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Enabling Mouse Gestures for Cocoa Apps

Posted by pudge on from the i-have-trouble-remembering-my-own-name-sometimes dept.

Buhaina writes "One Gerd Knops has released version 1.0 of his Cocoa Gestures software, enabling Cocoa applications to use mouse gestures for activating common commands. This is very similar to the OptiMoz project for Mozilla and can be activated on a per-application basis."

36 comments

  1. Mixed results by arson1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've had these installed for a while and some seem useful, I've also noticed them not always working and/or slowing my machine down. I'd like a system-wide set of gestures for minimizing windows, etc, but this is for individual cocoa apps only.

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    1. Re:Mixed results by Captain+Pedantic · · Score: 3, Interesting

      To be honest, you probably only want them on a per app basis.

      For example, Up Down would obviously be "Next Image" in an image viewer, but wouldn't necessarily mean anything else in another app.

      --

      None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
    2. Re:Mixed results by arson1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, to be honest, I'd like a set of system-wide commands. Minimize, maximize, next/back, cut, copy, paste, select all. System-wide, just like system-wide key commands.

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      --
      Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
  2. allow me to be the first... by JohnKFisher · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but with only one mouse button... how useful can gestures on a Mac BE?

    ((Figured I'd get it out of the way before the Mac-bashers got here ;-) ))

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    John Kenneth Fisher
    Table of malContents
    1. Re:allow me to be the first... by JohnKFisher · · Score: 1

      'twas a joke, jeez. I was trying to MAKE FUN of the wintel trolls who say stupid stuff like that in every Apple discussion.

      (sigh)

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      John Kenneth Fisher
      Table of malContents
    2. Re:allow me to be the first... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yea, but your joke wasnt any funnier than theirs :)

  3. standards by tarzan353 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think it is very necessary to define common patterns for widely used functions, less every developer set up his own set, which obviously would cause confusion among users.

    Ultimately, a database where developers can "register" their gestures for functions, much like the file type/creator database for "classic" apps, is needed. Then developers can make sure that they're doing the Right Thing.

    1. Re:standards by Kikaid. · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      less every developer set up his own set

      FYI- the word "less" in this instance is "lest".

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      (This post does not contain emoticons or l337.)

    2. Re:standards by GlassHeart · · Score: 1
      I think it is very necessary to define common patterns for widely used functions, less every developer set up his own set, which obviously would cause confusion among users.

      The good thing is that the gesture resulting from that confusion is pretty universal and standard.

    3. Re:standards by sco08y · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Have you no heart? Frogs don't have toenails.

    4. Re:standards by sco08y · · Score: 2, Funny

      FYI: no it's not, it's "less." "lest" is spelled with a 't' at the end.

  4. versioning by L.+VeGas · · Score: 3, Funny

    "One Gerd Knops has released version 1.0"

    In related news, two Gerd Knops released version 2.0

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  5. no thanks by penguin_punk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've tried the mouse gestures for Moz and loved it. .... for the first two minutes!!!!!

    I can't tell you how many times I had about 6 tabs open and then mozilla shits itself and closes. The 'gesture' for closign a window was WAY to normal for me. Same with going back, or scrolling, or flipping through tabs or.... ANYTHING! I never realized how often I moved the mouse while browzing. I hold my place with the mouse pointer, and I follow through long lines of code with the pointer. If you do this too, then DON'T USE GESTURES!!
    end bitching.

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    HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
    1. Re:no thanks by arson1 · · Score: 2

      um, so you move the mouse AND hold down the proper key/mouse button accidentally to trigger the gesture command?

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      Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
    2. Re:no thanks by penguin_punk · · Score: 1

      Yes.

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      HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
    3. Re:no thanks by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, you have to have some activation for the gestures. So you can't trigger them by accident unless you set a stupid modifier (like button 1). Having a 2-button mouse+wheel (native support in OS X!!!), I bound "gesture" to the wheel button, and haven't screwed up yet because I never press the wheel for other reasons.

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    4. Re:no thanks by arson1 · · Score: 2

      why the fuck are you holding down a modifier key if you don't want to do a gesture?

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      --
      Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
    5. Re:no thanks by penguin_punk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      habit. I had no idea I did so many awkward gestures with my hands while reading web pages [instert persian kitty joke here], but after installing mouse gestures for Mozilla, my subconscious twitching became very apparent to me. It's just not what I wanted. I am aware that I could have changed my modifierkey, etc. but it wasn't worth it. I find that with an optical mouse (with a scroll button), I can navigate fast enough that I didn't require mouse gestures to provide me with shortcuts.

