Cool! Mighty Mouse zooming

Somehow I never realized you could hold Control and zoom the whole screen with the Mighty Mouse ball. Cool!

There's no good reason Apple couldn't let ALL mouse wheels do that, and I'm not a fan of how Mighty Mouse handles right-clicks. I'm also disappointed that it will not register a squeeze DURING a drag (which would be nice for Exposé or UT rocket firing). But this animated OpenGL full-screen zoom is too cool I'm always using the zoom keys for that anyway, but the ball is easier. And unlike the keys, it doesn't require Universal Access Zoom to be turned on.

With smoothing turned off, this makes pixel-precise work really easy in any app. It's just so easy to zip in for a close look and then zip back out.

I really like that ball. And the mouse's shape, too. Hopefully I can get used to the right-clicking, or I'll be stuck with my big ol' shoe-shaped Intellimouse

 

I mean that it won't sense a right-click unless you lift your finger up away from the left side. A habit some people have and don't even know it--and so it's fine.

But I do NOT lift my left finger into the air by habit. So unless I can learn the habit, right-clicks will be unreliable for me.

Re Camino: this isn't an app-specific thing, it zooms the entire Mac display as a whole (just like what you can do in Universal Acess prefs).

 

Here's where it is in Preferences (at the bottom):

 

That's weird, but it explains why I never noticed the feature before

What OS X version do you have? I saw this on a 24" iMac at a store--maybe the iMacs have a slightly newer version of the OS?

 

That must be it. It wasn't MY Mac, but it was a wired MM on a 24" iMac.

Maybe, then, ALL scroll wheels will gain this same option, via a future update. It's really pretty slick.

(And I can imagine, when OS X is red-independent, that there might even be an option to zoom AND remain sharp when possible.)

BTW, the screenshot I posted is simply from Apple's own page:
http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/software.html

PS, pet peeve: come on, Apple, stop using those cryptic symbols for Ctrl and Option!! I know what they mean, but most people don't: those symbols are not on the keyboard!

 

I think I like it best without smoothing--text is jagged, but sharp and readable, and pixel-perfect Photoshop work is easer that way.

I like the default cursor behavior, but the option for "only when pointer touches edge" would be better for quickly enlarging small Web videos, like the ABC shows. You can zoom to taste, nudge the screen centering just how you want it, then move the cursor out of the center so you can see.

I'll use my (future) iMac more from the sofa thanks to this

 

Interesting.

MY Intellimouse does NOT show that under 10.4.7 (PowerBook--my new iMac has not yet arrived).

But I'm glad Apple didn't totally limit it to their own scroll-wheel.

That did NOT work on the 24" in the store: the squeeze was ignored while dragging, BUT if I let go of the drag while still squeezing, the squeeze would suddenly register. This was a wired MM, and it DID have the zooming ability.

Squeeze during drag would certainly be nice for Exposé--I wonder why it works for some and not others?

There definitely seem to be different versions of MM software floating around!