No right mouse button... how do I go Back in my browser?

Obviously the macs have no right mouse button and no matter how much reasonable people might cry that's not going to change... but... the single click approach to bringing up the context menu is ridiculously slow... how can I reduce the amount of time it takes for the context menu to appear from (what feels like) one second to say 200ms?

Browsing the web is painfully slow with the current built-in context menu delay... I'm not one of those people that seems like they're financing their 2nd mortgage at the ATM, in other words I'm comfortable with technology and want it to respond immediately to my intentions (that's why a right mouse button is great, no questions about what you're trying to do).

Ugh... and I know I won't get happy replies from the Mac fanatics... but two finger scrolling, especially without a pressure sensitive touchpad sucks...

So, is there a hidden/not hidden preference to change the context menu appearance delay?

Are there any "aftermarket" modifications to replace the trackpad in the Macbooks with something better???

 

CMD+Left Arrow = Back page
CMD+Right Arrow = Forward page

As a new macbook owner I agree the lack of 2button trackpad is a pain (especially for switchers). But the twofinger trackpad is a nice compensation. And I'm learning commands are pretty cool if you take the time to unlearn years of windows training. Theres a heck of a lot of things to learn on this thing.

Heres my favorite ones:

CMD+TwoFinger up/down = Increase text size

CTRL+TwoFinger up/down = Zoom whole screen

CTRL+Tab = Goes through open tabs

CMD+Tab = Switch through open apps

CTRL+CMD+D = Looks up word under mouse in dictionary (cool! but no firefox)

CTRL+Eject = Shortcut to reboot/shutdown/logoff


There's really a ton of good stuff to stumble over. But unfortunately the biggest problem I've had is MOVING files. Why the heck cant you just right-click+cut/paste? Instead youre stuck springloading through layers of folders or making duplicates that you need to delete later. Its nuts.

 

Buy a 2 button mouse, plug it in and your problem is solved.

 

Well I'm assuming your using one of the Apple notebooks so do this..

Go to System Preferences.
click keyboard and mouse.
select the trackpad tab
see that check box that says "tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click"....well check that and then your done.

Now you get instant contextual menu when you tap the trackpad with both fingers. Kinda takes a little bit of practice, but I'm pro at it now. lol

 

Really doesn't seem like there should be a delay anyway. I'm currently using an old slow G4 Cube with 768 megs of memory, and even with that, when i right-click in firefox the contextual menu comes up immediately.

I'm still not sure why you are experiencing a 1 second delay though with the control-click method (i assume that's what you were currently using). When I control-left click it comes up immediately as well (and again, this is on a painfully outdated G4 Cube).

 

Sorry, point was NO KEYBOARD... I'm talking the equivalent of one handed operation... I know that I can hit Ctrl or (funny thing shaped like prince symbol that you can't type) + click to achieve the same effect... but what I'm talking about is the single button mouse operation where if you hold the button down the context menu appears... I want to decrease the delay for that appearing...

Also, in response to someone else who said two finger tap... have you honestly tried that??? The touchpad is so imprecise that both scrolling (which I have turned on) and context menus appear seemingly randomly if you're dragging a SINGLE finger across the trackpad... very very imprecise features...

It's funny how somebody at Apple must have agreed that scrolling and right clicking were important... and then they implemented it half *ssed via mouse gestures instead of just putting another button for the mouse... I mean, a laptop already has about 100 buttons on it... what's one more? How's that honestly going to affect usability unless you're a complete moron?

Cliff.

 

Interesting observation.

Ivan

 

Well, in response...

My Macbook works perfectly fine, no lags or problems with it at all. If your trackpad is acting weird and random go and call up Apple for an answer.

 

No lags? So, if you're on a web page... and ONLY using your mouse... you want to go back a page... how do you do it? The only way I've found is to hold the mouse button down... and wait, and wait (ok, we're talking a second here, but I do a lot of clicking and it adds up) and then the context menu appears...

Are you telling me that the context menu appears instantly when you click the mouse button... if so, how is that distinguished from a single click, again, using only the mouse, no keyboard involvement?

Cliff.

 

2 finger clicking is faster than reaching my thumb to a second button IMO.

 

And, what happend to the idea of a "pressure sensitive touchpad"... I mean, if you're at the edge of the touchpad but not at the edge of the screen (and that's the direction you're going) you have to lift your finger off the pad and sweep your finger across the touchpad again and again to move across the screen... on most non-Mac notebooks you just press harder and the harder you press the faster the cursor will move across the screen, and the mouse will keep moving once you're at the edge...

The *non-Mac* approach seems the most intuitive in this case, ie, use a pressure sensitive touchpad.

Cliff

P.S. I'm not bashing Macs, I really want to like them for other obvious benefits about the OS... I even have a Macbook which I'll be upgrading to a Pro shortly but some things I find completely incorrect from a user interface design perspective...

