New Microsoft Mouse Scrolls Both Ways

Library Spoff writes "The BBC are reporting that Microsoft are bringing out a mouse that will use the scroll wheel to tilt as well as roll. The innovation means that users will be able to scroll vertically as well as horizontally without using on-screen navigation bars." How long before I get a trackball embedded in my mouse?

Comments

/. parrotting Micro$oft product announcements?

[JohnGrahamCumming]

From Jakob Nielsen's Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes 2002:

3. Horizontal Scrolling

Users hate scrolling left to right. Vertical scrolling seems to be okay, maybe because it's much more common.
Web pages that require horizontal scrolling in standard-sized windows, such as 800x600 pixels, are particularly annoying. For some reason, many websites seem to be optimized for 805-pixel-wide browser windows, even though this resolution is pretty rare and the extra five pixels offer little relative to the annoyance of horizontal scrolling (and the space consumed by the horizontal scrollbar).

So now why do I want this mouse?

John.

Re:/. parrotting Micro$oft product announcements?

[badboy_tw2002]

You want it so you can easily deal with all the jerks that don't make their webpages to size.

Also, spreadsheets often require a lot of left/right scrolling, and if you work with them a lot this will be a big improvement. If its as easy as the mousewheel to use, I'm all for it.

Don't hate it just because its from Microsoft. Evaluate the technology for what it is.

Re:/. parrotting Micro$oft product announcements?

[Captain_Frisk]

I don't see this as a tool for scrolling left in web pages, but rather very handy when working with image manipulation software.

Its definetly not a radical innovation, but it would ne a nice feature to have every once in a while.

Also, I bet it could come in handy in games, particularly the more recent fps games, where there is more than just fire and jump to have to worry about.

Re:/. parrotting Micro$oft product announcements?

[arth1]

Why you want this mouse?
Simple. Microsoft also just came out with Flight Simulator 2004 (aka FS9), and this product was really required to be able to fly with a mouse.

Seriously, now we're only one step away from getting a clit^H^H^H^Htrackpoint on top of the mouse, like on IBM laptops. What's next? A miniature touch pad on each button?

What I'd like to see is a mouse that's shorter and wider, that you can hold when your hand is half-closed (which is the natural position), with four buttons, one for each primary digit. Tilt your mouse 90 degrees to the left, grab it, and feel what I mean. Not all this wheel stuff and 8 hard-to-reach buttons that you really only press by accident.

Regards,
--
*Art

Sweet..

[Anonymous Coward]

.. I can bind the new controls to lean left/right in FPSs. :)

Re:Hardware solution for a software problem

[Politburo]

How about a Windows key to get in your way every time you go to use the left control?

Lay off the coffee, and learn the keyboard layout. The windows key is a very well designed key, imo. Aside from providing quick access to the taskbar and start menu, the windows key shortcuts provide access to core windows functions without confusing applications or users. Win+D: Show Desktop, Win+F: Find, Win+Break: System Properties, Win+L: Lock Station, and there are several more. These shortcuts do not work using the Ctrl+Esc substitute for the Windows key.

With respect to WWW and Email buttons, if they can be reconifigured, these buttons can serve as a keyboard quick launch bar. I had an IBM keyboard with launch buttons and volume controls and it was great until they decided not to write a Win2k driver for it.

Human Interfaces will *always* be a hardware problem, and in many cases, will require a hardware solution. It's just the nature of the beast.