Magic: Mouse and Trackpad

Apple Magic Mouse & Magic Trackpad So, why on earth they are magic? The answer is simple. Actually, the answer is their sensitive surface that magically responds to Multi-Touch gestures to run wirelessly via Bluetooth virtually everything on your Mac. However after Apple’s magicians announced that their new pointing gadgets are magic , a batch of stories and blog entries appeared telling us that they are not so magic as should be. Some of them are certainly very real and we must deal with it. Magic certainly isn’t for Windows users but is for every Mac OS X fans who follow our advises on the use of Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. Magic Mouse tracking speed The biggest disappointment users have with Apple’s Magic Mouse is its slow tracking speed. Even if you drag to the "Fast" the Tracking slider in the mouse configuration this froward Magic Mouse remains too lazy especially on the big screens. But you can easily speed up your Magic Mouse by following this tip: Launch up your Terminal Application. Type in Terminal window the following defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling 10 (12 is max possible, 3 is default value. You can try any number between 4 and 12, but 10 seems to be the best) Press Enter. Close Terminal window. Reboot your Mac. The above simple command works as if by magic: your Apple Magic Mouse tracks up much faster. Magic Mouse Gestures Natively, magic mouse on Mac supports one-finger and two-fingers touch commands that extend standard functions of right and left click buttons. (To force Magic Mouse to act as a two-button mouse you need to enable Secondary Click on it via options for mouse in System Preferences.) Magic Mouse native gestures +Show native gestures for Magic Mouse Default Command Gesture Core Fingers How To Basic Action Option Snow Leopard Lion Scroll Vertical / Horizontal drag One finger Gently touch the mouse surface with one finger and move fingertip vertically / horizontally without losing contact Scroll a window up / down, left / right depending on the direction of the gesture Momentum + + Scroll $360^0$ drag One finger Gently touch the mouse surface with one finger and circle fingertip in any direction without losing contact Combine up –left -down-right scroll of a window Momentum + + Zoom Screen Vertical / Horizontal drag One finger + Control Button Press Control button on keyboard and simultaneously gently touch the mouse surface with the finger on other hand and move fingertip vertically / horizontally without losing contact Zoom screen in / out - + + Navigate Horizontal brush Two fingers Gently touch the mouse surface with two finger and move fingertip left / right without losing contact navigate forward / back in browsers, Finder windows, and other applications that support a forward/back function - + * Navigate Horizontal brush Two fingers Gently touch the mouse surface with two finger and move fingertip left / right without losing contact Moving between desktop spaces - - + Launch Mission Control Double tap Two finger Gently tap twice the center of the mouse surface with two finger Bring up the Mission Control with all your open windows and spaces - - + *If you want to assign globally the two-swinger brush in Lion to back – forth navigation (instead moving between desktop spaces) you should change the mouse settings to reassign this gesture. At the same time, holding the Alt key and doing the 2- fingers brush keeps navigation between desktop spaces. Apple didn't overload the Magic Mouse with excessive number of gestures and this makes their funs aggravated. Luckily aftermarket has responded quickly to this shortcoming and developed Magic Mouse software that gave remedy for them. The number of options offered can be overwhelming, at first, but it's worth it to take the time to explore the preferences of some core gestures:** 3rd party core gestures for Magic Mouse +Show 3rd parties software gestures for Magic Mouse Default Command Gesture Core Fingers How To Basic Action Software Tap-to-Click Tap One finger Briefly touch surface with fingertip open / close application BetterTouchTool +Zoom View Spread Two fingers Gently touch the surface with two fingertips and spread them apart without losing contact Zoom (enlarge) window view in many applications MouseWizard -Zoom View Pinch Two fingers Gently touch the surface with two fingertips and bring them together without losing contact Zoom (shrink) window view in many applications MouseWizard Sleep Coverup Whole palm Gently cover the surface with your palm and click send Mac to sleep MouseWizard Customizable Middle button click Two fingers Gently touch the surface with two fingertips , move them to centre of the mouse placing half away without losing contact Configurable for Expose-Desktop MouseWizard Customizable Forth click Two fingers Gently touch the surface with two fingertips , one on the right edge and one on the left edge Configurable for Exposé, Dashboard, and Spotlight, MouseWizard **Some gestures may interfere with native gestures or gestures brought by various 3rd party software