By Graham K. Rogers

The recently updated OS X which is now at version 10.8, Mountain Lion has many changes to System Preferences. The Mouse preferences has a panel identical to the one in OS X 10.7, Lion, and as before this displays different information depending on which device is in use. There have been a number of minor changes in the way information is displayed when these devices are used.

Mouse preferences have evolved in the last couple of releases of OS X from Keyboard & Mouse preferences. On the MacBook Pro which has an in-built trackpad, the Mouse panel opens with a generic image of a mouse displayed.

A caption indicates that the system is searching for a Bluetooth mouse, or asks for a USB mouse to be attached (See below). Added advice suggests that if the Bluetooth mouse does not appear, a user should check that it has batteries and is turned on.

When the panel is open with no mouse connected, a gear-wheel spins near the bottom. Alongside is the word, "Searching. . . ."

When any mouse is connected to the computer, the panel changes. The new image and information display will depend on the type of mouse connected.

Single Button Mouse

Two-Button Generic Mouse

There are two sliders to the left of the panel for Tracking Speed and Scrolling Speed (Slow - Fast), while on the right of the panel is a single slider for Double-click speed.

Below the Double-click speed slider are two radio buttons for selection of the primary mouse button. Some prefer this to be the Left click, while others prefer the Right click.

The ability to zoom using the scroll wheel is no longer available on this panel as an option. As with a similar trackpad control, this is turned on in Accessibility preferences (Zoom).

Mighty Mouse

The Mouse preferences panel for this device is in two main sections. The top displays the three sliders: Tracking, Double-Click and Scrolling. Just above these is a checkbox with new wording, "Scroll direction: natural" (before this was marked, "Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating"). The main area of the panel shows a diagram of the mouse and the tunable functions for each type of input.

The normal mouse clicks for primary and secondary buttons may be allocated to left or right sides (angling the device activates the click). However, as well as these normal functions, these clicks can also be used for Mission Control, Exposé (App Windows, Desktop), Dashboard, Application Switcher, Spotlight, and Other. When Other is selected, a Finder window opens a Scripts folder thus making this highly tunable. In the image below, I have added a script to illustrate this.

The scrolling button -- the ball -- can be used for scrolling in several ways and a checkbox beneath the mouse diagram (near the bottom of the panel) allows selection from Vertical & Horizontal, 360°, Vertical Only, and Off. This scrolling ball may also be used as a button: options are the same as for the right/left buttons with the addition of Button 3 and Off.

At the waist section of the mouse are buttons both sides. When pressed -- the action is like squeezing -- this behaves like one button. This does not have Primary or Secondary button options, but the other selections (Mission Control, Exposé, etc.) are available plus Other, Button 4 and Off.

Like other panels, there is now no checkbox at the bottom for Zooming with the scroll- ball.

Magic Mouse

The Apple Magic Mouse combines the functions of a trackpad with the mouse. It connects to the computer via Bluetooth. Once the panel has recognised that there is an Apple Magic Mouse in the vicinity, a user must press, Continue. An icon on the computer screen shows when a connection is made (or lost).

A panel appears with a display that shows mouse functions and options for gestures. The pane is in two parts: Point & Click; and More gestures.

Point and Click: has three checkboxes to the left of the panel for options:

• Scroll direction: natural. Like the Trackpad preferences allows the use of the scroll gesture to be natural: the content follows finger movement (ignore the scroll bar, follow the page);

  
  

  

  
  

• Secondary Click allows the selection of either the left or right side to be used for this;

• Smart Zoom allows a panel in some applications to zoom in and out. Only some applications (e.g. Safari) will allow this. This is also available in in Trackpad preferences where 2 fingers is used.

As each of the checkboxes is highlighted by the cursor, a video of the action is shown in the right hand side of the panel. As the action is changed (e.g. Right click to Left click) so the video shows the new option. Below the three checkboxes is a slider for tracking speed (Slow - Fast).

More Gestures has three checkbox options:

• Swipe between pages allows the user to scroll left or right with one finger. A menu is available with two more options -
  • Swipe left or right with two fingers
  • Swipe with one or two fingers

• Swipe between full-screen apps is a gesture that uses 2 fingers. When a two-finger option is selected in the option above (Swipe between two pages) this becomes inactive. If this is reselected, the first option reverts to a one-finger action. There are no options, unlike the Trackpad which uses either 3 or 4 fingers for this action.

• Mission Control is activated with a double-tap using two fingers.

At the bottom of both panes there is a display to indicate the power remaining in the batteries of the mouse. If this is low the figure displayed changes to red. A user will need to change the AA batteries.

[On previous installations, a Change Batteries button appeared and pressing this would display battery icons and instructions. I am unable to test this as the Mighty Mouse I am using is fresh out of the box with fully charged batteries. There is a screenshot in an earlier version of my A - Z of System Preferences for 10.7.]

A button at bottom left, like on other panels, is available to set up a Bluetooth mouse. This brings up a small panel in which any nearby units are identified and may be selected.

If another mouse is connected by USB while the Magic Mouse is being used, the display does not change: the videos are still shown. The Mighty Mouse needs to be turned off, so that it will disconnect. A screen icon -- Connection Lost -- appears and the panel reverts to normal displays. Turning the Mighty Mouse back on displays the "Found . . ." text on the panel and pressing the Continue button completes the process.

Notes

I would suggest that if users wish to use such a 3rd party input device they try connecting the mouse first before installing any additional software which itself may cause conflicts initially (or later when the operating system is updated).

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.