3 ms·

Apple is so good at making buttons, it’s almost enough to make one wish they made button-laden devices. Oh come on...Pro mouse, Mighty Mouse, Magic Mouse, curr

by blehn 16y ago

Apple is so good at making buttons, it’s almost enough to make one wish they made button-laden devices. Oh come on...Pro mouse, Mighty Mouse, Magic Mouse, current and previous gen macbook trackpad buttons, the previous gen desktop keyboards, iPod click-wheels, Apple Remote...these are some of the worst buttons I've used. Apple has made some decent buttons (I think the current and previous gen MBP keyboards are well made), but they're way too inconsistent to make a claim like that.

spicyj 16y ago
What's wrong with the current trackpad?
- blehn 16y ago
  - incredibly noisy - requires too much force to depress - the travel distance is too far - the hinged design means that the necessary pressure varies at different locations I've noticed there is a bit of variation between machines, but most seem to exhibit these behaviors in my experience
  - jacobolus 16y ago
    It is designed to be used by touch by people used to Apple trackpads. If you keep your thumb on the bottom part of the trackpad and use that part as if it were a button, it works pretty much identically to prior models. But then, it has an additional big advantage that when when you want to use that bottom part for gestures, you can. I think it requires the perfect amount of force to depress – I don’t press it accidentally, but it presses easily when I want it to – and just the right travel distance. The noise is a nice confirmation that I just pressed it (then again, I use a Model M when possible so YMMV). It’s a matter of personal preference, but I would be surprised if most people share your opinions about it.
squidsoup 16y ago
I'd agree with your assessment of the past Apple mouse lineup (undeniably shocking), but the Magic Mouse gets a lot of things right. I find myself wishing I had a multitouch surface at my work PC instead of the somewhat clunky but serviceable MS mouse.
- generalk 16y ago
  For me, the Magic Mouse gets one thing horribly wrong: ergonomics. I use a computer at least eight hours of the working day, and potentially much more than that. If I can't be comfortable using a device, it doesn't matter how awesome it is, I can't use it.
cmelbye 16y ago
The current Macbook Pro trackpad button is a dream to use, they've found the perfect amount of pressure required to click in my opinion.
- blehn 16y ago
  It's definitely a subjective thing, but I think it just sucks. I set my machine to "tap-to-click" within a few minutes.
  - blasdel 16y ago
    You and your cohorts will be among the first put up against the wall when the HCI revolution comes, especially the assholes that baked that behavior into the device firmware of some trackpads, forcing you to twiddle bits in the driver to ignore the taps (like on the OLPC XO-1). "tap-to-click" is an abomination I wish to abolish from the face of the earth. I find it incredibly frustrating myself, but the older folks I know that already have problems with instinctively double-clicking everything are debilitated by it.
    - blehn 16y ago
      I'm not saying tap-to-click is the optimal paradigm, only that I had to employ it as a means of avoiding the shoddy trackpad button.
    - lovskogen 16y ago
      How can you mean that? Tapping is a much more lighter way of interacting with the touch pad. Way more elegant than a click with force.
  - madh 16y ago
    I find that two finger and three finger (and even four finger) gestures are pretty awesome.
brianwillis 16y ago
Is is truly surprising how the company that took the mouse mainstream now can't make one that's simultaneously aesthetically pleasing and a joy to use.
- thwarted 16y ago
  I can't use the Magic Mouse because it doesn't fit my human-sized man-hand: it has no palm support. And this strikes me as odd because how it looks should be extremely secondary: the only way to effectively use a mouse is to look at the screen not at the mouse, and even if you were to look at it, your hand is covering it up. For those reasons, I find it neither aesthetically pleasing nor a joy to use. It's unfortunate that aesthetics have been merely associated with how something looks when it's just sitting there and doesn't take into account a pragmatic, active angle (not saying that that's how you associate aesthetics, brianwillis).
  - blasdel 16y ago
    It has no palm support because you're not supposed to put your palm on it -- it's meant to be held by the thumb and pinkie at the sides (like the pilloried hockey-puck mouse). If it was shaped to rest your palm on it, you wouldn't be able to use any of the multitouch features without fully removing your hand first.
    - thwarted 16y ago
      And I think that may be part of the problem: I didn't find that to be a comfortable position to use the mouse even for short periods of time, having to hold my fingers and palm up and not having a resting, but still moving the mouse, position. I found it extremely hard to get fine control of positioning while clicking, I'd always end up moving the mouse slightly while clicking (incidentally, I have similar issues with the touchpad on the MacBook Pro).
      - dmnd 16y ago
        Lots of people do use a mouse like this, however: http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/html/advantages.php http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/html/advantages.php
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

by blehn 16y ago

spicyj 16y ago

What's wrong with the current trackpad?

