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360^ mouse wheel

Direction that mouse scrolls page in, is in relation to angle of optic mouse from receiver.
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Direction that mouse scrolls page in, is in relation to angle of optic mouse from receiver.

I am often frustrated when I can only scroll sideways on many large pages, or when I am zoomed in and I can only scroll vertically-- you either have to spend hours using the bars on either side of the screen to navigate around, or you push the scroll wheel down and you get catapulted through cyberspace, never to return to the desired piece of information, this is particularly annoying when reading a lengthy document!

Sure, you can adjust the sensitivity, but the task remains a delicate balancing act!

You can scroll at any angle and you'll never break your wrist trying to scroll sideways as you will not need to turn the mouse at right angles-- when you plug the mouse in you're pc, you set sensitivity. If you would like movements only on the x- and y-axis, then sure, tick the box.

Obviously you are not always going to be zoomed in, so when you are at the regular zoom, you will just be able to scroll up or down. We have also incorporated a conveniently placed off button for the system.

I think that it would be pretty cool to be able to adjust the settings verbally too. Instead of manually setting it to do 360^, you can tell it only to work at right angles ect., to use the wheel to zoom and not scroll or to switch on/off.

I haven't found any evidence suggesting that this is baked, so please post some links if you think otherwise, I would like to get my hands on one!

......

The speed at which the mouse wheel shifts you place increases exponentially the further you move the mouse from the location at which you pushed it in. I imagine that as soon as you push the wheel in, a transparent red ring should appear around the point at which it was pushed in, where the colour is more opaque further from the point, this is only used as a warning. Computers should have settings like this which are more in tune when you first buy the pc, it would help people learn to use there new machine in a hands on way, the only effective way to learn how to use a pc.

danman, Jul 03 2009

Directional Cursors Directional_20Cursors#1151110865
[xaviergisz, Jul 04 2009]

Turning arrow thingy Turning_20arrow_20thingy
[xaviergisz, Jul 04 2009]

3D Space Navigator http://www.3dconnex.../spacenavigator.php
Same idea, mostly for Google Earth, CAD, etc. You could bake this by writing a mouse driver for it... [cowtamer, Jul 06 2009]

Mighty Mouse http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/
I'm not an Apple user, but their mouse is good, if you like that sort of thing. [neutrinos_shadow, Jul 06 2009]

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       You may have actually hit upon a way of improving the mouse. I suspect that the only reason that it hasn't been done yet is that it's hard to make a mouse that knows what direction it's pointing.   

       I'd just like a grab-n-move system like the Adobe hand tool.
wagster, Jul 03 2009
  

       How about a track-ball in place of a wheel in the mouse? Then you wouldn't even have to angle the mouse in order to move the cursor in any of 360 degrees; you could just spin the ball in whichever direction. (Points for attempting to solve a real problem: [+])
swimswim, Jul 03 2009
  

       Thanks, great idea!
danman, Jul 03 2009
  

       I like the idea of a wireless mouse regarding orientation, AND scrolling. It extends beyond documents, or <hack, hack,> certain images. Very soon we are going to be introduced to 3d models and interpretations of what we used to call pages, via on-screen representation.   

       We will, in effect be introduced to news "cubes". Or "content" cubes. And even then "cubes" will be a misnomer. We will bombarded with a plethora of platonic solids directing us to new, linked, content, depending which side or apex, of the platonic solid, we wish to follow.   

       In this manifestation, tracker balls may find a limitation (self-orientation/positive feedback loop), whereas a well oriented mouse and scroll wheel would be perfect.. [+]
4whom, Jul 03 2009
  

       Isn't this just a mouse, with a trackball in the top ?   

       Movement of the mouse controls one set of movements, the trackball the other. It would be easy to make the functions configurable.
8th of 7, Jul 04 2009
  

       [8th] if I translate correctly, he means using the middle-button instead of a scrollwheel: when clicked, any movement of the (entire) mouse causes a continuous scroll in that direction; the further away from the initial point the faster the scroll.   

       neat [+]   

       and an easy software "retrofit" to existing rodentia. Easy enough I'm gonna guess it exists already but I can't figure out how to google for it.
FlyingToaster, Jul 05 2009
  

       Perhaps we should have the mouse wheel on a swivel system? This would allow us to scroll around by adjusting the angle of the actual mouse wheel and not the entire mouse its self, giving us the stability of a mouse wheel and the manoeuvrability of a trackball. I don't think that this would be awkward to use provided that the angle the swivel is restricted to about 40^ or so.   

       FlyingToaster, I was also surprised that there was nothing on google. I have done some asking around and it seems that nothing like it exists yet.
danman, Jul 05 2009
  

       1st; linky for mouse-with-trackball.
<mild rant>
2nd; why are people so obsessed with trying to fix mice? If you want pecision and/or control and/or functionality, there are plenty of other options, such as the 3DConnexion devices mentioned by [cowtamer].
I use a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet - far more natural and useable, with a huge amount of programmability (it was expensive, however).
</mr>
neutrinos_shadow, Jul 06 2009
  


 

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