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Same strokes on trackpad achieves different results

P

Politis

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 10, 2010
125
0
The trackpad behaves differently according to the search engine I use.
With Firefox, a three finger swipe up or down the trackpad takes me directly to the top or the bottom of the page. But the same gesture does not work with Safari or Google Chrome; in fact, nothing happens there.

Is there a way I can use the same gestures on the trackpad and achieve the same effects across all applications?
 
I use Multiclutch to set global gestures and specific ones for FireFox.

For example, in FireFox I have pinch open tabs, rotate left/right go between open tabs, and 3-finger swipes go back and forth.

It won't work with Safari, though, unless you run Safari in 32-bit mode.
 
Politis said:
The trackpad behaves differently according to the search engine I use.
With Firefox, a three finger swipe up or down the trackpad takes me directly to the top or the bottom of the page. But the same gesture does not work with Safari or Google Chrome; in fact, nothing happens there.

Is there a way I can use the same gestures on the trackpad and achieve the same effects across all applications?
Click to expand...

That reason alone is almost enough for me to not use Chrome.

But I like it better than FF so I use it :)
 
BetterTouchTool is headed to the trash

elpmas said:
try bettertouchtool :]
works great....!
Click to expand...

Fubar1977 said:
Yep, it`s safe.
Plenty of MR members seem to swear by it.
Click to expand...

I'm swearing AT BetterTouchTool and am about out of patience with so-called "support."

Based on MR posts raving about BTT, I got it for the purpose of freezing desktop icons so they'd stop resizing if my fingers came anywhere near what's considered a "pinch out." In spite of setting things up to ignore all pinch in/out gestures in Finder, the icons still explode to huge proportions. Ran a screen shot of my settings past BTT but all I got back was "it works for me" (aka: So long, see ya). :confused:

Obviously, there's something wrong if the correct settings don't function properly, but without a little conversation, I'm stuck. Andreas hasn't responded since the "works for me" email, in spite of a couple "Please advise" requests, so...... Count me among the unimpressed.

(I need pinch in/out to work in other programs, so turning it off in Sys Prefs isn't an option. If anyone has a suggestion about what the heck is going wrong with BTT for me, I'm all ears and deeply grateful for the shared wisdom.)
 
PaperQueen said:
I'm swearing AT BetterTouchTool and am about out of patience with so-called "support."

Based on MR posts raving about BTT, I got it for the purpose of freezing desktop icons so they'd stop resizing if my fingers came anywhere near what's considered a "pinch out." In spite of setting things up to ignore all pinch in/out gestures in Finder, the icons still explode to huge proportions. Ran a screen shot of my settings past BTT but all I got back was "it works for me" (aka: So long, see ya). :confused:

Obviously, there's something wrong if the correct settings don't function properly, but without a little conversation, I'm stuck. Andreas hasn't responded since the "works for me" email, in spite of a couple "Please advise" requests, so...... Count me among the unimpressed.

(I need pinch in/out to work in other programs, so turning it off in Sys Prefs isn't an option. If anyone has a suggestion about what the heck is going wrong with BTT for me, I'm all ears and deeply grateful for the shared wisdom.)
Click to expand...

Why dont you turn it off in System Preferences and turn it on per program you need it in by using BTT...
 
PaperQueen said:
I'm swearing AT BetterTouchTool and am about out of patience with so-called "support."

Based on MR posts raving about BTT, I got it for the purpose of freezing desktop icons so they'd stop resizing if my fingers came anywhere near what's considered a "pinch out." In spite of setting things up to ignore all pinch in/out gestures in Finder, the icons still explode to huge proportions. Ran a screen shot of my settings past BTT but all I got back was "it works for me" (aka: So long, see ya). :confused:

Obviously, there's something wrong if the correct settings don't function properly, but without a little conversation, I'm stuck. Andreas hasn't responded since the "works for me" email, in spite of a couple "Please advise" requests, so...... Count me among the unimpressed.

(I need pinch in/out to work in other programs, so turning it off in Sys Prefs isn't an option. If anyone has a suggestion about what the heck is going wrong with BTT for me, I'm all ears and deeply grateful for the shared wisdom.)
Click to expand...

I see what you mean with, sensitive touch pad + pinch out = huge icons. I must admit, my fingers dont seem to make those slip ups. But is the BTT otherwise ok with you?
 
I'm very new to Mac. I got my MBP two weeks ago and have been around these forums ever since and BTT is one of the greatest things I've ever used. 3 fingers to scroll up and down. 4 fingers up and down to access expose and 4 fingers left and right to switch between tabs. The one I use most, though, is a 3 finger click to open a link in a new tab. Its completely customizable.
 
tjb1 said:
Why dont you turn it off in System Preferences and turn it on per program you need it in by using BTT...
Click to expand...

I use pinch in/out in virtually every program all day long. The only time it would be off is when I'm away from my desk. ;)

Politis said:
I see what you mean with, sensitive touch pad + pinch out = huge icons. I must admit, my fingers dont seem to make those slip ups. But is the BTT otherwise ok with you?
Click to expand...

