Re: Random thought...

["Kenneth R . Kinder" <Ken KenAndTed com>]

On %M, 0, Josh Steiner <Josh@BerkeleyNet.com> wrote:
> I remeber in someones post they had mentioned that it would be a shame
> to waste the third (middle) button on some peoples mice.  We can't bind
> any crucial function to that, becuase so many people don't have them.

I know of people who don't have mice - let's not use the mouse at all.
Infact, I know poeple who don't have computers at all!  Let's abort the
project all together, and throw away all computer software!

sheesh!  If you don't have a third mouse button, GET ONE!  I think it's
unreasonible to throw away the huge advantage of extra functionality
because it demands that prior Windows users spend $10 on a new 3-button
mouse.  I don't mean to sound rude, just spirited.  :)

X has used the thrid mouse button forever, and why should it stop?  We're
here to improve X, not clone Windows.

The third mouse button should be paste - standard X functionality - in
text and edit boxes.  Other than that, we can decide - probably keeping a
paste-like function would be wise.

> Today I was staring blankly at the code that I am hacking out here at
> work and I thought that it might be kind of cool to use that in that
> same fashion as those wheels on Microsofts new mice.

New mice.  Leave it at that.  Logic makes them too, infact, in two
directions.  I think we should let users take FULL ADVANTAGE of their
hardware, not reduce this to the lowest common denominator.  The existing
standard of having them scroll, is, IMO, a good idea.

What you need to realize is that to access that, you need to modify some X
server code to include support for it.  Microsoft will probably ignore
you, but if you contact Logic, they'll probably send you some programming
specs.

>  For those that
> don't know, there is a wheel in beween the 1st and 2nd button that
> scrolls whatever window you are in, if the application is aware.

In Logic mice, it can vary, but that's basicly the legist of the whole
thing.

> Perhaps when the user held her middle button and moved the mouse, the
> screen buffer would scroll and the cursor would stay put.

I'd prefer to put something like that on the forth mouse button, since the
forth mouse button is the nonstandard mouse.  The middle mouse button is
standard on PCs, so it ought to be used based on existing standards in X
user interfaces.

> What do people think, or were there already other, more usefull ideas
> for this button? 

In the Perfect World(tm), we could let them bind whatever mouse buttons
they want to to do whatever they want. 

Ken Kinder