4 ms·

There's an app for the 2 software issues. Trackpads are OK, but I like my vertical mouse and touch-screens for Windows.

Zarel 12y ago
There is? I've looked everywhere for an international keyboard that doesn't replace how the apostrophe key works in Windows but I've never been able to find it. I also don't think there's an app to make every textbox behave in a standard way in Windows or Linux. If only it were that easy. The trackpad is sadly only nice in OS X; the Windows drivers are mediocre and nothing special. Still, though, I think it speaks volumes that Windows users want to use mice all the time while Mac trackpads are so nice that there was enough demand for Apple to release one for their desktops.
- ddingus 12y ago
  The apple trackpad rules. I find it's amazingly productive. No Windows trackpad has even come close. There is a nice parallel here. Take advanced Mechanical CAD applications. Pro Engineer, Solidworks, Siemens NX, etc... Back in the 90's, there was a lot of basic UX work being done on view manipulation. It's a hard problem in some respects. Modes, focus, picks, and a complicated thing to spin around and get into. A company called SDRC spent a bunch of money on UX research. They ended up using a few of the function keys to trigger view manipulation. And it worked no matter what mode, pick, dialog, or anything else was going on. Most importantly, it only required mouse movement. No holding one button down while moving the thing. No finger fatigue after a lot of view manipulation. Other companies didn't do this work, and their view commands were modal, or required complex mouse button hold + move operations. A little company making 3D input devices grew a nice, profitable business out of poor UX design. Funny, their sales to SDRC people were nothing compared to the sales for most Mechanical CAD programs... So, getting back to that track pad on Apple and UX in general. The Apple OS + track pad has it down cold. It's functional in nearly every use case, and it's low fatigue, and it's fairly discoverable as well as usable. In Windows land, we get better mice to improve on poor UX. We get touch screens to improve on poor UX. And we get other things to improve on poor things... People may not agree with all of what Apple sees as a value add. Totally get that. I personally won't touch the closed down iPad and iPhone. They aren't useful to me. But, the UX on those is very solid. I do the vast majority of my writing, coding and other non Windows specific work on a Mac Pro, and it's because that UX is there, and I don't need anything but the machine and a nice place to work. When I go to power up on my Windows machine, out comes the mouse, and the utilities, and, and, and... Not the same experience at all. All that said, touch on the Surface does provide some options, but I personally don't find extending my hand any where near optimal compared to a quick gesture on the trackpad that is always right there, and that always does the same thing for the same gestures...
- m_t 12y ago
  I use the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator[1]. This way, I can start from the current layout associated with my keyboard, and add the key I need. This way, It does not changes anything that I'm used to. It only adds new things. This might be what you're looking for? [1] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx
- TwoBit 12y ago
  Every single Windows trackpad is shit, and the common feature of most of them is Synaptics. Windows laptop makers could probably get near double digit market percentage increases from fixing their shitty track pad situation alone. Android and Microsoft phones and tablets' touch sensitivity is great, so it's not some secret of Apple's.
- WorldWideWayne 12y ago
  Yes, AutoHotKey can easily take care of the issue with accent keys and with the Emacs shortcuts you want to implement. A search for `autohotkey accent characters` shows many people using it for this purpose. You can implement all kinds of keyboard shortcuts with AutoHotKey. On the topic of trackpads - maybe you could help me understand - when you use the keyboard and trackpad that's built-into the laptop, is it because you're forced to (in a plane) or because you prefer it? I imagine all Mac users who say they can't ever leave the Apple trackpad are environmentally limited to using whatever is built-in to the laptop. In other words - when I work, I prefer 2 or 3 monitors that are situated about 2 feet from my face and a full size keyboard with numpad (Microsoft Natural). So, I just could never see myself reaching all the way over to the laptop that is driving all of this in order to use a touch pad. But even so, I find all touch pads including Apple's to be imprecise compared to my 5 button vertical mouse. I also have auto-scrolling on Windows which OS X doesn't really do (this is where you push the middle mouse button down and then as you move the entire mouse, things scroll, until you release the button). I tried using an Apple wireless trackpad (magic trackpad?). Maybe you use one of those with your work setup?

