Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:14214 comp.windows.misc:346 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!steinmetz!vdsvax!barnett From: barnett@vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com (Bruce G. Barnett) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.windows.misc Subject: Re: 1 vs 3 button mice issue Message-ID: <4101@vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com> Date: 20 Mar 88 12:49:04 GMT References: <4129@hoptoad.uucp> <283@rhesus.primate.wisc.edu> <1710@ssc-vax.UUCP> <14485@oddjob.UChicago.EDU> <1759@ssc-vax.UUCP> <10008@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> <445@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> Reply-To: barnett@steinmetz.ge.com (Bruce G. Barnett) Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY Lines: 76 Keywords: humor In article <445@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> gae@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu.UUCP (Gerald Edgar) writes: | |A three-button mouse allows 8 combinations. If you add double and triple |clicks, how many is that? | |I can imagine the manuals... | |"While holding down the middle button, double-click the left button and |simultaneously triple-click the right button ... " No you can't. In most cases the manuals for the basic tools only describe the way to bind the complex actions to your own functions. When you can combine 1 of n mouse buttons control/shift/meta modifiers double/triple clicks mouse chords (pressing 2 of 3, or 3 of 3) you end up with so much flexibility that you in reality use modifiers to have GENERAL meanings like: shift - changes direction of function control - modifies function - may dramaticly change interface double-click - select word instead of letter triple-click - select sentance or line instead of letter. pressing three mouse buttons - on-line help manual, exit, etc. and so on. It is a lot easier to remember the modifiers because there are patterns involved. And because of the number of modifiers that are available - it is easier to group together modifiers because you have so many combinations, you can afford to NOT USE many of the combinations. To continue the example, in SunView - the middle mouse button moves a window. Adding the Control-key modifier changes the function to resize. The left mouse button brings the window to the front. The shift- modifier reversing the direction so the window goes to the bottom. In scroll-bars, the shift-modifier reverses the direction of the scrolling. Most tools don't use many complex modifiers. Complex modifiers are not needed because you HAVE so many combinations. One exception is the interface to Emacs. Since emacs is so flexible, the user interface to emacs should also be flexible. So if the user WANTS to bind a (double click the left and middle button while holding down the meta key) sequence to an operation, it is because the user finds some convenient way to remember the sequence or because all of the other combinations are already used. I have a chart I use for the Emacstool/GNUemacs bindings. To be honest, I don't know anyone whom uses more than a hundred different mouse/keyboard combinations from memory. But then I haven't asked around :-) Remember, these modifiers should be _optional_ in a friendly window system. The basic interface should work without double-clicking, function keys, chords, etc. These modifiers should be easy to learn because of some mnemonics like the ones I mentioned above. I like SunView myself - having used it for years. It should be more customizable, which is one reason I am looking forward to NeWS. One other point I would like to make about SunView and three-button mice: Any mouse/keypad accelerator that has a dramatic effect usually has a warning if the results cannot be undone, giving the user a change to change his/her mind. This is very important and encourges people to experiment, because if there are wrong, the wrong action can be undone. -- Bruce G. Barnett uunet!steinmetz!barnett