“There are a lot of misconceptions about the Macintosh, but one misconception that has persisted is the myth that Mac’s are incapable of using multi-button mice. And those who know this myth is false still complain about Apple not shipping computers with two button mice. Gear Live cub reporter XIcarus wanted to share a bit of background on what many believe to be Apple’s stubborness to conform,” GearLive.com reads.
XIcarus writes, “Apple supports multi-button mice. Right out of the box. Furthermore, this is not a ‘new feature’ of OS X. Support for contextual menus (the primary use for the two button mouse) have been around since OS 8.6, which is now more than seven years old. Let me repeat, Apple supports multi-button mice. Even if you use a one button mouse, you can still access contextual menu through ‘control-clicking’ (Hold down the control key when you click the mouse button)… Although I can envision a day where Apple will ship with a two button mouse, they have really, really, really good reasons for sticking to a one button mouse.”
“Apple is always concerned with creating a user experience that is as intuitive as possible. Giving the average person a right mouse button is like giving a bald man a comb,” XIcarus writes. “Folks, those are the reasons Apple ships a one-button mouse. Will that change? At some point yeah. But Apple is in no hurry to ship something that they believe no one will use.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to our semiannual Apple one-button mouse article. It’s kind of ironic that when Windows users first see the currently-shipping Apple mouse, the number one question they ask is, “where are the buttons?” In effect, Apple’s one-button mouse has no buttons at all; the whole thing is a button. Of course, Apple may have solved the whole mouse button issue with their Mac mini – no mouse included, just pick your own. For the record, MDN’s favorite desktop mouse is currently a relatively inexpensive (US$39.99) Kensington StudioMouse with the multiple buttons (third button programmed for Exposé tiling (F9), of course) and a scroll wheel. The Apple mouse just can’t cut it. Mac OS X and at least a two-button mouse are a powerful combination.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Macworld Poll: 34 percent say Apple Mac one-button mouse a mistake – April 07, 2004
Why no Apple two-button mouse? – September 17, 2003
The time has come for Apple to ship a two-button scroll mouse standard – June 09, 2003
Should Apple reconsider the one-button mouse? – October 23, 2002
I used to think it was weird that Apple shipped mice with only one button, but after seeing people who are not very experienced at computers try to use a two button mouse, I think it’s the right thing to do.
Imagine if you have never used a computer before in your life and you sit down to a brand new Apple computer. What do you get? You get a nice big Dock showing all the programs you need to get started, and you get a mouse that only has one button, so there is absolutely no confusion over what button to click to activate those programs.
The power users are always the ones who will complain, but they are also the ones who will adapt (by plugging in a 7 button mouse). New, inexperienced users will typically do neither. If they are scared away initially, they may simply abandon the effort completely. That is why the one button mouse is so key. Computers should not be scary to novice users, and Apple knows this.
I have met few PC users who are ever satisfied with the mouse that comes with thier PC regardles of manufacturer. Most will buy an after market mouse or track ball that meets thier needs. So this insistant demand by PC users for for Apple computer to be the only computer maker to provide each idividual with a mouse of thier likeing is pointless and stupid.
If you dont like the mouse that comes with your computer (regardless if it’s Mac or an other brand), go out and buy one you like as you would with any other PC and leave the one button mouse alone as there are many of us who like its simplicity and dont mind useing it at all. Look at the one button mouse as simply haveing another option.
verve, I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I personally think the market for a one-button mouse in the Mac world is larger than you think. Neither one of us knows for sure.
Back to developers. Take a look at the new Pages application from Apple. I really like it and it may replace FrameMaker for some of what I do. If you insert a table and select anything in the table, you now have access to an entire array of commands in the Format > Table submenu. On the other hand, if you control-click (or right click) on a table element, you have access in a context menu to the same array of commands.
If two button mice were the norm on Macs, you MIGHT NOT have the commands in the Format menu, which is where one would logically look for them and which is always present (though dimmed if no table is selected) no matter what you have selected. What developer would waste time doing something twice (or once by creating an extra abstract table menu and invoking it twice)?
I found the table commands by browsing though the menus. I would not have found them so easily by “browsing” through context menus, since that task is pretty complex. That was good for me, making the program easier to use. Apple forced developers to do that for me. Apple also forced thinking developers to abstract away that menu making for simpler-to-read code even though the initial work was greater, making for better code. That’s what Michael was driving at.
Amazing how many PC THINKERS we have on the Mac Platform. Each and every one tries to justify WHY Apple should alter the game plan. Each and every one believes that we should accept inferior programming and offer the developers a way to shortcut the quality of their applications.
The name of the game is “ease of use” and that’s not to be taken as “ease of use for the average computer hack”, but rather “ease of use” for someone who doesn’t want to have to think about using a computer. It has to be natural and the simple execution of a one button mouse requires the programmer to THINK.
Those of you who insist on this change in AppleThink, just don’t understand the goals and objectives of the computer as an everyday appliance. The PC gurus in the world can make as many mice as they choose, and can make them as complicated as possible with all the buttons and work arounds that the user has to execute. BUT, look at a VCR from the 1970’s and compare it to what is shipping today… SIMPLICITY, and Apple has always been on the cutting edge of simplicity…..
