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May 30, 2006

hardware

A quick thought on two-finger clicking

Posted May. 30, ’06, 3:01 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Hardware

Two Finger ClickingOne of the new features that the MacBook introduction brought with it was the ability to bring up contextual menus by clicking while resting two fingers on the touchpad. On the one hand, this is exactly the sort of elegant solution we might expect from Apple—it’s very reminiscent of the touch-sensitive technology behind the MightyMouse.

Here’s the thing, though. While I’m still getting used to the two-finger scrolling method (when I remember to use it, it’s very handy for scrolling through long webpages and the like), I haven’t yet gotten to the point where two-finger clicking is in my muscle memory. When I think about it the reason is that when using the MacBook, my other hand is usually pretty close to the keyboard and it’s often just as easy to hit control and click.

Seems to me that control-clicking is much more inconvenient when you’re using a mouse, because you’re often concentrating on that hand, and moving your other hand to hit the keyboard is an extra annoyance. The two-click method seems more like a way to try and assuage those who constantly complain that there’s only one button on Apple portables. Anyway, so far I’ve found control-clicking to work just fine for me, but we’ll see if I can train my muscles to try two-finger clicking instead.


7 Comments

Squerb said:

I've had a MacBook for two weeks now and I'm already used to using the two finger clicks and scrolling. I find it quite intuitive to use and prefer it to the PC trackpads that have scroll zones on the side and bottom. Kudos to Apple for including this great feature. I still need to get the dragging gestures down. The second button is really a handy feature even if it does come from the PC realm.

May 30, 2006 4:25 PM
Richard Savage said:

My solution was to get a Bluetooth wireless travel mouse. Since the Macbook and macbook Pro have integrated Bluetooth, I picked up a Logitec at the Apple Store. Very nice Bluetooth mouse - not too small, not too big, has a scrollwheel, and comes with a neoprene case for when you aren't clicking.

May 30, 2006 4:50 PM
Michael Long said:

Personally, I thought the option ought to have been simply designating roughly the right 20% of the trackpad to be the "right-click" zone, an option that would have worked well on the new MacBooks with their larger trackpad area.

May 30, 2006 5:11 PM
Dan said:

This is one of those (few) areas that I just disagree with Jobs/Apple on. The control click is, at least in my mind, an implicit concession that the right-click is a good/useful idea. It isn't as if we're operating in a world where MS and others haven't raped Apple for pirated ideas time and again with nary an attempt at disguising the piracy. In this instance, I think Apple needs to swallow their pride, admit that someone else in the computer industry (gasp) actually came up with a good idea, and just adopt the two button mouse. Sure, the two-finger click is an elegant solution but so is splitting that wide button under my track pad into two. Then again, I don't make millions of dollars for my laptop/computer designs...

May 30, 2006 5:44 PM
Justin Ames said:

When do we get this for the MacBook pro?

May 30, 2006 6:47 PM
Chris said:

How is the most elegant solution not the same solution Apple's always used with their one-button meeces: holding down on the trackpad's click button activates the right-click functions?

May 30, 2006 6:48 PM
Dan said:

Chris, how do you enable holding the click button down to activate the right-click function? I looked in my system preferences under keyboard and mouse and couldn't find it. Is it there or somewhere else? Or is it an added program? Just curious as that would be much more convenient than the keyboard/mouse combo I have to do now. Thanks for any info.

May 31, 2006 8:23 PM

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