One button mouse versus two button mouse

[pcpacker]

I did a search and didn't get many good answers.

I am used to a two button mouse with my PC. I have an ImacG5 on order and am wondering how many of you prefer to use the standard one button mouse that comes with it. I use the right click features of windows quite often. Am I stupid to only use a single button with this new OS (that I know nothing about).

 

[Sun Baked]

Try the USB mouse from your PC.

Of course I prefer playing with a ball instead of rodents.

 

[Blue Velvet]

I prefer one button mouse. Using left-hand for keyboard shortcuts.

I get more RSI-type strain with two button mouse.

But it's a personal thing.
Find that I don't use the mouse as often as my colleagues generally.

 

[aus_dave]

Try the one button mouse and control clicking for a while, and see what you think of it. I used it for a short time but I need quicker access to application options for objects (e.g. with InDesign) which right clicking provides.

With browsers you can also click on the scroll wheel to open new tabs, which is a very useful feature.

 

[JFreak]

i also prefer one-button mouse.

we use windows at work and i use macs at home, and i have to constantly use both mice types. here's what i have found:

1) with one-button mouse, you think more. you intuitionally know that the mouse is for clicking and the function you're looking for in the software can be used with a click. if you're looking for a context menu, you know you have to press control button before you click, so you do. one keypress, one click, problem solved. with two-button mouse, you get confused even if you don't admit it to yourself. when you're looking for that context menu, you sub-consciously first press the primary button and then the secondary button, and while it gets the job done, it's awful that the mouse actually prevents you from thinking what you do. even if you don't admit it. with a two-button mouse, you click more and think less. with a one-button mouse, you click less and think more.

this is not a theory. it is an observation. in my office we work as teams, one team in a big room. when you stop working for a while and get a cup of coffee, sit back and listen, you hear constant clicking but when you look at the co-workers' displays, almost nothing gets done. clikety-clickety-clickety-clik... it's just mad. when i visit my friend's advertising agency where they only use macs, i can see things being done and they click a lot less. why? because the one-button mouse makes them think about what they're doing.

2) with one-button mouse, the software developer has to think more. every function of the program has to be usable with a single-button mouse, as that is what apple ships with its products by default. you cannot hide functionality anywhere, it has to be easily accessible. contextual menus are for special occasions and not a holy grail of a nice-looking interface as it is in windows world. this fact makes better software for us users. this is something nobody can deny.

3) slightly off-topic, but let's think about the scroll wheel which is quite a standard nowadays with the two-button mice. who was the moron who first implemented this piece of crap? i admit, it's sometimes useful, but again: within the two-button mouse (which makes the user think less) it's a disaster. when you think less and less, you will also think less about the scroll wheel use. i can often see that someone is scrolling through a very long document with a scroll wheel - not only that makes an awful noise, but it will also destroy the user's wrist. why on earth don't the users think about when it's good to use the scroll wheel (going down a screenful of text) and when it's not? the answer is that the two-button mouse has already dumbened the user NOT TO THINK about how the mouse should be used as a tool, and that dumbened user cannot see anymore that one could grab the scrollbar and drag it down in a second; instead of the good solution, one just keeps scrolling down little by little with the scrollwheel, not minding if it takes a minute instead of a second. it takes a doctor (and several weeks sick leave) to get the user convinced that one has bad mouse habits.

here are my findings about the mouse. i really sincerely think one-button mouse is a blessing

 

[munkle]

i also prefer one-button mouse.

we use windows at work and i use macs at home, and i have to constantly use both mice types. here's what i have found:

here are my findings about the mouse. i really sincerely think one-button mouse is a blessing

I have to agree with JFeak here. I was always against the idea of a one button mouse for anybody bar the complete novice but after using the one shipped with my iMac for a couple of days I have newfound appreciation. I thought I'd miss the second button or at the very least the scroll but I really haven't.

I would say to explore a new OS a one button mouse would be the better option because, like JFreak mentioned, it makes you think more about what you're doing. Just give it a go for a couple of days, if you dont' like it, no biggie, you can just plug in a two buttoned USB mouse and it'll start working off the bat.

 

[acceber]

I was Windows user until recently, and I love my little Samsung two-button mouse with scroll wheel. I can use a tracakpad fine on my iBook and just use the ctrl button for right clicking but with an actual mouse, I don't think I could ever use the one-button version that Apple offers.

