Mouse buttons- one or two?

I prefer a two-button mouse, being as that was how i was brought up in the Windows world. However, I have no problem with one button, now that I've gotten used to it after switching from a desktop PC to an iBook with a one button trackpad. However, I think a lot of switchers won't feel that way, especially the more casual computer users, who may not want to cataral click for everything. I'll admit that it took me a while to figure out how to right-click on a Mac.[/i]

It's not so much a preference as it is a level of comfort I've developed with the use of only Apple mouses (mice, meece...). My keyboard is my second best friend. It's all about the KB shortcuts.

BUT... if Apple switches to a 2 button mouse, I'm kool with it 'cause I like their koolaid!

I love the preciseness of Apple's mice, but I could never use one. I've been using multi-button mice for many years and can't imagine switching back. Currently I have an 8-button wireless Logitech with a scroll-wheel and I actually use 5 of those buttons and the scroll wheel all the time.

When it comes to keyboards, Apple again wins on the "feel" of the KB. The keys snap and have just the right "touch" to them. But again, they fall flat on features. I have dozens of configurable keys on my wireless logitech for controlling iTunes, volume, CD eject, as well as launch keys for web, mail, chat, ftp and 5 or 6 more. Plus, there's a scroll wheel on the side of the keyboard as well. The extra keys are all clearly labeled, and most importantly to me, the keyboard is black & silver to match my G5.

I don't think I could ever go back to a one button mouse. I like to put my application folder in the dock and right click to "spring" it open. The fact that apple added a control-click menu in OS9 shows that they saw the need. I never understood why they didn't add the functinality to the hardware, after all if you only want one button you could only click the left one.

Hey Jim,

With all those extra mouse buttons & KB keys, you have to be pretty darned productive.

You deserve a raise!!! :D

Tell whomever I said so! :twisted:

My first experience with any mac desktop in the past has been to upack, plug in and fling the one button into a drawer. At the moment I sporadically use a bog standard intellimouse with the scroll wheel programmed for expose whenever it is pressed down.

I'm bewildered by people who always professed that 2 button made life more difficult for older users. You're saying that someone who has navigated life, probably raised a family and operated heavy machinery (car) would grind to a halt when told they have to use more than one finger with the computer.

That said you can get used to any method if you do it long enough. My last icon set was made almost entirely without the mouse, just ye olde trackpad. Hard to find a stable surface if you're sitting under a tree in a park :lol:

I think present apple mice are ugly. Not to look at, but to work with. It has been proved long time ago that acces to the extra menu throughout a mouse is faster that throughout a keyboard (by pressing a ctr). The differnece is not bit, but if you summarize. Anyone who works with graphics or even with 3D can not live with 1-button mouse.

Back to the apple mice. It is totally unergonomical. Looks like a soap and feels exactly the same. It is not a mouse for work, but a mouse for some occasional actions. I own one - Apple bluetooth - to work with my another iBook. I bought it only because I failed to find another bluetooth mouse and mouse is still more convenient that a touch pad.

I really hope the new mouse apple is probably developing will be aimed at professionals and will have a new form factor. Not to mention that some company has already designed an exact copy of apple mouse featuring two buttons and a scroll-weel. It has both wire- and -less versions.