ergonomically evil invention ever to marr the computer mouse. They are absolutely horrid, and there is a mountain of evidence to tell you why. Don't forget, that on the keyboard we have a a much faster and far more ergonomic way to scroll -- THE FVCKING ARROW KEYS!!! If the ludittes would get their sweatty paws off the mouse long enough, they might realize that using the keyboard properly is faster and safer than trying to turn a mouse into an advcanced control surface.
Which "pros" really use a multi-button mouse?
Musicians, artists and editors all use specialized control surfaces when dealing with apps that require more than one button. Whether we're talking about mixing boards, tablets, shuttle pros, coded keyboards, we aren't talking about multi-button mice. There is the case of shake, and ONLY of shake, and even that could be changed...
As a mechanism for UI control, a one button mouse plus keyboard remains the healthiest (most comfortable), quickest, and most elegant interface.
All that said, if Apple were to change, I wouldn't look for a traditional 2 button mouse.
Firstly, any mouse would have to be ambidexterous: it would have to seamlessly recognize a left or right handed operation, and change the mouse pattern accordingly, that, or 2 buttons would have to be arrayed in a way that represented 'main' and 'auxiallary', rather than 'right' and 'left'
Secondly, only the hightest ergonomic principles could be expressed in the design, that negates any form of conventional scroll wheel, as they are all failures from a biomechanical standpoint.
Thirdly, the ergonomic advantages of a whole hand over one button would have to be re-established by a superior ergonomic shape -- difficult... Most of the "ergo-look" designs aren't all the ergonomic. Turning them on their side, to avoid twisting the wrist is too ugly, despite the benefits.
Apple's latest two mice have been able to mitigate this problem (and remain attractive enough to leave on a desk) by forcing a grip that reduces fine muscle movements (no single finger control) and either through the round shape (of the puck) or the side tabs (of the current design) force users to lift their wrists slightly and use a larger muscle group in controlling the mouse.
Is there a shape that keeps the inherent ergonomy of gross muscle movements, and supplies two buttons and a scroll interface?
Maybe a headlight-like shape! Think breast implants!
A half spheriod cone with two or three rings. You put your hand around it less like a mouse and more like a casually held football -- one that you're about to toss through the bottom of the desk. Whether you grip it left or right, your index finger falls nearer the top (on the first lace) and your middle finger falls nearer the base. Also whether you grip left or right, your wrist is turned at least 45 degrees from horizontal, and maybe closer to 50-60 degrees depending on the conical shape used, again, much better.
Scrolling? Well, though I believe this best accomplished through a form of gestural recognition, one could at this point employ some sort of iPod tech at the top of the cone. You scroll as if teasing the areola of this rather breast-like shape.
Multibutton, yes!
Scrolling, yes!
Ergonomic, yes!
Ambidexterous, yes!
Unconventional, absolutely!
We've had the puck, now comes the tit! Think of a airport base station, smaller in circumference, but taller, curved in slightly at the base to allow the pinky to slip under more comfortably.
I guarantee you that's what Apple will release, if/when they go multi-button.
Besides certain industries such as design, no pro user constantly uses the mouse. If you consider yourself a "pro" user than your hands would be constantly on the keyboard. For no matter what you say, the keyboard will always have more buttons and more functionality than any mouse. For me, my hands rarely leave the keyboard, and since I'm on a powerbook, the few times I need a mouse all I need is to rotate my wrist a bit.
And note you said 'quick' access... primary access needs to be through the single button at all times. Quick access can be through other means. That's the whole scaling to the user benefit I was talking about.
I agree whole heartily. I just think access through "other means" is most easily attained through right clicking.
Quote:
Don't forget, that on the keyboard we have a a much faster and far more ergonomic way to scroll -- THE FVCKING ARROW KEYS!!!
So if your one of "the ludittes" who use the mouse you should completely remove your hand from the mouse and click an arrow key just to navigate a web page a line or two (assuming your right handed). Or you can use your left hand to reach across the key board to click that down arrow key once to make that small line move down. That sure is economy in motion. Going on about not using the mouse in favor of keyboard navigation is a different argument then discussing the functionality of the mouse.
