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Mind that you're replying to someone talking about using a mouse, and you're talking about using a trackpad. Different input modalities deserve different affor

Mind that you're replying to someone talking about using a mouse, and you're talking about using a trackpad. Different input modalities deserve different affordances.

maccard 6y ago
They aboslutely do. I've never really thought about it but this is obviously why a Mac trackpad feels smooth as butter but even booting into windows on the same hardware makes it feel awful.
Someone 6y ago
I think that applies to mice, too. The ‘natural’ range of mouse motion is larger than for a trackpad, but not that much larger. The width of a typical mouse pad is about 8-10 inch, so if you use one, the range of motion is a bit smaller. Apple’s Magic Trackpad is over 6 inch, the latest MacBooks have a trackpad of over 5 inch.
- barrkel 6y ago
  Mice don't have boundaries, trackpads do. The most awkward thing on a trackpad is initiating a drag and hitting an edge. I think mousepads are mostly an artifact of pre optical & laser mice, if someone uses one today it's either because they have a glass desktop or they want wrist support.
  - clarry 6y ago
    > if someone uses one today it's either because they have a glass desktop or they want wrist support. Or they just want a good surface where the mouse glides smoothly, without any rubbing or scraping or pits that affect tracking.. I've never had a desk that felt good without a pad. I imagine glass would be smooth as long as it's clean.
  - Someone 6y ago
    Your desk may have plenty of space, but arms do have boundaries. If you have to move your mouse a foot to move the mouse pointer to its destination, you’ll lift the mouse halfway through that motion, and if, on modern displays, you don’t have to move a foot, pointing at specific pixels becomes hard for lots of people. Even the original Mac, with its 512 pixel screen width, had a setting that enabled mouse acceleration (fairly rudimentary. It doubled distance travelled when the sum of horizontal and vertical displacement exceeded 6 pixels). I think the discussion is more about tuning the acceleration curve than about whether to have one or not, for both mice and trackpads. There probably isn’t a single answer that suits everybody, either.

Mind that you're replying to someone talking about using a mouse, and you're talking about using a trackpad. Different input modalities deserve different affordances.

maccard 6y ago

They aboslutely do. I've never really thought about it but this is obviously why a Mac trackpad feels smooth as butter but even booting into windows on the same hardware makes it feel awful.

Someone 6y ago

I think that applies to mice, too. The ‘natural’ range of mouse motion is larger than for a trackpad, but not that much larger. The width of a typical mouse pad is about 8-10 inch, so if you use one, the range of motion is a bit smaller. Apple’s Magic Trackpad is over 6 inch, the latest MacBooks have a trackpad of over 5 inch.

barrkel 6y ago
Mice don't have boundaries, trackpads do. The most awkward thing on a trackpad is initiating a drag and hitting an edge. I think mousepads are mostly an artifact of pre optical & laser mice, if someone uses one today it's either because they have a glass desktop or they want wrist support.
- clarry 6y ago
  > if someone uses one today it's either because they have a glass desktop or they want wrist support. Or they just want a good surface where the mouse glides smoothly, without any rubbing or scraping or pits that affect tracking.. I've never had a desk that felt good without a pad. I imagine glass would be smooth as long as it's clean.
- Someone 6y ago
  Your desk may have plenty of space, but arms do have boundaries. If you have to move your mouse a foot to move the mouse pointer to its destination, you’ll lift the mouse halfway through that motion, and if, on modern displays, you don’t have to move a foot, pointing at specific pixels becomes hard for lots of people. Even the original Mac, with its 512 pixel screen width, had a setting that enabled mouse acceleration (fairly rudimentary. It doubled distance travelled when the sum of horizontal and vertical displacement exceeded 6 pixels). I think the discussion is more about tuning the acceleration curve than about whether to have one or not, for both mice and trackpads. There probably isn’t a single answer that suits everybody, either.