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An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

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Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#151

Post by misnome »

thesuitonym wrote: post #40
jonny_eh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a mandatory install on macOS for me Would you mind expanding on that? I'm not sure what I'd improve about my touchpad experience on my Mac.

Not the OP, but for one thing, natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse users, it was designed for touch screens, and translates pretty well to trackpads (Although it broke with over a decade of user experience), but it's completely unnatural on a mouse. Unfortunately, if you're a user who switches between a mouse and the trackpad, Mac OS only let's you pick one.

Do people really have that much of an issue with it? In my brain it is much like left-vs-right-side-driving; just a mode in my brain.

The first couple of seconds using it differently are confusing, then _click_, brain switches over.

Maybe this only happens if you regularly need to use different machines.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#152

Post by tambourine_man »

eviks wrote: post #130
tambourine_man wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's tiring to read almost everyday on HN: “the amount of work required to make this circle into a square is ridiculous”. Some of us enjoy circles. Use whatever you like, but complaining A is not B is annoying.

Now try to go beyond a shallow dismissive analogy and explain specifically in the case of linear mouse why disabling acceleration is trying to make a circle into a square? (and consider the fact that your circle company has added that square peg into their latest oval OS)

“My circle company” is cute.

What I’m trying to convey here is that, while I hate Windows' mouse acceleration, to the point of being almost unusable to me, I don’t go on forums ranting about how ridiculous the amount of tweaking the OS requires to be usable.

There are fortunately other choices that fit my sensibilities much better. Why try to bend Microsoft to my particularities, especially when there are billions of perfectly happy users?

Ideally you’d want every OS to feature every possible preference setting. In practice, every feature increases the surface for bugs, loses focus on limited resources, puts the burden of choice on the user, etc. There needs to be a vision, an opinion, a personality to a product. You can either share that or look for a different platform.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#153

Post by eviks »

tambourine_man wrote: post #152
eviks wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now try to go beyond a shallow dismissive analogy and explain specifically in the case of linear mouse why disabling acceleration is trying to make a circle into a square? (and consider the fact that your circle company has added that square peg into their latest oval OS)

“My circle company” is cute. What I’m trying to convey here is that, while I hate Windows' mouse acceleration, to the point of being almost unusable to me, I don’t go on forums ranting about how ridiculous the amount of tweaking the OS requires to be usable. There are fortunately other choices that fit my sensibilities much better. Why try to bend Microsoft to my particularities, especially when there are billions of…

But you're doing even worse - you go on forums ranting about people criticizing legitimate OS deficiencies!

> Why try to bend Microsoft to my particularities

Many reasons, but specific to this conversation: because it's not a square! Tweakability of these things is part of "essence" of a general purpose OS, so that's the flaw of your analogy, and why you have to resort to generic analogies instead of explaining how a specific tweak is bad

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#154

Post by tipsytoad »

firecall wrote: post #120

Unpopular opinion, but I like the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard! I try other Mouses but always return to the Apple products. Trying to get other Mouses to have the same acceleration and tracking as you he Magic Mouse eludes me! The thing with the Magic Mouse is the touch sensor on top! Being able to swipe and scroll horizontally and vertically is so ingrained that I miss it when switching. Adding a TouchID sensor to…

Trackpads SOTA, Keyboards OK, Mouse is PITA

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#155

Post by suction »

_ZeD_ wrote: post #121
firecall wrote: post #120

Unpopular opinion, but I like the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard! I try other Mouses but always return to the Apple products. Trying to get other Mouses to have the same acceleration and tracking as you he Magic Mouse eludes me! The thing with the Magic Mouse is the touch sensor on top! Being able to swipe and scroll horizontally and vertically is so ingrained that I miss it when switching. Adding a TouchID sensor to…

Yeah... Your opinion is unpopular (Sorry, but I can't stand Apple hardware... I find it very crappy)

[dead]

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#156

Post by BeFlatXIII »

arghwhat wrote: post #64
Toutouxc wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse IMO there’s no objective reason why. Natural scrolling is not what a lot of people are used to with a mouse, but it’s perfectly usable and even more consistent if you’re using the Magic Mouse, which uses a touch surface instead of a mechanical wheel. I, for example, always make my Windows and Linux machine use natural scrolling like I’m used to from my Mac and my li…

Unlike for touch devices, it is no better or worse - but as scroll wheel operation already is incredibly well established, most already have an intuitive assumption of behavior and switching forcing the user to switch only annoys them. It is even part of our language: you "scroll down".

I thought the same as you until I once got a new Mac and forgot to switch off natural scrolling during the initial setup. You scroll down on a page far more often than you scroll up, at least in my day-to-day. Natural scrolling on the mouse wheel makes scrolling down an easier motion on my right middle finger than with classic scrolling. It's easier to push out than to pull in.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#157

Post by MattRix »

yoyopa wrote: post #134
kitsunesoba wrote: post #73

Unpopular opinion perhaps, but as someone who's bouncing between all three big desktop platforms pretty regularly, cursor acceleration is a total non-issue. I adjust to the difference so quickly that I don't even notice a difference. I'm glad that Sonoma is adding the checkbox to turn it off for those who need it but it's never been a bother for me.

don't know if it's unpopular but for me I am hypersensitive to changes between mac and windows and using a mouse on the mac drives me insane

yep, same here.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#158

Post by troupo »

RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u wrote: post #147
troupo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problems I had with magic mouse: - you can't rest your fingers on it. When you use it, you have to keep your finger(s) raised - if an app/game uses middle button, you can't use that

> - you can't rest your fingers on it. When you use it, you have to keep your finger(s) raised I rest my fingers on the surface all the time and it's fine? ---- I'm also one of the dozen that like the Magic Mouse; in fact I have the first gen one that takes AA batteries, and it's still working perfectly. It's now the oldest mouse I've owned and used. Prior to it I think I had an early model of the wired optical Intel…

I remember it triggering unwanted clicks/taps when I was resting my fingers on it.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#159

Post by troupo »

namdnay wrote: post #143
troupo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problems I had with magic mouse: - you can't rest your fingers on it. When you use it, you have to keep your finger(s) raised - if an app/game uses middle button, you can't use that

Can’t you configure a two finger click to register as “middle”?

IIRC you can and also IIRC it didn't work well with click-and-drag and scroll. But this was quite some time ago

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#160

Post by Tagbert »

thesuitonym wrote: post #40
jonny_eh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a mandatory install on macOS for me Would you mind expanding on that? I'm not sure what I'd improve about my touchpad experience on my Mac.

Not the OP, but for one thing, natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse users, it was designed for touch screens, and translates pretty well to trackpads (Although it broke with over a decade of user experience), but it's completely unnatural on a mouse. Unfortunately, if you're a user who switches between a mouse and the trackpad, Mac OS only let's you pick one.

I was still using a mouse when natural scrolling came out and it was a huge improvement. My brain immediately connected the scroll wheel to the content and it made a lot more sense. The unnatural scroll always seemed backwards and focuses too much on the particular mechanics of moving a scroll bar button instead of directly manipulating the content.

When I use someone else’s computer that uses the old scroll direction it just seems clunky and artificial.

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