As far as scroll wheel ergonomics not being ideal, that holds true for the use of the mouse as well which have crippled many a corporal.
Quote:
Which "pros" really use a multi-button mouse?
When I was working in 3D a multi-button mouse was a godsend. The scroll wheal was invaluable for zooming in and out of your scene.
I just came back from Photoshop world where quite a few of the instructors commented on how one of the first things they do in customizing thier Photoshop work environment is throw away the one button Rat and get a two button mouse.
Adobe's Creative Director, who was one of the instructors (and who is a Mac user) mentioned how Adobe is busy building in contextual menus for all the various Photoshop tools for faster navigation.
I personally try and use all the keyboard shortcuts I can and manly use a pen and Wacom tablet. But for web navigation I love that right button and the scroll wheal.
The only time I use the control button are times like this when I am on my laptop with no Mouse attached.
Comments
Ok, so I don't have to change my SOP for unpacking new Apple hardware:
1. Open box. Remove instruction manuals, cables, and packaging foam on top.
2. Remove mouse. Smash it to bits with a hammer or similar instrument. Carefully collect pieces and place them in trash can.
3. Continue with unpacking as normal.
It's difficult to imagine using anything less than a three button mouse w/ scroll wheel (3rd button is the wheel). OS X is designed for a two-button mouse w/ scroll wheel.
Once I used Expose with a 5 button mouse, I couldn't imagine going back to a three button mouse!
Every hard-core computer use has their own favorite mouse, so Apple could even ship computers without a mouse and let the user buy one. But that piss off the casual computer users, so I guess Apple needs a default mouse. My vote is for a three-button scroll-wheel mouse, but it doesn't really matter since I'll throw it out anyways.
Originally posted by Rhumgod
How about the same functionality of the current mouse, but rocks side to side, to emulate the left and right click. Something like that, anyway.
MOOOOOOOOOOOLE!
MOLÉ MOLÉ MOLÉ MOLÉ MOLÉ! I want to squeeze it and make some guacaMOLÉ!
Okay, back to topic! That's what I'd expect from Apple... being able to rock the mouse side to side or an invisible trackpad on the mouse or something just elegant and not ordinary and "metoo"-ish.
I'm personally enamored of the one button mouse. It's great and I don't miss the scrollwheel since it doesn't really have any buttons at all! You just press down the whole thing with your hand like a giant button. Windows users find it cool.
Now, I don't know if some of you think the same or not, but to me, Netscape has had for YEARS a feature I'd like to have implemented on MacOS X. If you open Netscape and click-and hold, you trigger a contextual menu, so it's basically a right-click without having an additional button. Why Apple hasn't added this functionality to the operating system is beyond me because it's hidden and works like a charm and you don't need to change the hardware layout. You just click and hold and you emulate a right-click. If anyone has Netscape (or Firefox) go ahead and try it. It's the perfect solution to the second-button dilemma.
Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg
2. Remove mouse. Smash it to bits with a hammer or similar instrument. Carefully collect pieces and place them in trash can.
I agree. I don't quite get why people are so against a two button mouse, and especially one with some (better) way of scrolling! More functionality doesn't always mean crappier, geez.
But still, I'll welcome a multi-button Apple pro mouse.
Originally posted by bilbo42
I like cordless mouses but I hate batteries. And I also hate having to redo synchronization periodically on bluetooth mouses.
I'm currently using a three buttons & wheel mouse which is super-light, cordless, totally battery-free and also ball-free.
Apple should make a Bluetooth Extreme? mouse that has no cord, no batteries, no power supply at all! The power source will only be the Bluetooth Extreme?, which will beam electricity to the mouse through the space-time continuum!
I'd be willing to pay a bit extra for such a feature.