      If you like and use gestures, then kudos, but it was just plain awkward. albeit it will get easier after I use it for a while and don't have to think about moving the mouse in a certain way, I'm fine the way I am right now.

      Sincerely,

      Me.

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      HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
    6. Re:no thanks by arson1 · · Score: 2

      I guess I didn't consider the fact that some people hold down keys while browsing. I move my mouse all around too, just a habit. And I too find the mutli-button/scroll wheel mouse better for browsing, but I've gotten used to gestures from using the marking-menus/gestures in Power Animator/Maya.

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      --
      Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
  6. That was Beta, fixed in 1.0! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The beta had problems with certain actions, but it got all fixed in 1.0.

    Gerd

  7. compatibility issues by harveyswik · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Unlike Mozilla this requires a modifier to turn the Gesture engine making it difficult to accidentally Quit/Go Back/Restart, etc. Unfortunately, I can't get it to recognise my Intellimouse even with all features turned off. Now, if I have to reach for the keyboard it's not much use is it? That's what I was attempting to avoid in the first place.

    Last Gripe: It only has four recognised movements - up, down, left, right. It would be *much* more usefull if it could tell the difference between say left-down-right-up and a circle starting at pi/4 or between left-down and a diagonal slice up and to the right at an angle of 45+/-10 degrees.

    Then again, it's *free* and it's easy to learn. ::shrugs::

    1. Re:compatibility issues by harveyswik · · Score: 1

      Right, it worked well with the two Apple mice (puck and optical) I have for the few moments they weren't hanging on the wall. My trouble with the Intellimouse is that Cocoa Gestures won't recognize any of the buttons no matter how I set the prefs. I even attempted to have the wheel button represent a modifier (control-shift) with no luck.

    2. Re:compatibility issues by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 1

      weird. Works perfectly with the wheel button on my Logitech mouse (has only 2 buttons + wheel, but good enough for me). Blame Microsoft as usual, I guess. However, I agree that more directions would be useful, if hard to pull off. I mean, if you make their G thing, do you really make right-hand turns?

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  8. CocaGestures can do that different... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hi,

    With CocoaGestures you can have the same gesture do two different things, depending on which menu items are enabled. You cann assign the same gesture to close a tab AND close a window, making sure the close tab one is higher in the list. Now the same gesture will close a tab IF a tab is displayed, otherwise it will close the window.

    End of your problem...

    Gerd

  9. Re:no thanks -- lol by selderrr · · Score: 3, Funny

    then mozilla shits itself

    What would be the univarsal gesture for that ?

    Fist in the air and pulling down 3 times while making protty sounds ?

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  10. If only Apple would fix drag gestures by anarkhos · · Score: 1

    If only Apple would fix drag gestures in NSLayoutManager, especially drag down on the left side versus the right side.

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  11. Enabling Mouse Gestures for Cocoa Apps by quintessent · · Score: 2

    Found a bag of M&M's the other day that had been chewed into. Finally caught the mouse, though.

    But I can see how a gesture based UI would have made the bag easier to get into...

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  12. Graphics pad based commercial technology by fbrehm · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The bitart consulting page says "It is unclear where the notion of gestures first appeared. Most sources mention them in combination with experimental pie menu implementation in the 1970s."


    My first introduction to a technology like this was in the commercial Applicon CAD system used by some people I used to work with in the mid 70's. The system was introduced by Applicon in the early 70's.


    If you do a google search for "applicon command pattern recognition" the first couple of articles are interesting. "The operator would sketch a symbol on a tablet, such as a square, and the system would interpret this to mean that it should zoom into the selected area on the CRT screen." It used a graphics pad instead of a mouse and ran on a PDP-11/45!


    I downloaded the Mouse Gestures software. Let's see if it is the equal of that 30-year old stuff! :-)



    Fred

    1. Re:Graphics pad based commercial technology by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 2, Informative

      There is, by the way, a graphics tablet version of this already integrated with the system, as part of the Inkwell handwriting recognition software.

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  13. Gyromouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you've ever used a gyroscopic mouse (like Gyration's gyromouse www.gyration.com) this is incredibly useful. Especially since putting down the mouse to use a keyboard is about 5x slower than switching back and forth between a normal mouse. Now I can really websurf from my bed... oh wait, IE's not supported...