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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

#61

Post by Toutouxc »

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.

> 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 life isn’t any better or worse because of it.

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

#62

Post by gedy »

blairbeckwith wrote: post #3
cowjan wrote: post #2

I've long looked for a good mouse utility for Mac that can disable mouse acceleration, modify scroll wheel behavior, etc. This one even saves preferences per-device which I find very useful.

I’m eager to try this out, but you might also want to check out Steermouse[1], which is a utility it took me years longer to discover than it should have. I’m not sure how it stacks up to this open source project, but it’s definitely been worth the license cost to me over the years. [1] https://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/

Long time user of Steermouse, it was a life saver when transitioning from Windows and just could not get used to OSX mouse acceleration curve

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

#63

Post by theon144 »

ayemel wrote: post #26
idle_zealot wrote: post #5

This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many). The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad to see open source maintainers working to keep my mouse working.

On the flip side, this is exactly how I feel with Windows in order to get the base OS usable.

Not sure what you mean; Windows doesn't force mouse acceleration.

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

#64

Post by arghwhat »

Toutouxc wrote: post #61
thesuitonym wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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".

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

#65

Post by arghwhat »

mrpf1ster wrote: post #41
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.

The Mac touchpad is great, but using an external mouse is awful feeling without this tool

Last I checked it can be set independently for mouse and touchpad in the settings without this tool.

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

#66

Post by tredre3 »

ayemel wrote: post #26
idle_zealot wrote: post #5

This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many). The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad to see open source maintainers working to keep my mouse working.

On the flip side, this is exactly how I feel with Windows in order to get the base OS usable.

Windows (without additional utilities) allows you to disable mouse acceleration, change scrolling direction, change scrolling speed, and even invert buttons.

Sure MacOS' stock behavior might be fine for you, but that's a different conversation, we're talking about giving the user choice without resorting to hacks here.

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

#68

Post by kiririn »

jonny_eh wrote: post #23
idle_zealot wrote: post #5

This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many). The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad to see open source maintainers working to keep my mouse working.

> 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.

Disabling acceleration is the main thing for me

Acceleration doesn’t really have a place on touchpads since they became ‘perfect’ with near-zero deadzone ~10 years ago. Especially on a nice big touchpad with equal click pressure like MacBooks have

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

#69

Post by furyofantares »

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.

> natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse users

I'm the opposite - I was surprised by how much of an improvement I found natural scrolling after decades of computer use. I now use an autohotkey script when on windows to get the same behavior as I get on macOS.

I can certainly see the switching cost not being worth it and wanting a setting that applies to the mouse and not the touchpad, but I'm failing to see how it's anything other than a switching cost.

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

#70

Post by turtlebits »

Pesthuf wrote: post #38

Apple's idea of "natural scrolling direction" is insane. Scrolling with a touchpad and scrolling with with a mouse wheel are simply different things - the natural direction is simply different for both.

You can easily change that under mouse settings. I'm not sure it's insane as my kid is fine with it as he's never used the opposite.
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