Alternatively, I'd take a rechargeable mouse that comes with a nice little mouse hole (docking bay). My preference, however, is for a corded mouse, one that plugs into the keyboard. Windows users are always bitching about their mouse cords, but I rarely hear Mac users complaining, because with the mouse plugging into the keyboard, there's not much cord to get in the way. Make the keyboard wireless, and keep the mouse on a cord - simple, elegant, and very Mac-like.
http://blargatron-systems.com/files/...er_w.stand.jpg
64% higher refresh rate than bluetooth. Same as USB.
8 buttons plus 4 way scroll. And yes, I use them all.
Oh, and did I mention it's 20x more sensitive than standard optical mice?
Wait, I forgot the best part: It's cheaper than Apple's 1 button bluetooth.
feverishly working on a two-button wireless optical mouse that it intends to release.
I'd be happy if the fever broke and they just worked on getting a two button rat out the door already.
With Apple now profiting from low-priced consumer electronics as it makes a push to reclaim market share from Windows, a two-button mouse is 'almost an essential,' sources said.
Even at Apple, Windows users get catered to before Mac users..
No respect.
.
I doubt Apple is working on something that is just another old mouse design. If they are going to break away from one button, I am betting they finally figured out something that will surprise us all at its shear simplicity.
Then again, this could be a crap rumor.
With Web pages a scroll wheel is one of the most powerful and simple to use tools available to make navigation simple, easy and effective.
Life, Society and how computers serve us is radically different from when the Macintosh UI guidelines were established. Email and the Web are in most peoples life blood now. Having to hold the Control key down for quick access to cut, paste, delete, spelling, etc., makes more problems then it solves.
And note you said 'quick' access... primary access needs to be through the single button at all times. Quick access can be through other means. That's the whole scaling to the user benefit I was talking about.
And yes, the computing world has changed a lot since 1984... but the basic principles of discoverability, usability, and scalability haven't. It isn't the users that are the problem, it's the developers. They continually want to write applications for themselves, not end users. It's just the nature of the beast. Not everyone is a UI and usability designer, so Apple makes sure to provide tools (Cocoa, for instance) that take care of the heavy lifting. Part of the philosophy is ensuring that developers can't shoot themselves in the foot any easier than can be. (Because we will. Oh yes, we will.) Drilling into their heads that 'you can only ever rely on one mouse button' is part of that training process, especially when you have developers coming over from X11 or Windows, where multiple buttons are ubiquitous... but never really standardized.
Again, I use a multi button mouse. I love doing so. But I also recognize that developers are a lazy and short sighted lot, and we'll screw it up given half a chance. Shipping a multi-button mouse as default would quickly blow any chance of maintaining UI consistency that the Mac has. And let's face it, that's one of the main strengths of the platform.
a scroll wheel is also invaluable and doesnt detract from the simplicity of the one button mouse - its obvious what it does. (if it clicks as well that may start to cause trouble)
i prefer a 5 button mouse (with extra buttons on both sides - dont forget us lefties!) but the least used button is the right click!!
There is a UI argument being made, we know it well. Let's skip, since no one can legitimately deny the positive effect of a one button UI orthodoxy.
Then there is the argument about speed and ease of use: this is the one in which ALL of the multibutton proponents don't have a fvcking clue.
Why?
Scroll wheels are the most ergonomically evil invention ever to marr the computer mouse. They are absolutely horrid, and there is a mountain of evidence to tell you why. Don't forget, that on the keyboard we have a a much faster and far more ergonomic way to scroll -- THE FVCKING ARROW KEYS!!! If the ludittes would get their sweatty paws off the mouse long enough, they might realize that using the keyboard properly is faster and safer than trying to turn a mouse into an advcanced control surface.
Which "pros" really use a multi-button mouse?
Musicians, artists and editors all use specialized control surfaces when dealing with apps that require more than one button. Whether we're talking about mixing boards, tablets, shuttle pros, coded keyboards, we aren't talking about multi-button mice. There is the case of shake, and ONLY of shake, and even that could be changed...