Crazy thing is that I'm not in Finder when this happens 2/3 of the time. It's as if the pinch open gesture in an active window "bleeds through" to Finder to echo the gesture. I don't see the huge icons until closing the program windows (or on the periphery, should there be a sliver of desktop visible at the edge of the monitor).

As for whether or not I like BTT otherwise....? No clue. The only thing I got it for was to rectify this crazy desktop icon problem.

As an update:

Spent about 15 minutes on the phone with two AppleCare techs, both of which tried to tell me that while I was typing in one program I must have accidentally clicked on Finder, which brought it to the forefront, then I pinched out, then the icons blew up, then I clicked on the program window again and did all this so fast I didn't see Finder become the active program.

Seriously? :confused:

They also tried to tell me no one has ever complained of this before (again, insisting it's user error), to which I responded that they may want to peruse the Apple Support forum since there are others there (and here) with the same issue.

Finally asked the second guy what would happen if we simply trashed the Finder .plist and rebooted (a suggestion made by another AppleCare tech, according to a poster in their Support forum). Gave that a shot, and will see how it plays out over the next couple of days. Fingers crossed.

First time I've been frustrated by Apple Support. Weird experience.
 
PaperQueen said:
I use pinch in/out in virtually every program all day long. The only time it would be off is when I'm away from my desk. ;)



Crazy thing is that I'm not in Finder when this happens 2/3 of the time. It's as if the pinch open gesture in an active window "bleeds through" to Finder to echo the gesture. I don't see the huge icons until closing the program windows (or on the periphery, should there be a sliver of desktop visible at the edge of the monitor).

As for whether or not I like BTT otherwise....? No clue. The only thing I got it for was to rectify this crazy desktop icon problem.

As an update:

Spent about 15 minutes on the phone with two AppleCare techs, both of which tried to tell me that while I was typing in one program I must have accidentally clicked on Finder, which brought it to the forefront, then I pinched out, then the icons blew up, then I clicked on the program window again and did all this so fast I didn't see Finder become the active program.

Seriously? :confused:

They also tried to tell me no one has ever complained of this before (again, insisting it's user error), to which I responded that they may want to peruse the Apple Support forum since there are others there (and here) with the same issue.

Finally asked the second guy what would happen if we simply trashed the Finder .plist and rebooted (a suggestion made by another AppleCare tech, according to a poster in their Support forum). Gave that a shot, and will see how it plays out over the next couple of days. Fingers crossed.

First time I've been frustrated by Apple Support. Weird experience.
Click to expand...

Its funny, I complain about having to move my fingers perfectly straight up and down to get the pinch to work...I can never get it to work when I want to use it :p
 
PaperQueen said:
I use pinch in/out in virtually every program all day long. The only time it would be off is when I'm away from my desk. ;)



Crazy thing is that I'm not in Finder when this happens 2/3 of the time. It's as if the pinch open gesture in an active window "bleeds through" to Finder to echo the gesture. I don't see the huge icons until closing the program windows (or on the periphery, should there be a sliver of desktop visible at the edge of the monitor).
Click to expand...

Well, if it 'bleeds through' what's happening is weird. Film it and email it to the tech guys?
 
As a follow up to my earlier post:

PaperQueen said:
As for whether or not I like BTT otherwise....? No clue. The only thing I got it for was to rectify this crazy desktop icon problem.
Click to expand...

I officially don't like BTT. To see if the problem was limited to Finder, I set it up to ignore pinch in/out in OpenOffice, but the same thing happens--the page explodes to huge proportions if I inadvertently brush the trackpad. :(

After posting here, I finally heard back from the developer (ironic). Says he's too busy to get to this now, but will look at it later. The downside to a software program being developed by someone who's still in school, I guess....

Also:
Trashing the .plist didn't work. Desktop icons still explode in Finder. Leaves a pretty cruddy choice: Turn pinch off entirely in Sys Prefs (ie, losing a feature I live by in apps all day long) -or- leave it on and have to rebuild my blasted desktop repeatedly each day.

Not much of a selection, hmm?
 
Last edited:
PaperQueen said:
As a follow up to my earlier post:



I officially don't like BTT. To see if the problem was limited to Finder, I set it up to ignore pinch in/out in OpenOffice, but the same thing happens--the page explodes to huge proportions if I inadvertently brush the trackpad. :(

After posting here, I finally heard back from the developer (ironic). Says he's too busy to get to this now, but will look at it later. The downside to a software program being developed by someone who's still in school, I guess....

Also:
Trashing the .plist didn't work. Desktop icons still explode in Finder. Leaves a pretty cruddy choice: Turn pinch off entirely in Sys Prefs (ie, losing a feature I live by in apps all day long) -or- leave it on and have to rebuild my blasted desktop repeatedly each day.
Not much of a selection, hmm?
Click to expand...

Some guy at school with no time to answer?!?. :eek: That does it. I am not getting BTT. Thanks
 
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