Operation
A mouse typically controls the
motion of a pointer
in two dimensions in a graphical user interface (GUI). Clicking or hovering (stopping
movement while the cursor is within the bounds of an area) can select files,
programs or actions from a list of names, or (in graphical interfaces) through
small images called "icons" and other elements. For example, a text
file might be represented by a picture of a paper notebook, and clicking while
the cursor hovers this icon might cause a text editing program to open the file
in a window. (See also Point and click)
Users can also employ mice gesturally; meaning that a stylized
motion of the mouse cursor itself, called a "gesture",
can issue a command or map to a specific action. For example, in a drawing
program, moving the mouse in a rapid "x" motion over a shape might
delete the shape.
Gestural interfaces occur more rarely than plain pointing-and-clicking; and
people often find them more difficult to use, because they require finer
motor-control from the user. However, a few gestural conventions have become
widespread, including the drag and drop
gesture, in which:
- The user presses the mouse button while the mouse cursor hovers over an interface object
- The user moves the cursor to a different location while holding the button down
- The user releases the mouse button
For example, a user might drag-and-drop a picture representing a file onto
a picture of a trash can, thus
instructing the system to delete the file.
Other uses of the mouse's input occur commonly in special
application-domains. In interactive three-dimensional
graphics, the mouse's motion often translates directly into changes
in the virtual camera's orientation. For example, in the first-person shooter
genre of games (see below), players usually employ the mouse to control the
direction in which the virtual player's "head" faces: moving the
mouse up will cause the player to look up, revealing the view above the
player's head. A related function makes an image of an object rotate, so that
all sides can be examined.
When mice have more than one button, software may assign different
functions to each button. Often, the primary (leftmost in a right-handed configuration) button on the mouse
will select items, and the secondary (rightmost in a right-handed) button will
bring up a menu of alternative actions applicable to that item. For example, on
platforms with more than one button, the Mozilla web browser will follow a link in
response to a primary button click, will bring up a contextual menu of
alternative actions for that link in response to a secondary-button click, and
will often open the link in a new tab or window in
response to a click with the tertiary (middle) mouse button.
Different ways of operating the mouse cause specific things to happen in
the GUI:
- Click: pressing and releasing a button.
- (left) Single-click: clicking the main button.
- (left) Double-click: clicking the button two times in quick succession counts as a different gesture than two separate single clicks.
- (left) Triple-click: clicking the button three times in quick succession.
- Right-click: clicking the secondary button.
- Middle-click: clicking the ternary button.
- Drag: pressing and holding a button, then moving the mouse without releasing. (Use the command "drag with the right mouse button" instead of just "drag" when you instruct a user to drag an object while holding the right mouse button down instead of the more commonly used left mouse button.)
- Button chording (a.k.a. Rocker navigation).
- Combination of right-click then left-click.
- Combination of left-click then right-click or keyboard letter.
- Combination of left or right-click and the mouse wheel.
- Clicking while holding down a modifier key.
- Moving the pointer a long distance: When a practical limit of mouse movement is reached, one lifts up the mouse, brings it to the opposite edge of the working area while it is held above the surface, and then replaces it down onto the working surface. This is often not necessary, because acceleration software detects fast movement, and moves the pointer significantly faster in proportion than for slow mouse motion.
Standard semantic gestures include:
- Crossing-based goal
- Drag and drop
- Menu traversal
- Pointing
- Rollover
- Selection
Multiple-mouse systems
Some systems allow two or more mice to be used at once as input devices.
16-bit era home computers such
as the Amiga used this to allow computer games with two
players interacting on the same computer. The same idea is sometimes used in collaborative software,
e.g. to simulate a whiteboard that multiple
users can draw on without passing a single mouse around.
Microsoft Windows,
since Windows 3.1, has supported multiple simultaneous
pointing devices. Because Windows only provides a single screen cursor, using
more than one device at the same time requires cooperation of users or
applications designed for multiple input devices.
Multiple mice are often used in multi-user gaming in addition to specially
designed devices that provide several input interfaces.
Windows also has full support for multiple input/mouse configurations for
multiuser environments.
Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft introduced a SDK for developing applications
that allow multiple input devices to be used at the same time with independent
cursors and independent input points.
The introduction of Vista and Microsoft Surface (now known as Microsoft PixelSense)
introduced a new set of input APIs that were adopted into Windows 7, allowing
for 50 points/cursors, all controlled by independent users. The new input
points provide traditional mouse input; however, are designed for more advanced
input technology like touch and image. They inherently offer 3D coordinates
along with pressure, size, tilt, angle, mask, and even an image bitmap to see
and recognize the input point/object on the screen.
As of 2009, Linux distributions and other operating systems that use X.Org, such as OpenSolaris and FreeBSD, support 255 cursors/input points through
Multi-Pointer X. However, current no window
managers support Multi-Pointer X leaving it relegated to custom software usage.
There have also been propositions of having a single operator use two mice
simultaneously as a more sophisticated means of controlling various graphics
and multimedia applications.
Buttons
Main article: Mouse button
Mouse buttons are microswitches
which can be pressed to select or interact with an element of a graphical user
interface, producing a distinctive clicking sound.
