William H. Bowers Elephants, Mice and Minnies

William H. Bowers Topics Pointing Mice Elephants Mouse Buttons

William H. Bowers Topics Basic Mouse Actions Combination Mouse Actions Button Up and Down Focus Meta-keys

William H. Bowers Pointing Natural interface Fingers too imprecise Light pens Styli Mouse

William H. Bowers Mice Indirect manipulation Cursor to mouse movement is not 1:1 Mouse somewhat imprecise due to size Better tool than others for vertical use Fine vs. coarse movement

William H. Bowers Elephants People who are mouse aversive Typists who don’t like the keyboard to mouse switching Design software for non-mouse users

William H. Bowers Mouse Buttons Left –Primary button –Mimics Mac’s single button –Used for all major controls –Used for activation –Selection

William H. Bowers Mouse Buttons Right –Formerly unused by Microsoft –Borland initially used for context based actions –Introduced in MS Windows 95 Middle –Optional –Seldom used

William H. Bowers Basic Mouse Actions Point Click Drag Release

William H. Bowers Combination Mouse Actions Point Point, click, release Point, click, drag, release (Click and drag) Point, click, release, click, release (Dbl click)

William H. Bowers Combination Mouse Actions Point, click, click other button, release, release (Chord-click) Point, click, release, click, release, click, release (Triple-click) Point, click, release, click, drag, release (Double-drag)

William H. Bowers Button Up and Down Button down proposes an action Button up commits to it “Pliant” objects or areas –Static visual hinting –Active visual hinting –Cursor hinting

William H. Bowers Focus “Obtuse technical state” Focus = activation Focus is object that receives events New-focus click changes focus location In-focus click

William H. Bowers Meta-keys Combined with mouse CONTROL ALT SHIFT Cursor hinting when meta-key is pressed

William H. Bowers Questions & Discussion