It was thus said that the Great Richard Erlacher once stated: First off, a Mac mouse has one button. That is a conscience design choice made by Apple. No confusing the user with this ``left button/right button'' choice---there's just ``the button'' on the mouse. Simply saying ``use the left mouse button'' may cause confusion because not everyone is right handed. On a right-handed mouse (or a mouse to the right side of the user) the left-button is used as the primary button, which is also under the index finger of the user. The right-button will be under the middle finger (or ring finger for three-button mice). But move a multi-button mouse to the left side for a left handed user [1] and now the left-button is under the middle finger (or ring finger if a three button mouse) and the right-button is now under the index finger. The index finger is usually the choice for a primary button so now you may have inconvienced the user (to use a less dexterous digit to manipulate the primary button on the mouse) or the documentation may now be incorrect for that user (the mouse buttons have been swapped so that the primary mouse button is the right one, but the documentation still says ``left-button''). Apple sidestepped that by using a single mouse button. Another point: there are five spots on the screen that are easily pointed to by the mouse: the point right under the cursor (which is the fastest to reach as you are already there) and the corners (try it---it's easy to hit the corners---harder to hit an arbitary spot). That's the reason why the menu bar on the Mac is at the top of the screen, instead of the top of the window---the top of the screen is ``infinite'' in height so to reach the menu, you move the mouse up and you are in the menu bar. Then it's a matter of navigating left or right, which is easier since you now don't have to worry about up and down as well [2]. Using the menu bar on Windows is harder because of this navigation and slows users down. The Mac is also very consistent and you can use it without having to double click anything (although that may slow down a knowledgeable user). All you need to know really is that you can click (or highlight) something on the screen, and using one of the menu options, do an action with what you have selected. Menu placement is standard (as mentioned above) and the options under each menu item is also standard (to a degree, the further to the right you go, the more variance you may experience). Click on the right most menu element will give you a list of currently active applications, which you can choose to switch between. Once you get used to one application, the rest have a similar structure, and nearly everything about the Mac is consistent, at least in my limited experience. Apple really has spent a lot of money working on user interface issues with the Mac, and it shows. -spc (Who has very little Mac experience, but has done his reading ... ) [1] I'm left handed, although I'm used to using the mouse in my right hand. I have a friend that is also left handed and he uses the mouse left handed, but has never bothered to switch the buttons in software. He is also a Mac fanatic, but he also can program and use Unix (and in fact, prefers to use Unix at the command line exclusively). [2] Microsoft blew it with their Start button, as it *isn't* in the lower left hand corner. It's *very* close, but you still have to navigate the mouse properly or it won't activate when you hit the ... left button (or is that the command button?).

It was thus said that the Great Richard Erlacher once stated: Less frustration on the user, and more consistency. Of course ... Yes, but had you kept on reading: I don't know about you, but using the index finger to hit the button is ... oh ... I don't know ... *easier*? More inuitive? than using the middle or even index finger. Tell you what, swap the buttons in software but keep using the mouse on the side you normally keep it on. Then come back and tell me how much easier the mouse is to use. Possibly; I don't use a Mac enough to learn the equivilent keys, and even Microsoft has stop labeling their keyboard shortcuts so while I know that Alt-F4 closes the current window (and Ctrl-F4 will close a window-within-a-window, so much for consistency) I don't know the keyboard shortcut for minimizing or maximizing a window so even if Microsoft does allow keyboard shortcuts for those operations, they don't help me. And I doubt you can move the mouse cursor with the keyboard (which is something the Amiga could do, as well as activate the mouse buttons via the keyboard). That's good. Me, I miss it abourt a quarter of the time (and while I like the start bar to be hidden from view, it tends to pop up way too quickly for my tastes, especially if I'm trying to do something near the bottom of the screen. Granted, I can move the start bar to another edge, I'm used to it being on the bottom, and I just wish it would pause maybe half a second before popping up).

On Tuesday, May 7, 2002, at 02:35 AM, Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote: Yes, if you install the Accessibility Options in Windows, there is the MouseKeys function, which allows you to control the mouse with the numeric keypad... I'm the useless knowledge fountain today, aren't I? ;P -- --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818 Mac OS X 10.1 - Darwin Kernel Version 5 Running since 01/22/2002 without a crash

I was always impressed by the fact that the Mac style guide was part of the original loose-leaf Lisa/Mac documentation in the early 80's, whereas Microsoft didn't see fit to publish theirs until 1995. It was a pretty clear indication of priorities, I think. Jim