 

[JFreak]

the one-button version that Apple offers.

the one-button version is actually not a version but a perfect implementation of the patent of "the mouse". multi-button mice are the "versions" and the one-button mouse is "the one".

 

[Cuckoo]

Although this starts to look like a 'mee too' thred.

I've used windows from 1.0 up..... <yes yes, on an XT-9Mhz>

Had multiple buttons all over the place, up to the MS-zillion-button-scroll-wonder.

Last fall i bought a powerbook. With a BT mouse afterwards, and i can't say anything else than, i don't miss the zilion buttons, and i really don't miss the scroll unit....

At work im still scrolling away like crazy, still right clicking like my life depended on it... but at home.... it suits my needs fine

to edit a quote by Bill Gates:

"One button should be enough for everybody"

Cuckoo

 

[deral]

I love that I can comfortably click using my middle finger or even pinky with the Apple Pro Mouse instead of mostly using your index finger as you would with a two button mouse. Saves my energy for my index finger to be used for better things---like picking my nose.

 

[jsalzer]

It saved my finger

JFreak did an excellent job of explaining the benefits of a one-button mouse. The signal of a good GUI is to make the mouse an extension of your hand (although I know two-button users hate when I say that.) Think of it this way - if you were using a touch-sensitive screen (and no mouse), would you want to think about which finger you're pressing the screen with? A developer of a touch-screen app would never include such a feature, as it requires the user to stop thinking about the task at hand and to start thinking about the computer. It's not necessarily "think more" as it is keeping your thoughts on your project and not on your computer.

All of that aside, I also use the one-button mouse on my Gateway at work. Why? If you spend all day at the computer in mouse-intensive applications, the joints on your pointer finger don't stand a chance. Apple's solutions (minus the hockey puck of the original iMacs) allow you to distribute the strain among three fingers or your entire wrist.

Give it a few weeks. Your joints (and your projects) will thank you for the conversion.

 

[edesignuk]

Personally I hate the Apple Pro mouse, I find it very uncomfortable, and 1 button is a joke.

MX1000 all the way baby

 

[iGav]

Wacom all the way... (and you get a free multi button mouse as well) pen is better than ANY mouse!

 

[callmesideburns]

With my left hand always at the keyboard due to the significant amount of hotkeys that I use in Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign, I don't miss the second button whatsoever. I even find myself trying to use the control key on my pc at home. Regarding the scroll wheel, I dont even use it at home anymore. I'm so used to just grabbing the scrollbar I actually find it easier than using the wheel.

 

[pcpacker]

This has been very helpful.

So, is there ever a time with OSX when a control click doesn't do the same thing as a right click?

 

[munkle]

This has been very helpful.

So, is there ever a time with OSX when a control click doesn't do the same thing as a right click?

They're exactly the same action so you'd always get the same contextual menu pop up.

 

[callmesideburns]

The only time I could theortically see the control-click to come into a problem would when you have to combine both a control hotkey with a control + click selection but I have never come across something like this in the 5 years of working on macs.

 

[Joeytpg]

i'm really used to 2 button/scroll wheel mouse for all the years being a PC user. but i have to admit i LOVE the Apple mouse, the feel the looks it's amazing.....i still don't owe one but i'll buy one.

i have a Logitech MX510 mouse and i'll use it when i'm home with my powerbook since it's a little bit big, and i'll get the apple mouse to use it while i'm out traveling since it's smaller, and way more cool so people that see it can drool!

 

[russed]

i would use the 1 button mouse as it rocks basically like all the people above have siad then if you lack a wheel get the griffin powermate. it is really useful in itunes etc and looks really funky!

 

[Mechcozmo]

Personally I hate the Apple Pro mouse, I find it very uncomfortable, and 1 button is a joke.

MX1000 all the way baby

I have found that I prefer working normally with a one button mouse, but for video editing and photoshop work I like 2 buttons. IMO.

 

[broken_keyboard]

I heard that when MS copied Mac originally, they added a second button so it wouldn't seem like an exact copy. So it was more of a legal move than a design decision.

 

[raynegus]

Another thing you could try is turn on smart scrolling (under Appearance in system preferences) and just use the space bar to scroll down. Works great in Safari.

