Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:14004 comp.windows.misc:294
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bu-cs!polygen!pablo
From: pablo@polygen.uucp (Pablo Halpern)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: 2 button mouse
Message-ID: <127@polygen.UUCP>
Date: 16 Mar 88 00:10:57 GMT
References: <1635@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Organization: Polygen Corporation, Waltham, MA
Lines: 26

From article <1635@thorin.cs.unc.edu>, by steele@unc.cs.unc.edu (Oliver Steele):
> The story as I've heard it (most recently from a talk Mark Cutter of Apple
> (Mr. MacDraw) gave here) is that Apple tested its multi-button mouse
> (single button on mouse, modifier keys on keyboard, and multi-click)
> against what is now the standard (three buttons on mouse with less use of
> keyboard modifiers) and found that beginners found the single-physical-
> button much, much easier than the multi-, and that experts found both
> equally easy.

I bet they left a few things out of the tests.  For example, I doubt they
tested the usefullness of a single-button mouse + modifier keys for
people that don't have use of both hands!  One-handed people want to
use the Mac as much as anybody and so do those of us that like to hold
a phone or hold open a manual while using the computer. (I know, manuals
should be bound such that they can lie open on the desk, but too may
aren't.)  The relatively new "easy access" init from Apple helps some, 
but is slow compared to a mult-button mouse.

As I said in a previous posting, I like the single-button mouse interface
but would welcome a three-button mouse if the second and third keys
were simply mapped to modifier-button combinations.

Pablo Halpern		|	mit-eddie \
Polygen Corp.		|	princeton  \ !polygen!pablo  (UUCP)
200 Fifth Ave.		|	bu-cs      /
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