Didn't they kind of already cave in with the Mighty Mouse? What's the hold-up? I mean honestly, to me, this one-button thing is just retarded. Most Mac users opt for getting a multi-button mouse from Logitech or Microsoft or something, or at least a Mighty Mouse. Bringing up a contextual menu should NOT require a key-combination. Why is Apple still using a single mouse button with their laptops?
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When will Apple use 2 button trackpads?
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I hope not ever... I still use a single button mouse--even my mighty mouse is configured as a single button mouse. 
I hope not ever... I still use a single button mouse--even my mighty mouse is configured as a single button mouse.
Why? What harm does an available right click do you?
Why? What harm does an available right click do you?
I like being able to press the mouse button and not accidentally right-clicking on something.
Umm.... they already do. A 2 finger tap is a right click- and I MUCH prefer this method than on my older Gateway laptop.
How do you manage to do that if they're separate buttons on opposite sides of the mouse?
I never knew this, and I imagine that you have to enable trackpad clicking in System Preferences. Also, while you might like it, some people won't. I know I wouldn't. The absence of a right-click on a mouse is a real turn-off for potential switchers, because it seems like such a fundamental and simple thing is missing from their new Mac, and they don't want to learn a whole new way to perform such a simple task. Why would anyone? Even if it is "better." People like continuity. Apple should just bring in a two-button trackpad just for the sake that it'll make their laptops more switcher-friendly, and for me, more user-friendly. I mean, what harm does it do? It'll ruin the seamless minimalist aesthetic of the laptop by adding an extra groove, right?
To me it feels like insisting on keeping it one button is just being too stubborn to veer from old ways. I just ask, why NOT?
Try it before you put it down. I say it's way faster to tap the trackpad than it is to move your finger down to a button. Just give it a try.
And yes, I believe you have to turn it on in preferences.
And yes, I believe you have to turn it on in preferences.
Well, I suppose I'm an un-traditional trackpad user. I don't move my finger down. I use my index finger on the trackpad and I keep my thumb down near the mouse button.
I'm not trying to put that down. I'm just trying to say that no harm comes from adding a right-click. You can still right-click your way, whether you double-tap the trackpad, right-click on the Mighty Mouse or Ctrl-Click. It's just annoying how Apple has left people like me in the dust, when giving us what we want is not hard at all, and hurts user-experience in no way whatsoever.
Welp, if they could do it by keeping one big button but making it sensitive to right and left clicks (and you could turn right-clicking off, just like the mighty-mouse) then I'm all for it. But if I have to have 2 buttons and/or half of the surface to click on, then I definitely wouldn't want it.
Tapping the trackpad is lame. I use the option of hitting the trackpad button while having two fingers on the trackpad itself. Not being able to touch the trackpad without clicking makes no sense to me.
On the other hand, all the other laptop users I know use what I am badmouthing.
Also, having only two buttons is also lame. Whatever you think is appropriate, i.e. a two-button mouse, is not going to be enough for everybody. Apple handles right-clicking just fine with the current method, and more elegantly than with a two-button solution. I personally would prefer at least three buttons on the Apple notebooks, but where would it end? You should have actually used a modern portable Mac before beginning this rant.
On the other hand, all the other laptop users I know use what I am badmouthing.
Also, having only two buttons is also lame. Whatever you think is appropriate, i.e. a two-button mouse, is not going to be enough for everybody. Apple handles right-clicking just fine with the current method, and more elegantly than with a two-button solution. I personally would prefer at least three buttons on the Apple notebooks, but where would it end? You should have actually used a modern portable Mac before beginning this rant.
That would be preferable. One button in OS X, Two buttons in bootcamp so you can use your $2000 Macbook Pro like a real computer.
A better idea might be to use this multi-touch tech to allow for multiple mouse buttons below the trackpad. Get rid of the clickable button, and make a GUI in the OS for tailoring it to your liking. Maybe add an option to show you on-screen exactly what you are doing with your fingers.
i can honestly say i don't think i've ever used the trackpad button other than when i first powered on the MBP and went into the settings to turn on tapping and 2 finger tapping for right click. after that, the button has never been clicked. tapping is much faster and easier, especially the 2 finger tapping for right click.
No harm can come?
Oh I assure you a lot of harm can arise. The reason why there is no right click is to force developers to keep things simple. As such developers cannot assume that the user has access to right click and hence only restrict right click menus to special bits of functionality, which is a far cry from the windows world where you kind of need right click for pretty much everything.
See the difference?
Using two fingers for right-click works well for me because I'm always scrolling with two fingers. It's just a matter of clicking the button, without needing to move my hand to click the right button with my thumb (I use my thumb for clicking). I like it much better than using a two-button track pad.
I can see though why having only one button can be a turn-off to switchers though. Just this past weekend, someone said to me that they'd never switch to macs because there is no right-click (stupid reason, but hey, it's what they said). I told them though about the two finger click, and they didn't think it was so bad after all.