installed. So, you need to select the appropriate gestures very carefully. Please take in mind that setting up too many gestures can be confusing. Unfortunately, no touch gesture had been assign / developed for drag-and-drop action with Magic Mouse. Nevertheless you can actually do this with you Magic Mouse by left-clicking-and-holding your item (window, file, etc.) then moving the mouse. Magic Trackpad Gestures Using gestures with Magic Trackpad is a great experience, and once you get use to it, it really does speed up how you work with Mac machine. Originally the Magic Trackpad supports following types of gestures: Native gestures +Show native gestures for Magic Trackpad Default Command Gesture Core Fingers How To Basic Action Snow Leopard Lion Tap-to-Click Tap One finger Briefly touch surface with fingertip open / close application + + Rename Tap-Tap One finger Tap surface with one finger and in a moment tap again the same element on the surface Brings renaming box around the name of the element + + Drag Double Tap One finger Briefly touch twice surface with fingertip and move fingertip over the surface without loosing contact after second tap* drag-and-drop item (window, file etc.) + + Scroll Vertical / Horizontal drag Two fingers** Gently touch the mouse surface with one finger and move fingertip vertically / horizontally without losing contact Scroll a window up / down, left / right depending on the direction of the gesture + + Rotate Vertical / Horizontal drag Two fingers Gently touch the mouse surface surface with two fingers and move them in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction makes the picture or whatever that you are viewing rotate and change orientation + + +Zoom View Spread Two fingers Gently touch the surface with two fingertips and spread them apart without losing contact Zoom (enlarge) window view in many applications + + -Zoom View Pinch Two fingers Gently touch the surface with two fingertips and bring them together without losing contact Zoom (shrink) window view in many applications + + Smart Zoom Double tap Two fingers Gently tap two times the surface with two fingers automatically zooms content to fit perfectly the window - + Content Menu Secondary Tap Two fingers Gently tap the surface with two fingers Brings content menu (sub-menu) of the element you tap on (equivalent to the second button action on the mouse + + Look Up Words Double tap Three fingers Gently tap the surface with three fingers Gives the definition of the word you have under your cursor or highlighted. - + Object Drag Tap Three fingers Gently tap the surface with three fingers and move them over the surface without loosing contact Grabs an object and then moves it in the direction you drag your three fingers. - + Open Mission Control Swipe up Three fingers Gently touch the surface with three fingers and move them up over the surface without loosing contact Activates mission control with all your open windows and spaces. - + Close Mission Control Swipe down Three fingers While Mission Control is opened gently touch the surface with three fingers and move them down over the surface without loosing contact Exits mission control with all your open windows and spaces. - + App Exposé Swipe down Three fingers Gently touch the surface with three fingers and move them down over the surface without loosing contact brings all the open windows of the selected app regardless of the space they reside on. - + Switch between Full-screen apps Swipe left / right Three fingers While a few apps are opened in full screen mode gently touch the surface with three fingers and move them down left /right over the surface without loosing contact switches between apps opened in a full screen mode - + Launchpad 4-fingers pinch Four fingers Gently touch surface with thumb and three fingers and bring them closer together without losing contact Brings Launchpad that will show all your installed apps - + Show desktop 4-fingers pinch Four fingers Gently touch surface with thumb and three fingers and spread them apart without losing contact shows instantly your desktop - + *To lock the drag tick Drag Lock option for Trackpad in System Preferences. If you do this and want to unlock your window from drag, simply realize from the surface the fingertip you dragged with and briefly touch the surface with other finger. **Please notice that the same action with Magic Mouse requires one finger. Mouse vs Trackpad Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad? This is certainly a personal choice. Some users complain about many pain problems when using the mouse and at the same time assert that switching to trackpad made all those problems disappear. The views of others are quite opposite. Gesture controls has not been around long enough for clinical studies on of those complains , unfortunately. Our geeks say that when used for the general purposes trackpad beats mouse in all respects. But it will never replace a mouse when gaming or using the specific programs ( like Photoshop) within the OS. Probably the best choice is share your OS X between magic mouse and magic trackpad.