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Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

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Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#21

Post by jabroni_salad »

dpcx wrote: post #2

As someone who prefers Natural Scroll (and who understands that there are people who don't), why would someone want Natural Scroll on one interaction method and not on another? That feels like confusion waiting to happen, IMHO.

When I use a mouse, I always expect pulling the scrollwheel towards me to move the page downwards. That is just how it has been my entire life.

However, when I use a touch surface such as a trackpad or touchscreen I like to push the page up.

disclaimer: not a magic mouse user.

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#22

Post by behnamoh »

aptgetrekt wrote: post #18
behnamoh wrote: post #16

I like natural scroll so much I even use AutoHotkey on Windows to emulate the same behavior. Unfortunately, it reverses everything, so, say, volume scroll is reversed too. I'm sure there are workarounds about that. Unlike some comments here, when I move from TrackPad to mouse, I still think of the scroll wheel as the document, so natural scroll makes more sense for me, personally. The only thing I would get rid of in…

You can actually change the scroll direction of a mouse in Windows with a registry edit: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10...

Thank you, yes I tried that and it works.

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#23

Post by Kimitri »

Logitech Options has an option to set the scroll direction. As I switch between a trackpad and a Logitech mouse the scroll direction is always set to whichever feels ”expected” to the pointing device I’m using. It was a joyous day to discover the setting in Logitech Options. :)

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#24

Post by dashwav »

aptgetrekt wrote: post #11
dashwav wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been looking for a solution to this problem for a very long time and my reasoning is that on a trackpad, natural makes a lot of sense intuitively, since you are "pushing" the document (page/app/whatever) the direction you want it to move. Whereas when I am using a mouse I feel like I the document is below the mouse more or less and when I move the scrollwheel it is physically moving the document as if it was t…

Yeah I think the exact same way! The top of the physical wheel spins the opposite direction of the bottom of the wheel which would be "touching" the page/content. Originally I was going to just make a background script to automatically toggle the option when it detects certain USB devices (like my mouse) but I couldn't find a way to apply settings changed via the "defaults write" command without logging out and then…

I have to say I really appreciate this! I was going down very similar lines just last week (I had installed Hammerspoon and was experimenting with some applescript hacks, but to no avail).

Just intercepting the actual scroll and inverting it is a really elegant solution (that doesn't require a relog) which is great.

This solves one of the two biggest gripes I had about MacOs - with the other being my inablility to "pin" my dock to one of my monitors, overriding the swap functionality. Thanks!

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#25

Post by cyann »

behnamoh wrote: post #16

I like natural scroll so much I even use AutoHotkey on Windows to emulate the same behavior. Unfortunately, it reverses everything, so, say, volume scroll is reversed too. I'm sure there are workarounds about that. Unlike some comments here, when I move from TrackPad to mouse, I still think of the scroll wheel as the document, so natural scroll makes more sense for me, personally. The only thing I would get rid of in…

Same here, I've got this one-liner in my system config:

Inverse or reverse mouse wheel (natural scrolling), reboot or unplug the mouse. Must be run in an admin powershell console.

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\HID\\\Device` Parameters FlipFlopWheel -EA 0 | ForEach-Object { Set-ItemProperty $_.PSPath FlipFlopWheel 1 }

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#26

Post by dustincoates »

dashwav wrote: post #5
dpcx wrote: post #2

As someone who prefers Natural Scroll (and who understands that there are people who don't), why would someone want Natural Scroll on one interaction method and not on another? That feels like confusion waiting to happen, IMHO.

I have been looking for a solution to this problem for a very long time and my reasoning is that on a trackpad, natural makes a lot of sense intuitively, since you are "pushing" the document (page/app/whatever) the direction you want it to move. Whereas when I am using a mouse I feel like I the document is below the mouse more or less and when I move the scrollwheel it is physically moving the document as if it was t…

I'm the same as you, and it also took me a while to figure out why it was. The best explanation I could come up with is that it felt like I was moving the scroll bar with a scroll wheel, while that's clearly not the case when I'm using a trackpad or touch.

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#28

Post by Wowfunhappy »

I miss when apps like this were built as preference panes.

An app that does nothing but change an OS setting—and whose user interface exists purely to adjust those settings—does not belong in my applications folder, and certainly not in my menu bar. Such apps ought to live in System Preferences, alongside other, well, system preferences. And what do you know, Apple built a way for third party developers to do just that!

Preference panes used to be the norm, but that seems to have changed over the last decade. It pains me to admit that an app is probably the right approach nowadays, because when everyone else is doing things one way, users will expect you to do that too.

One more way that OS X's UI metaphors have regressed...

Re: Show HN: UnnaturalScrollWheels – Better scroll wheel settings for macOS

#30

Post by mikestew »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #28

I miss when apps like this were built as preference panes. An app that does nothing but change an OS setting—and whose user interface exists purely to adjust those settings—does not belong in my applications folder, and certainly not in my menu bar. Such apps ought to live in System Preferences, alongside other, well, system preferences. And what do you know, Apple built a way for third party developers to do just th…

Are OS X's metaphors slipping, or are they just being folded into how developers write their apps, or consumers use them? I ask because of the iOS Settings app: it used to be that was the place one changed the settings of an app, not in the app itself. IOW, kinda like the macOS System Preferences panes...sorta.

Point is, it can appear that the OS settings pane/app/whatever is for stuff Apple controls, and the rest has to go in an app or menubar. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying that Apple has let the messaging get really confused.

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