Find something else to complain about, because this is nonsense, and there’s a whole bunch of 3rd Party Hardware companies who have already given you what you want…… Apple will continue to deliver simplistic computing for all!
Bob C – If only we lived in a world dominated by Apple thinking people. It would be a better place. We can agree on that. In the meantime, I’ll stick with my two button scrolling mouse for the best of both worlds–one mouse simplicity with the added bonus of a scroll wheel and second button options.
The Kahuna, I tried choosing mouse button 3 in the Exposé Pref Pane as mentioned by yomama but it didn’t work for me. What I did was disable F9 in the Exposé Pref Pane, set the Quick Switch Button in Logitech Control Center to keystroke F9 and then re-enable F9 in the Exposé Pref Pane.
I’ll stick with trackballs. I still hate to use a mouse, regardless of button numbers.
Wow! Talk about fierce controversy!
Here’s my discovery: SIDETRACK trackpad utility
http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/
(Only helpful for ibook and powerbook users)
BENEFITS:
1. Lowers sensitivity of trackpad so you avoid accidental jumping.
2. Can program to right-click with a tap or a corner-click.
3. Turns the side and bottom into a scroller.
4. Can program the corners to execute actions.
For $15, it’s great!
Otherwise, you’ll have to pry my two-button scrolling mouse out of my cold, dead fingers!
Paul
Hey paul!
thanks for the tip, maybe now I won’t have to carry around a two button mouse to supplement my one button PowerBook. Cool
I’m happy with the one button, control click is like using shift and there’s click and hold too. I understand and agree with Apple’s reasons for making the single button standard.
However I don’t see why Apple shouldn’t offer their own multi-button options if the marketing can be worked out OK, maybe confusing some customers is too difficult a hurdle to overcome. A one button mouse in the box and a discount voucher towards an upgrade maybe a solution.
It’s interesting that Microsoft has sold keyboards and mice for many years, I believe for purely marketing reasons. Getting customers to handle physical objects carrying your branding is good, especially when your product is software with no physical presence. I think Apple could do more to leverage this aspect of input devices.
Get a Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer mouse with 5 buttons. They’re great! Forward and backward buttons are good for navigating web site pages. Right button is good for double-click. And the scroll button is very helpful also for long web site pages, etc. Bought mine on ebay for half of the retail price. Been using a 5-button mouse for a long time and wouldn’t use anything else. They’re great! Can’t believe Apple still provides an old one button mouse after all these years. The one area they’re way behind in.
The one-button mouse is so outdated, it’s ridiculous. Apple has got to bite the bullet and give people credit they can handle more than one button. I miss my two-button mouse from my Windows days. Yeah, I could buy a two-button mouse from a 3rd party vendor, but it ain’t Apple. The one-button mouse and the very awkward way one has to locate files and applications via Finder/Hard drive on Macs (forget app folder on dock; it hesitates and forces to right side of dock) are 2 of Macs biggest drawbacks. Come on Apple. If you want Windows users to cross over, you have got to change a few more things!
One last argument for Apple’s duality.
The Mac has long been recognized as a newbie’s machine of choice. Indeed, many so-called pros scorn the Mac OS for being too simple (you can tell when they use phrases like the sarcastic “eye-candy” and “lack of choice”).
It’s clear today with Mac OS X (and BSD Unix) that a Mac can also be as complex as one wants. That was true in the past as well. Power users had plenty they could do with Macs, if they knew what was going on. Scripting is an excellent example.
Do we fault for Apple for providing the simplistic iPhoto for editing photos instead of the more advanced Photoshop? The Mac supports both (in hardware capability). Or AppleWorks instead of a MacWrite Pro/Resolve/MacDraw combination? Or iMovie instead of Final Cut Pro?Nope. iPhoto or AppleWorks can work for newbies. If your needs are more complex you can go out and buy your own more complex software. How would a newbie feel if he or she had to use Photoshop to get rid of red eye?
So the simple <-> complex paradigm we get for free in the OS we have to pay for in software. AND WE HAVE TO PAY FOR WITH MICE.
Does the graphics expert complain that she had to pay for iPhoto (its cost is in there somewhere, don’t kid yourselves), when the first thing she’ll do is install Photoshop? And if space is limited, don’t you think she’ll remove iPhoto? Isn’t Apple concerned about graphics professionals? Aren’t we (the graphics professionals) responsible for keeping the Mac alive? Isn’t Apple so backwards?
I hate to say it, but that’s a whine. And a wrap.
Guess what mouse they use in the genius bars of the Apple Stores (well, London at least)? Look here and find out! (Clue – it’s not an Apple single-button…)
<http://homepage.mac.com/edhone>
Just give me one button and a scroll wheel.
I have a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel, but it was one I picked. I think Apple has the right idea with the one-button mouse and developers should be better about designing interfaces that have the one-button mentality.
For professional programs like Photoshop and 3D, multi-button modes can be great time savers when done correctly. In those case though, users will have stron preferences as to what they use whether it be a tablet, or whatever, you can’t expect Apple to ship every possible input device, so they stick to what they want developers to consider in their designs.