Oh well, as soon as I get OSX running on my HP laptop I'll be a happy camper... just kidding ;-)

 

Come to think of it... I'll bet most people (myself included) that lament the fact there isn't a right mouse button, dedicated scroll area, etc. are probably touch typists... and the people that don't mind the finger gestures are hunt-n-peckers... since the people that are happy with the finger gestures aren't proficient at the keyboard anyway they don't recognize the drain on efficiency that comes with using mouse gestures instead of just having another dedicated button that you wouldn't have to take your eyes off the screen to hit anyway...

 

I actually think he has a defective trackpad here, because everything he was talking about works just fine on my MacBook, there isn't any randomness or anything.

Just call up Apple and get it over with, it'll take like 5-10 minutes

 

Sorry, but that assessment is waaay off. You paint it like using two fingers requires actually looking at the trackpad for some reason and thats nonsense. Preference towards finger gestures are nothing more than that. Preference. It has nothing to do with typing ability or anything.

Anyway, considering how many issues you seem to be having with your macbook then maybe you shouldnt upgrade and just stick PC. I like my mac just fine but i dont believe in the idea that everyone should use one or the other. Its all about what works best for you and obviously the quirks on mac are enough to prove that you may have made the wrong choice.

(Oh, and two-button tap works instantaneous on mine so you may have a bum computer if you're getting lag. Get it looked at.)

 

I'm actually a touch typist, and don't particularly mind the lack of dedicated right mouse button on Apple laptops. When using a Mac desktop though, I always use a mouse with a right button.

I actually really like the two-finger scrolling, and sort of prefer it to things like dedicated "scroll areas"; my Toshiba laptop had a synaptics touchpad with a scroll area on the side, and I never really did get used to liking having to switch to scroll with that, and I found it to be less precise than the two-finger scrolling I get with the Mac touchpad.

-Zadillo

 

Two finger scrolling is sweet on my MacBook, if I have a document/picture thats large and cause scroll bars to appear both horizontally and vertically, it's basically all smooth and precise 360 scrolling.

The MacBook trackpad issue isn't exactly new either, every once in a while a notebook gets a bad one, and from what your saying it sounds like that.

 

I gotta be honest, 2-finger scrolling is A LOT better than a scroll area, and I venture to say that 2-finger clicking is better than a right button on your trackpad. I think either you have a bad computer or you do not adjust well to new things.

 

Yeah, sounds like you have a bad one. I'd get it replaced.
I'm not sure what point you're really trying to make about the trackpad. I'm a pure typist. I'd probably hardly use the trackpad at all if OS X supported using the keyboard to navigate the GUI as well as windows or linux.
But yeah, you can't really asy that people who use touchpad "gestures" aren't good typers. Thats a complete falacy (sp?).
I hated not having a 2nd mouse button. I thought it was stupid. Then I found the two finger right click. <3 <3 <3 Yeash... I love it! It works fantastically.

I'm also not sure what you're trying to say about trackpad acceleration. I can go all the way across the screen in one swipe. Sounds like you need to change the settings (or again, your pad is bad).

I go back and forward on webpages the same way I do in windows, the apple+forward/back key. You'll find many shortcuts to be similar to windows or at least make sense.

Personally, I'm thankful that they kept those awful dedicated scroll areas off the trackpad. They're a waste of space. 2 finger scrolling is so much more effective way of scrolling a document.

 

Putting all his complaints makes it really weird as to what he really wants. Everything he says is just so contradictory because he complains that he wants to be able to make it across the screen with one finger swipe. That argument benefits from the lack of scroll areas because the trackpad itself is HUGE and with no scroll area i can make it clear across the sceen from the 3/4" mark.

Its just such a weird list of complaints. He wants no keyboard shortcuts yet we windows folks are pros at keyboard shortcuts. He wants to rightclick and even though he probably has a drawer full of pc mice he's using a single-button and complaining it doesnt work right? I feel bad for the guy if he's legit because he's invested alot of money into a machine that he's choosing to dislike.

 

Yup, my guess is it's just a bad trackpad. Theres no reason it should have a delay coming up with context menu. It should be instant, like mine and everyone elses.

On a funny note, someone in the lab was making fun of my MBP and it's single button. I then started using the two finger double click, and his jaw literally dropped. He was completely amazed that I could double click so effortlessly on the thing.
He'll learn the shortcuts soon enough. It'll take time, I've gotten pretty good. I even have my iTunes forward and reverse set to apple-f11 and apple-f12

Speaking of which, there should be a sticky on here of apple key shortcuts, and how to make your own. Then again, a lot of them are easily viewable in the keyboard settings.

**edit**

BTW, I think the MBP has the best keyboard ever. I just love typing on it. LUUUUUV IT!

 

The only conclusion I can draw is that I have a defective touchpad... I'll check it out at the Apple store and see what the deal is... already switched out the previous MacBook because of a bad screen.

Thanks for the input (no pun intended)

Cliff.