Mouse Gestures in Javascript

christodd writes "I have become big fan of mouse gestures, a feature included in Opera, Mozilla, and MyIE2. There's even a plugin for IE. Other programs like StrokeIt and Cocoa Gestures are also based around the concept. I can't believe nobody else has thought of this before, but what about mouse gestures in javascript? Turns out that it is incredibly simple to implement, and really handy for those 'feature incomplete' web browsers. Unfortunately, for the total user experience, we'd have to upgrade the whole internet..."

Comments

Browser Level == Better

[dolo666]

I'm all for the idea of faster, better, stronger ways of browsing. I happen to think that mouse gestures and browser level code should be based in the browser, and controlled by the browser. Like look at all the gestures you get with Mozilla.

(mo: Don't invent the wheel: we have it already)

The problem I forsee with the jscript use, is a misuse of the mouse gesture jscripts by unethical sites. Because it's the planet Earth, and The Internet, half of the sites will impliment this correctly, the other half will use it as a joke, or for annoying adverts (browser interstitials) and thus cause the whole thing to be crap.

If it's at a browser level, websites can't fuck with it. So ideally, browsers will want to add the ability to block javascript mouse control, and promptly add this cool feature at a browswer level. I'm all for the idea of mousegestures, but I'm against the ability to tell a website to fuck off using them. (mo: KISS).

Re:Browser Level == Better

[Zeinfeld]

The problem I forsee with the jscript use, is a misuse of the mouse gesture jscripts by unethical sites.

I think that is the problem with Jscript full stop. why netscape thought it a good idea to allow any site an almost arbitrary level of control over my browser is beyond me.

The idea of doing mouse guestures or any other browser extension in JScript, except as a demo is idiotic. The whole value of these systems comes from consistency. Apple do know some things about UIs, the value in the Apple UI is that every program work the same way and you don't have to spend lots of time relearning.

If I go to one site that has mouse guestures and then another that does not or worse implements them a different way ... yuk!

But back to the original issue, Jscript sucks. The command set should be partitioned according to the security considerations. Popping up a window has a significant security impact, it can be used to launch a trojan. The toolbars on the browser window are my toolbars, no web site should be able to disable them.

I use the feature of IE that allows Jscript to be turned off by default and enabled selectively site by site. But this is not as effective as it could be because you often come across idiotic sites using jscript for everything - including navigation. The idea being to force the site designers idea of a user interface down the user's throat.

Insert code with proxy...

[KrispyKringle]

Or you could have your filtering proxy (like Proxomitron or Privoxy) insert the JavaScript code on every page. Though personally, I'd just use a browser that suppots it.

Accessability

[goldspider]

While mouse-gestures sounds really neat to a lot of folks, 'features' like this only means more and more websites that are less accessable to people that require assistive technology such as screen-readers (most Javascript features are notorious for being inaccessable).

It would be nice if, for once, web technology was developed that made content more accessable to people with disabilities instead of less.

Re:Oh yay!

[DeadSea]

I tried some of the mouse gestures on that page and they conflict with other things for which I use the mouse. For example, try selecting a paragraph of text on the page. It activates one of the mouse gestures causing the page to scoll.

Really annoying.

Re:Oh yay!

[dasmegabyte]

Word. The dumbest features ever thunk up by man are all tied to Javascript...the images that swirl around your cursor, preventing you from clicking on links. The script which loads everything at the same time, which means you wait forever for the one broken image. Cascading menus that don't disappear. Or do disappear, just as you are about to click on them.

And worst of all, blocking the right mouse button (or as I like to call it, "the button i use to navigate the fucking internet") in the name of "copyright protection." Every time I see this monstrosity, I download all of the images from the site, stick them in a zip file, and email it to the webmaster. "Your copyright protection didn't work. Neither did the mouse button I use to open links in a new window. One of these things can be easily fixed."