I think every computer should come with a tablet, forget the scroll and the buttons. Just a simple pressure-sensitive pen.
and mind-control.
And rudder peddals.
yup, those old Model T Fords were nice and simple to use too.
If all you (way less than 1%) one button fanatics had your way we would still be winding a crank to start our cars, “’cause thats the way it used to be..we didn’t need no stinkin, complicated ignition switches…and complicated dashboard buttons everywhere”
I’m with feral – MacMice’s The Mouse and The Mouse BT are identical to Apple’s but with two buttons and a scroll wheel. Plus there’s a metallic-coloured one available for PowerBook users.
I understand why Apple insists on a one button mouse and generally agree with them. Simplicity is the goal.
The issue I have is that Apple continues to program apps with use control-click or right-click features. In Safari you can control-click to get a menu. Why make this available if you want to discourage its use?
Let’s put the A-Z and number keys on the mouse too and just eliminate the keyboard, for pete’s sake.
C’mon. Everybody must realise that a multi button mouse with scroll wheel is for when you are using the web for its Number 1 purpose.
Magic word is east as in ‘at l east I have one hand free’
btw I use a one button apple mouse
I have used the one button mouse and a two button mouse and I really have no great hurrahs to offer for the latter. I get by just fine with my Apple one button optical mouse and have no desire for an “upgrade” to a putatively superior two button mouse.
I suppose it’s a case where one person’s mouse is another person’s poison.
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Thank you for only doing this semi-annually, MDN. It’s way too much to type on a regular basis.
The answer is simple. One button mice work on a Mac because the interface is designed for one button mice. Two button mice work on Windows because the interface is designed for two button mice. This is one of the reasons that Mac users find Windows clunky–and vice versa.
One of the simplest rules of UI design is called “Fitts’ Law”. While there’s a mathematical formula involved, I’ll break it down to make it easy. Essentially, it states that big things are easier to hit than small things and that close things are easier to hit than far-away thing and that the closer something is, the less the size matters and the further away something is, the more the size matters.
If the screen measures 1024 x 768 and your mouse is at { 1024, 768 } and I ask you to move the mouse to { 512, 384 }, it’ll take you a little while to hit that dot. However, if I ask you to move the mouse into a 20 x 20 square centered around { 512, 384 }, you’ll have a much easier time doing that.
Pretty obvious, when you think about it. But what does all this have to do with Macs, Windows, and mice?
Well, consider the constraint of the screen. In our previous example, suppose I asked you to move the mouse from it’s position at { 1024, 768 } to { 0, 0 } — the top left corner. That’s a good distance, but you would move pretty fast. Why? Because you can’t overshoot–when the mouse hits the top of the screen, it stop moving vertically. Same with the horizontal. Thus, things along the top and sides of the screen are infinitely tall!
This makes the edges of the screen pretty valuable and easy to get to. And what does Mac OS put at the top of the screen? The menu bar, making it easy and quick to access menus. What does Windows put at the top of the screen? The Windows grab bar, which gets used infrequently. So to access a menu, Windows users have to hit a point about 15 pixels down from the top of the screen (as well as get the left to right correct).
So the solution, on Windows, is contextual menus. The menu comes down under the mouse, making it easier to get to than trying to hit that point 15 pixels down from the top of the screen.
This is why the interfaces feel so clumsy to “non-native” users. Mac users keep trying to go to the menu bar, which is difficult to hit. Windows users feel like they’re moving the mouse all over the place and accomplishing nothing. What makes it worse is that the different operating systems use different algorithms for computing mouse movement, so the mouse is never where you “expect” it to be anyway.
Fun test for you folks at home with mouse pads, a Mac, and a Windows PC: put the mouse at the bottom of the pad. As quick as you can, move the mouse to the top of the pad. Do the same thing at “normal speed”. Do the same thing as slow as you can. Switch machines and do the same tests. Notice how the mouse always ends up in a different location. Correlate this with how one platform feels clumsy.
So, a two-button mouse works great with Windows. A one-button mouse sucks with Windows. A two-button mouse is redundant on Macintosh. A one-button mouse works fine on Macintosh.
Magic word: “Later”
Post it
Nothing beats two hands on the keyboard and two-fingers on a prehensile tail on the mouse. Monkeys will eventually rule the world.
I was all for Apple converting to the two button scroll wheel type mouse, but after recently helping some novice users I really can see why having two buttons makes life more complex. Having first used windows back in the early ’90s, when only the left mouse button did anything anyway, I got used to that being the ‘primary’ button and the right button being ancillary. For many new users, this does not seem to be an obvious distinction, and so confusion reigns. I used to use a three button Logitch mouse which was brilliant, but then I got a wireless Apple mouse with my new iMac. I honestly don’t find this set up at all restrictive, and it does seem to make using the mouse less tiring from an RSI point of view.
So I have come full circle in my point of view: the one button mouse is best. Though I will agree with other readers here – why not replace ctrl-click with a long click in all situations, not just the dock?