Cool! Mighty Mouse zooming

[nagromme]

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

 

[heehee]

Cool, I'll try that.

What do you mean by getting used to right clicking?

 

[PlaceofDis]

works with my MX 1000, in Camino at least so far...

 

[nagromme]

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).

 

[nagromme]

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

 

[Chundles]

That preference isn't there for my wired Mighty Mouse - I bought it the first week it came out, is yours the wireless one?

 

[nomad01]

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

Hmmm... I'm curious. I have a Mighty Mouse but my preferences screen is different. I don't have the zoom option and only have tick boxes for Vertical and Horizontal scrolling.

 

[Xeem]

I just wish that my iBook's scrolling trackpad could zoom, too.

 

[MisterEd]

heyyy where's mine?

 

[nagromme]

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?

 

[Chundles]

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?

I'm positive the 24" iMacs have a newer build of 10.4.7 but if indeed you're using a wired Mighty Mouse and have the zooming preference it bodes well for the addition into 10.4.8 of newer MM drivers for all of us.

 

[NextTuesday]

I think its a new version of the software, can you download the software from Apple?

 

[nagromme]

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!

 

[CoMpX]

Awesome! Thanks for the great tip. This is fun.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Maybe this is why? There is no wired update!

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/wirelesskeyboardmousefirmwareupdate.html

Just clutching at straws mind

 

[foxbatkllr]

That is a sweet tip!!!! Thanks!!! I'm having fun just playing around with this.

 

[nagromme]

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

 

[LastLine]

Well the option's there for my wireless MM on my Macbook - can't figure out how it works exactly...but it's there.

 

[discounteggroll]

I know for a fact that the wired mac pro's and imacs in the store im at have all the functions (squeeze, zoom, etc). you do need tiger in order to utilize all the advantages

 

[phuong]

in case you didint know, you can zoom webpages as well.
hold down the Cmd key and scroll the scroll wheel, texts in webpages will zoom in and zoom out.
this is different from Cmd-+ and Cmd-- because it's only temporarily and locally in the active tab. using Cmd-+/- will affect other tabs (if you had any) as well.

 

[Laslo Panaflex]

Works with my Microsoft Intellimouse. Here is what the preference pane looks like:

 

[steve_hill4]

Drag and squeeze works fine for me actually.

Anyway, that updated MM preferences is only available on the disc that came with the BT version, (possibly in the wired versions too, since they changed the packaging at the same time as the BT version was released), and installed on new Macs.

I could upload the disc image, but not sure on the size to be honest.

 

[nagromme]

Works with my Microsoft Intellimouse. Here is what the preference pane looks like:

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.

Drag and squeeze works fine for me actually.

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!

 

[steve_hill4]

I know for a fact that the wired mac pro's and imacs in the store im at have all the functions (squeeze, zoom, etc). you do need tiger in order to utilize all the advantages

Unless you are referring to the one button mice too, 10.4.2 was the requirement for even the earliest MM if I recall, if you wanted more than a 2-button, vertical scrolling mouse that is.