Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!rlh2
From: rlh2@ukc.ac.uk (R.L.Hesketh)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Multi-button mice (Re: Xerox sues Apple!)
Message-ID: <3520@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>
Date: 19 Dec 89 10:03:33 GMT
References: <172@comcon.UUCP> <7326@ficc.uu.net> <9320@hoptoad.uucp> <1989Dec18.081450.28019@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu> <2253@dataio.Data-IO.COM> <32329@news.Think.COM>
Reply-To: rlh2@ukc.ac.uk (R.L.Hesketh)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
Lines: 42
Summary:
Expires:
Sender:
Followup-To:

In article <32329@news.Think.COM> barmar@Think.COM writes:
>In article <2253@dataio.Data-IO.COM> aez@dataio.Data-IO.COM () writes:
>>In article <1989Dec18.081450.28019@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu> flee@shire.cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee) writes:
>>>A partial fix is to use visual cues.  Label the buttons on the screen
>>I worked on a project between MIT and Harris-ATD that tried this. It
>>was called Schema (no not the PC-based schematic editor) and we were
>>building CAE applications for the Symbolics Computer.
>
>Just thought I'd point out that the "mouse documentation line" on the
>screen is a standard feature of MIT-derived Lisp Machines (including those
>from Symbolics), not something that was invented for this project.  Three
>years ago Symbolics spruced up the Lisp Machine UIMS, adding the ability to
>use chord keys with mouse buttons, and that's when they added the feature
>where the documentation line changes depending on which shift keys are
>being pressed (they added a second line that lists which shift keys may be
>used with the mouse in its present context).

Here at Kent University, most of the software tools that were developed for
a range of workstations use a "mouse hole" which is a small window containing
three rectangles that represent the three mouse buttons.  These rectangles
are labelled with the functions of the buttons depending on which
window/interaction object the pointer is currently in.  This is a very
general visual cue and the labels change when the mouse is moved to a
new window or the mode (!) changes.  The mouse hole is normally situated in
the top right hand corner of the main application window, (which I read
somewhere are being an area that the eye is more sensitive to visual change???)
The mouse button rectangle changes colour to indicate the button is currently
being pressed.  No indication of chord key sequences are given .. however
none of our tools use chords, in fact most of them use the left mouse
button of a three button mouse for most of the functions.  Has anybody
done any surveys on the use of mult-button mice by applications?

I personally don't like multi-click mice as my finger click speed depends on
how tired or angry I feel 8-).

>Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp.

Richard Hesketh   :   rlh2@ukc.ac.uk    ..!mcvax!ukc!rlh2
		  :   @nsfnet-relay.ac.uk:rlh2@ukc.ac.uk
---                                               
Computing Lab., University of Kent at Canterbury,
Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, United Kingdom.    Tel: +44 227 764000 ext 3682/7620