As a mechanism for UI control, a one button mouse plus keyboard remains the healthiest (most comfortable), quickest, and most elegant interface.
All that said, if Apple were to change, I wouldn't look for a traditional 2 button mouse.
Firstly, any mouse would have to be ambidexterous: it would have to seamlessly recognize a left or right handed operation, and change the mouse pattern accordingly, that, or 2 buttons would have to be arrayed in a way that represented 'main' and 'auxiallary', rather than 'right' and 'left'
Secondly, only the hightest ergonomic principles could be expressed in the design, that negates any form of conventional scroll wheel, as they are all failures from a biomechanical standpoint.
Thirdly, the ergonomic advantages of a whole hand over one button would have to be re-established by a superior ergonomic shape -- difficult... Most of the "ergo-look" designs aren't all the ergonomic. Turning them on their side, to avoid twisting the wrist is too ugly, despite the benefits.
Apple's latest two mice have been able to mitigate this problem (and remain attractive enough to leave on a desk) by forcing a grip that reduces fine muscle movements (no single finger control) and either through the round shape (of the puck) or the side tabs (of the current design) force users to lift their wrists slightly and use a larger muscle group in controlling the mouse.
Is there a shape that keeps the inherent ergonomy of gross muscle movements, and supplies two buttons and a scroll interface?
Maybe a headlight-like shape! Think breast implants!
A half spheriod cone with two or three rings. You put your hand around it less like a mouse and more like a casually held football -- one that you're about to toss through the bottom of the desk. Whether you grip it left or right, your index finger falls nearer the top (on the first lace) and your middle finger falls nearer the base. Also whether you grip left or right, your wrist is turned at least 45 degrees from horizontal, and maybe closer to 50-60 degrees depending on the conical shape used, again, much better.
Scrolling? Well, though I believe this best accomplished through a form of gestural recognition, one could at this point employ some sort of iPod tech at the top of the cone. You scroll as if teasing the areola of this rather breast-like shape.
Multibutton, yes!
Scrolling, yes!
Ergonomic, yes!
Ambidexterous, yes!
Unconventional, absolutely!
We've had the puck, now comes the tit! Think of a airport base station, smaller in circumference, but taller, curved in slightly at the base to allow the pinky to slip under more comfortably.
I guarantee you that's what Apple will release, if/when they go multi-button.
Having a rocker button where your thumb rests would be a better option. And then some extra buttons on the other side of the mouse.
Honestly engineers make design harder than it has to be.
And note you said 'quick' access... primary access needs to be through the single button at all times. Quick access can be through other means. That's the whole scaling to the user benefit I was talking about.
I agree whole heartily. I just think access through "other means" is most easily attained through right clicking.
Don't forget, that on the keyboard we have a a much faster and far more ergonomic way to scroll -- THE FVCKING ARROW KEYS!!!
So if your one of "the ludittes" who use the mouse you should completely remove your hand from the mouse and click an arrow key just to navigate a web page a line or two (assuming your right handed). Or you can use your left hand to reach across the key board to click that down arrow key once to make that small line move down. That sure is economy in motion. Going on about not using the mouse in favor of keyboard navigation is a different argument then discussing the functionality of the mouse.
As far as scroll wheel ergonomics not being ideal, that holds true for the use of the mouse as well which have crippled many a corporal.
Which "pros" really use a multi-button mouse?
When I was working in 3D a multi-button mouse was a godsend. The scroll wheal was invaluable for zooming in and out of your scene.
I just came back from Photoshop world where quite a few of the instructors commented on how one of the first things they do in customizing thier Photoshop work environment is throw away the one button Rat and get a two button mouse.
Adobe's Creative Director, who was one of the instructors (and who is a Mac user) mentioned how Adobe is busy building in contextual menus for all the various Photoshop tools for faster navigation.
I personally try and use all the keyboard shortcuts I can and manly use a pen and Wacom tablet. But for web navigation I love that right button and the scroll wheal.
The only time I use the control button are times like this when I am on my laptop with no Mouse attached.