Zarel 12y ago

There is? I've looked everywhere for an international keyboard that doesn't replace how the apostrophe key works in Windows but I've never been able to find it. I also don't think there's an app to make every textbox behave in a standard way in Windows or Linux. If only it were that easy. The trackpad is sadly only nice in OS X; the Windows drivers are mediocre and nothing special. Still, though, I think it speaks volumes that Windows users want to use mice all the time while Mac trackpads are so nice that there was enough demand for Apple to release one for their desktops.

ddingus 12y ago
The apple trackpad rules. I find it's amazingly productive. No Windows trackpad has even come close. There is a nice parallel here. Take advanced Mechanical CAD applications. Pro Engineer, Solidworks, Siemens NX, etc... Back in the 90's, there was a lot of basic UX work being done on view manipulation. It's a hard problem in some respects. Modes, focus, picks, and a complicated thing to spin around and get into. A company called SDRC spent a bunch of money on UX research. They ended up using a few of the function keys to trigger view manipulation. And it worked no matter what mode, pick, dialog, or anything else was going on. Most importantly, it only required mouse movement. No holding one button down while moving the thing. No finger fatigue after a lot of view manipulation. Other companies didn't do this work, and their view commands were modal, or required complex mouse button hold + move operations. A little company making 3D input devices grew a nice, profitable business out of poor UX design. Funny, their sales to SDRC people were nothing compared to the sales for most Mechanical CAD programs... So, getting back to that track pad on Apple and UX in general. The Apple OS + track pad has it down cold. It's functional in nearly every use case, and it's low fatigue, and it's fairly discoverable as well as usable. In Windows land, we get better mice to improve on poor UX. We get touch screens to improve on poor UX. And we get other things to improve on poor things... People may not agree with all of what Apple sees as a value add. Totally get that. I personally won't touch the closed down iPad and iPhone. They aren't useful to me. But, the UX on those is very solid. I do the vast majority of my writing, coding and other non Windows specific work on a Mac Pro, and it's because that UX is there, and I don't need anything but the machine and a nice place to work. When I go to power up on my Windows machine, out comes the mouse, and the utilities, and, and, and... Not the same experience at all. All that said, touch on the Surface does provide some options, but I personally don't find extending my hand any where near optimal compared to a quick gesture on the trackpad that is always right there, and that always does the same thing for the same gestures...
m_t 12y ago
I use the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator[1]. This way, I can start from the current layout associated with my keyboard, and add the key I need. This way, It does not changes anything that I'm used to. It only adds new things. This might be what you're looking for? [1] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx
TwoBit 12y ago
Every single Windows trackpad is shit, and the common feature of most of them is Synaptics. Windows laptop makers could probably get near double digit market percentage increases from fixing their shitty track pad situation alone. Android and Microsoft phones and tablets' touch sensitivity is great, so it's not some secret of Apple's.
WorldWideWayne 12y ago
Yes, AutoHotKey can easily take care of the issue with accent keys and with the Emacs shortcuts you want to implement. A search for `autohotkey accent characters` shows many people using it for this purpose. You can implement all kinds of keyboard shortcuts with AutoHotKey. On the topic of trackpads - maybe you could help me understand - when you use the keyboard and trackpad that's built-into the laptop, is it because you're forced to (in a plane) or because you prefer it? I imagine all Mac users who say they can't ever leave the Apple trackpad are environmentally limited to using whatever is built-in to the laptop. In other words - when I work, I prefer 2 or 3 monitors that are situated about 2 feet from my face and a full size keyboard with numpad (Microsoft Natural). So, I just could never see myself reaching all the way over to the laptop that is driving all of this in order to use a touch pad. But even so, I find all touch pads including Apple's to be imprecise compared to my 5 button vertical mouse. I also have auto-scrolling on Windows which OS X doesn't really do (this is where you push the middle mouse button down and then as you move the entire mouse, things scroll, until you release the button). I tried using an Apple wireless trackpad (magic trackpad?). Maybe you use one of those with your work setup?