Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!gdr!exspes
From: exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Multi-button mice (Re: Xerox sues Apple!)
Message-ID: <1989Dec20.094624.21053@gdt.bath.ac.uk>
Date: 20 Dec 89 09:46:24 GMT
References: <172@comcon.UUCP> <7326@ficc.uu.net> <9320@hoptoad.uucp> <1989Dec18.081450.28019@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu> <7339@ficc.uu.net> <296@fwi.uva.nl>
Reply-To: exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol c/o University of Bath
Lines: 34

In article <296@fwi.uva.nl> freek@fwi.uva.nl (Freek Wiedijk) writes:
>>> The problem with multi-button mice is confusion of buttons.
>
>The problem is *not* mouse specific.  Notice the following "confusions"
>I'm always fighting against:
>
>	Delete <-> Backspace

Another of my least-favourite problems is that a fair number of our
users seem intuitively to expect the 'move cursor left' key to erase
things as well.  (After all, on a typical screen terminal the line you
finally get on the screen 'looks' like what you want to send.)

Far as multi-button mice go, I'm against more than 2 buttons.  Reason
is that I find it difficult to keep my fingers on the buttons if there
are three (or more) and so on a 3-button mouse I have to keep looking
to see which buttons my fingers are on.  On a 1- or 2-button mouse I
can keep my eye on the screen, which feels more comfortable (and more
like what I thought the idea was supposed to be.)  Even on a 2-button
mouse I much prefer my index finger to be the more active one.

Thumb buttons would (it would seem) have to be on the side of the mouse
and so pressing them would seem likely to shift the mouse, unless they
are really light-touch, which has problems of its own.  (Besides, my
thumb doesn't go that fast.)

More buttons on things like graphics pucks is OK, as when you are
tracing something with a puck, you are probably watching the puck
anyway so keeping an eye on where your fingers are isn't as much of a
problem.

-- 
Paul Smee, Univ of Bristol Comp Centre, Bristol BS8 1TW, Tel +44 272 303132
 Smee@bristol.ac.uk  :-)  (..!uunet!ukc!gdr.bath.ac.uk!exspes if you MUST)