I can see though why having only one button can be a turn-off to switchers though. Just this past weekend, someone said to me that they'd never switch to macs because there is no right-click (stupid reason, but hey, it's what they said). I told them though about the two finger click, and they didn't think it was so bad after all.
So what are you saying? you don't like tapping the trackpad but you think that it's an elegant solution? And you'd liek to have three buttons, but not two?
I used a MacBook to begin this rant.
It only turned into one because I don't understand why people can't concede to the fact that there's really no harm in adding a right-click button or at least touch-sensitive area on the button itself for contextual clicking.
I suppose, but I don't think adding right-click would force developers to change their software. Those things that do require right-click are usually there, because one sees the function instinctively as something that would be found in a contextual menu, like the "Transform" option in Photoshop, or similar. Or, the "Insert New Row" option in Word when you're working with a table. I'm not sure about Photoshop, but I know with Word its like this because the Windows version is the same. No one would go to any more trouble than they have to to perform these tasks. And as for other applications, developers can keep or change them however their please. I don't think adding a right-click button would RADICALLY change the way we use our Mac software...
Also, I'm sure most experienced Mac users use Command-Shift-N to create a new folder in Finder, but for those who use the mouse, I can guarantee that most people right or ctrl-click, instead of going File > New Folder.
As courteous and considerate of develoeprs as Apple is, wouldn't they be more concerned about their consumer base?
Try using Blender (3D modeling app) using this method. Blender on the go works just fine with a trackpad, but you're constantly using click-holding in that program. Do you really think constantly double-clicking-and-holding is faster than keeping your thumb on the button and holding when necessary?
This is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point. If you're missing fingers, then this is moot for you, but otherwise, being able to move with one finger, click with another, and "right-click" using yet another is the physically optimum way of using the elements at hand.
That being said, most people aren't at the point yet where the computer is an extension of themselves, like a musical instrument. When they get old and require becoming either cyborgs, or simply having their brains mapped to whatever flash drives evolve into, things will change.
Indeed they are, and hence they are preserving an age old tradition of retaining a 1 button mouse design.
A design that has, you know, existed before a PC even had mice.
I decided to enable the trackpad options and give them a try.
Single click with the trackpad is quite a bit slower than clicking with the mouse... Clicking the mouse button provides immediate response while with trackpad clicking you have to wait a moment. Seems a bit silly to me, but probably necessary since it has to make sure your finger has lifted off the trackpad before it can perform the command.
I also accidentally clicked on the "INDENT" option in the forum post toolbar while trying to scroll down before making this post.
Guess I'm not a trackpad kind of guy. Bring on the secondary click button, Apple!
Single click with the trackpad is quite a bit slower than clicking with the mouse... Clicking the mouse button provides immediate response while with trackpad clicking you have to wait a moment. Seems a bit silly to me, but probably necessary since it has to make sure your finger has lifted off the trackpad before it can perform the command.
I also accidentally clicked on the "INDENT" option in the forum post toolbar while trying to scroll down before making this post.
Guess I'm not a trackpad kind of guy. Bring on the secondary click button, Apple!
then it's just stubbornness, I suppose, and all the Apple fanboys out there, like you. Who cares if it's existed before PCs had mice? The simple fact of the matter is that a lot of people do in fact use a mouse button for their secondary click, and giving them such an option does no harm, except giving developers a new way to display their app's options and commands, which really isn't harmful at all.
I was just wondering if anybody thought that Apple would incorporate this into their laptops and when... instead I was told that this or that way is better. Oh well. I'm out.
I decided to enable the trackpad options and give them a try.
Single click with the trackpad is quite a bit slower than clicking with the mouse... Clicking the mouse button provides immediate response while with trackpad clicking you have to wait a moment. Seems a bit silly to me, but probably necessary since it has to make sure your finger has lifted off the trackpad before it can perform the command.
I also accidentally clicked on the "INDENT" option in the forum post toolbar while trying to scroll down before making this post.
Guess I'm not a trackpad kind of guy. Bring on the secondary click button, Apple!
I seriously don't even see what is the issue with ctrl clicking. I can do it with 1 hand on my MacBook Pro without even thinking about it after a while. And I so very much enjoy the nice big trackpad button, very much unlike the PC ones where it is either split right down the middle or split in a 2/3 and 1/3 proportion with the right click getting less of it.
Does makes you wonder if they make left handed versions of such trackpads as well!
Try using Blender (3D modeling app) using this method. Blender on the go works just fine with a trackpad, but you're constantly using click-holding in that program. Do you really think constantly double-clicking-and-holding is faster than keeping your thumb on the button and holding when necessary?
This is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point. If you're missing fingers, then this is moot for you, but otherwise, being able to move with one finger, click with another, and "right-click" using yet another is the physically optimum way of using the elements at hand.
That being said, most people aren't at the point yet where the computer is an extension of themselves, like a musical instrument. When they get old and require becoming either cyborgs, or simply having their brains mapped to whatever flash drives evolve into, things will change.
i don't do anything 3d, or use any apps that are that mouse intensive. i use my MBP strictly for development work. and in eclipse i use more keyboard shortcuts then my mouse.
personal preference i guess.