 

[Joeytpg]

i also prefer one-button mouse.

we use windows at work and i use macs at home, and i have to constantly use both mice types. here's what i have found:

1) with one-button mouse, you think more. you intuitionally know that the mouse is for clicking and the function you're looking for in the software can be used with a click. if you're looking for a context menu, you know you have to press control button before you click, so you do. one keypress, one click, problem solved. with two-button mouse, you get confused even if you don't admit it to yourself. when you're looking for that context menu, you sub-consciously first press the primary button and then the secondary button, and while it gets the job done, it's awful that the mouse actually prevents you from thinking what you do. even if you don't admit it. with a two-button mouse, you click more and think less. with a one-button mouse, you click less and think more.

this is not a theory. it is an observation. in my office we work as teams, one team in a big room. when you stop working for a while and get a cup of coffee, sit back and listen, you hear constant clicking but when you look at the co-workers' displays, almost nothing gets done. clikety-clickety-clickety-clik... it's just mad. when i visit my friend's advertising agency where they only use macs, i can see things being done and they click a lot less. why? because the one-button mouse makes them think about what they're doing.

2) with one-button mouse, the software developer has to think more. every function of the program has to be usable with a single-button mouse, as that is what apple ships with its products by default. you cannot hide functionality anywhere, it has to be easily accessible. contextual menus are for special occasions and not a holy grail of a nice-looking interface as it is in windows world. this fact makes better software for us users. this is something nobody can deny.

3) slightly off-topic, but let's think about the scroll wheel which is quite a standard nowadays with the two-button mice. who was the moron who first implemented this piece of crap? i admit, it's sometimes useful, but again: within the two-button mouse (which makes the user think less) it's a disaster. when you think less and less, you will also think less about the scroll wheel use. i can often see that someone is scrolling through a very long document with a scroll wheel - not only that makes an awful noise, but it will also destroy the user's wrist. why on earth don't the users think about when it's good to use the scroll wheel (going down a screenful of text) and when it's not? the answer is that the two-button mouse has already dumbened the user NOT TO THINK about how the mouse should be used as a tool, and that dumbened user cannot see anymore that one could grab the scrollbar and drag it down in a second; instead of the good solution, one just keeps scrolling down little by little with the scrollwheel, not minding if it takes a minute instead of a second. it takes a doctor (and several weeks sick leave) to get the user convinced that one has bad mouse habits.

here are my findings about the mouse. i really sincerely think one-button mouse is a blessing

Jesus man...i mean c'mon!!..i really respect your opinion but seriously, you're full of it......... everybody MUST agree that being able to use a second mouse RIGHT there next to your left button is waaaay better than using the other arm to pres CTRL.....and HOW come can you even dare to say that having ONE button makes you think more.........JESUS ..dude it's a MECHANICAL THING, you might have trouble getting use to a two button mouse after using a single button mouse for a long time but after a little while you'll do it as mechanical as a one button mouse!

sorry if i ofended you, but really that comment is REALLY dumb..........it's just a TASTE thing...some like one, some like two, but either way is a MECHANICAL thing!........and don't give me that about scroll wheel hurting your wrist......DAMN.....well i'm gonna shut up now cuz i really don't want to hurt your feelings or ofend you.

 

[callmesideburns]

Jesus man...i mean c'mon!!..i really respect your opinion but seriously, you're full of it......... everybody MUST agree that being able to use a second mouse RIGHT there next to your left button is waaaay better than using the other arm to pres CTRL.....

Negative. When I'm constantly using my hotkeys during work it's much much easier to just press the control key since it's always in use. I would understand if the key used to function as the right click was F1 etc....

 

[superninjagoat]

Justification, justification ...

Sometimes I think that if Steve said "Monitors suck. We should all have Etch-A-Sketches instead," that many in the Mac community would not only believe it, but try to convert others that it's the next big thing.

That said, I grew up with macs and their one-button approach. I never missed the second button. After some budgetary restrictions persuaded me to buy a WinTel box a few years back (so ashamed ... ), I not only fell in love with the two button mouse, but its scroll wheel as well. The two-botton, scroll-wheel macally mouse I'm using now works fine, but I'll admit it doesn't have the same weight and fell or the esthetics of the stock mouse.

To each his own.