blehn 16y ago
- incredibly noisy - requires too much force to depress - the travel distance is too far - the hinged design means that the necessary pressure varies at different locations I've noticed there is a bit of variation between machines, but most seem to exhibit these behaviors in my experience
- jacobolus 16y ago
  It is designed to be used by touch by people used to Apple trackpads. If you keep your thumb on the bottom part of the trackpad and use that part as if it were a button, it works pretty much identically to prior models. But then, it has an additional big advantage that when when you want to use that bottom part for gestures, you can. I think it requires the perfect amount of force to depress – I don’t press it accidentally, but it presses easily when I want it to – and just the right travel distance. The noise is a nice confirmation that I just pressed it (then again, I use a Model M when possible so YMMV). It’s a matter of personal preference, but I would be surprised if most people share your opinions about it.

squidsoup 16y ago

I'd agree with your assessment of the past Apple mouse lineup (undeniably shocking), but the Magic Mouse gets a lot of things right. I find myself wishing I had a multitouch surface at my work PC instead of the somewhat clunky but serviceable MS mouse.

generalk 16y ago
For me, the Magic Mouse gets one thing horribly wrong: ergonomics. I use a computer at least eight hours of the working day, and potentially much more than that. If I can't be comfortable using a device, it doesn't matter how awesome it is, I can't use it.

cmelbye 16y ago

The current Macbook Pro trackpad button is a dream to use, they've found the perfect amount of pressure required to click in my opinion.

blehn 16y ago
It's definitely a subjective thing, but I think it just sucks. I set my machine to "tap-to-click" within a few minutes.
- blasdel 16y ago
  You and your cohorts will be among the first put up against the wall when the HCI revolution comes, especially the assholes that baked that behavior into the device firmware of some trackpads, forcing you to twiddle bits in the driver to ignore the taps (like on the OLPC XO-1). "tap-to-click" is an abomination I wish to abolish from the face of the earth. I find it incredibly frustrating myself, but the older folks I know that already have problems with instinctively double-clicking everything are debilitated by it.
  - blehn 16y ago
    I'm not saying tap-to-click is the optimal paradigm, only that I had to employ it as a means of avoiding the shoddy trackpad button.
  - lovskogen 16y ago
    How can you mean that? Tapping is a much more lighter way of interacting with the touch pad. Way more elegant than a click with force.
- madh 16y ago
  I find that two finger and three finger (and even four finger) gestures are pretty awesome.

brianwillis 16y ago

Is is truly surprising how the company that took the mouse mainstream now can't make one that's simultaneously aesthetically pleasing and a joy to use.

thwarted 16y ago
I can't use the Magic Mouse because it doesn't fit my human-sized man-hand: it has no palm support. And this strikes me as odd because how it looks should be extremely secondary: the only way to effectively use a mouse is to look at the screen not at the mouse, and even if you were to look at it, your hand is covering it up. For those reasons, I find it neither aesthetically pleasing nor a joy to use. It's unfortunate that aesthetics have been merely associated with how something looks when it's just sitting there and doesn't take into account a pragmatic, active angle (not saying that that's how you associate aesthetics, brianwillis).
- blasdel 16y ago
  It has no palm support because you're not supposed to put your palm on it -- it's meant to be held by the thumb and pinkie at the sides (like the pilloried hockey-puck mouse). If it was shaped to rest your palm on it, you wouldn't be able to use any of the multitouch features without fully removing your hand first.
  - thwarted 16y ago
    And I think that may be part of the problem: I didn't find that to be a comfortable position to use the mouse even for short periods of time, having to hold my fingers and palm up and not having a resting, but still moving the mouse, position. I found it extremely hard to get fine control of positioning while clicking, I'd always end up moving the mouse slightly while clicking (incidentally, I have similar issues with the touchpad on the MacBook Pro).
    - dmnd 16y ago
      Lots of people do use a mouse like this, however: http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/html/advantages.php http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/html/advantages.php

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]