Larger monitor and a small desk

[Howard Brazee]

I have a new problem. Neither my wife nor I have figured out how to comfortably drag stuff from one end of our large iMac to the other without dropping what we're dragging.

We can change the mouse resolution before doing such a drag, or clear up a large amount of desk space, but we want the normal resolution most of the time, and desk space keeps disappearing.

What do others do?

 

[AlexisV]

That's a new one. The width of my 20" iMac equates to exactly the width of my mouse pad, which is about 20cm.

I'd never drag in one go though if I needed to travel the full width of the screen. I tilt or lift my mouse so the optical light is off the mat, reverse back and then carry on dragging. It becomes second nature.

 

[mkrishnan]

Do you like acceleration? You can try using something like Steermouse to increase the acceleration. With some practice and an appropriate speed and acceleration profile, you really should be able to access the entire desktop of that computer with... at most 15cm x 15cm of mousepad space. I have a 17" iMac, but I really only need to move the mouse over an approximately 10cmx10cm space to access everything. Acceleration should eliminate the need to add more space, since you should be able to move all the way across the screen in just a few cm when you flick the mouse.

As mentioned above, the Apple mice are also designed so that you can pick them up without letting go of the mouse button, by holding the sides (erm, well, at least, they were before the Mighty Mouse... I'm not sure how it works).

 

[skwij]

I've never actually used a "real" mouse except for on friends/relatives machines, and that drove me nuts!

Lifelong trackball user here. The mouse never actually moves, so a small/cramped desk doesn't matter.

 

[emptyCup]

Apple's mouse tracking does accelerate: if you move it fast it will go farther. You shouldn't have to move more than your wrist. Otherwise, squeeze the sides of the mouse and lift and physically reposition the mouse. Best wishes.

 

[thedude110]

A lot of this seems to depend on what you're wanting to drag and why!

For simple tasks, don't forget the power of control clicking. This will let you send items directly to the trash or allow you to choose an application to open the file in question. You can also manipulate your files by dragging from within Finder (especially if you drag the Finder window halfway across your desktop).

If you're trying to drag items within a specific application, that's a tougher nut to crack. But if you can tell us exactly what you're doing (actions and application), maybe we can provide better support?

First time I've ever wondered if Macs are getting too big, though.

 

[mkrishnan]

Apple's mouse tracking does accelerate: if you move it fast it will go farther. You shouldn't have to move more than your wrist. Otherwise, squeeze the sides of the mouse and lift and physically reposition the mouse. Best wishes.

Sorry, what I meant is that steermouse can increase the gradient on the acceleration profile. Although, as I said, I can move across the 1400 pixels of my screen in about an inch at the top of Apple's default curve, so I'm not sure how necessary it is. I think it's more of a mouse skills issue. A lot of Windows users and some Unix users also, for instance, don't understand acceleration and hate it when they first encounter it, just because they happen to not have experienced it (even though it's been around for ages on both platforms). I am rather dependent on it!