The three-button scrollmouse has become the most commonly available design.
As of 2007 (and roughly since the late 1990s), users most commonly employ the second
button to invoke a contextual menu in the
computer's software user interface, which contains options specifically
tailored to the interface element over which the mouse cursor currently sits.
By default, the primary mouse button sits located on the left-hand side of the
mouse, for the benefit of right-handed users; left-handed users can usually
reverse this configuration via software.
Mouse speed
Mickeys per second is a unit of measurement for the speed and movement
direction of a computer mouse. One mickey is approximately 1/200th of an inch. But speed can also refer to
the ratio between how many pixels the cursor moves on the screen and how far
the mouse moves on the mouse pad, which may be expressed as pixels per Mickey,
or pixels per inch, or pixels per cm. The directional movement is called the
horizontal mickey count and the vertical mickey count.
The computer industry often measures mouse sensitivity in terms of counts per
inch (CPI), commonly expressed as dots per inch (DPI) – the number of
steps the mouse will report when it moves one inch. In early mice, this
specification was called pulses per inch (ppi). The Mickey originally referred
to one of these counts, or one resolvable step of motion. If the default
mouse-tracking condition involves moving the cursor by one screen-pixel or dot
on-screen per reported step, then the CPI does equate to DPI: dots of cursor
motion per inch of mouse motion. The CPI or DPI as reported by manufacturers
depends on how they make the mouse; the higher the CPI, the faster the cursor
moves with mouse movement. However, software can adjust the mouse sensitivity,
making the cursor move faster or slower than its CPI. Current software can change
the speed of the cursor dynamically, taking into account the mouse's absolute
speed and the movement from the last stop-point. In most software this setting
is named "speed", referring to "cursor precision". However,
some software names this setting "acceleration", but this term is in
fact incorrect. The mouse acceleration, in the majority of mouse software,
refers to the setting allowing the user to modify the cursor acceleration: the
change in speed of the cursor over time while the mouse movement is constant.
For simple software, when the mouse starts to move, the software will count
the number of "counts" or "mickeys" received from the mouse
and will move the cursor across the screen by that number of pixels (or
multiplied by a rate factor, typically less than 1). The cursor will move
slowly on the screen, having a good precision. When the movement of the mouse
passes the value set for "threshold", the software will start to move
the cursor more quickly, with a greater rate factor. Usually, the user can set
the value of the second rate factor by changing the "acceleration"
setting.
Operating systems sometimes apply acceleration, referred to as "ballistics", to the motion reported by the
mouse. For example, versions of Windows prior to Windows XP doubled reported values above a configurable
threshold, and then optionally doubled them again above a second configurable
threshold. These doublings applied separately in the X and Y directions,
resulting in very nonlinear
response.
Mousepads
Main article: Mousepad
Engelbart's original mouse did not require a mousepad; the mouse had two
large wheels which could roll on virtually any surface. However, most
subsequent mechanical mice starting with the steel roller ball mouse have
required a mousepad for optimal performance.
The mousepad, the most common mouse accessory, appears most commonly in
conjunction with mechanical mice, because to roll smoothly the ball requires
more friction than common desk surfaces usually provide. So-called "hard
mousepads" for gamers or optical/laser mice also exist.
Most optical and laser mice do not require a pad. Whether to use a hard or
soft mousepad with an optical mouse is largely a matter of personal preference.
One exception occurs when the desk surface creates problems for the optical or
laser tracking, for example, a transparent or reflective surface.
In the marketplace
Computer mice built between 1986 and 2007
Around 1981 Xerox included mice with its Xerox Star, based on the mouse used in the 1970s
on the Alto computer at Xerox PARC. Sun Microsystems, Symbolics, Lisp Machines Inc., and Tektronix also shipped workstations with mice,
starting in about 1981. Later, inspired by the Star, Apple Computer released the Apple Lisa, which also used a mouse. However,
none of these products achieved large-scale success. Only with the release of
the Apple Macintosh in 1984 did the mouse see
widespread use.
The Macintosh design, commercially successful and technically influential,
led many other vendors to begin producing mice or including them with their
other computer products (by 1986, Atari ST, Amiga,
Windows 1.0, GEOS
for the Commodore 64, and the Apple IIGS).
The widespread adoption of graphical user interfaces in the software of the
1980s and 1990s made mice all but indispensable for controlling computers. In
November 2008, Logitech built their billionth mouse.
Use in games
Logitech G5 laser mouse designed for gaming
Mice often function as an interface for PC-based computer games and sometimes for video game consoles.
First-person shooters
Due to the cursor-like nature of the crosshairs in first-person shooters
, a combination of mouse and keyboard provides a popular way to play first
person shooter games. Players use the X-axis of the mouse for looking (or
turning) left and right, and the Y-axis for looking up and down. Many gamers
prefer this primarily in First Person Shooter games over a gamepad or joypad because it provides a higher
resolution for input, so they are able to make small, precise motions in the
game more easily. The left button usually controls primary fire. If the game
supports multiple fire modes, the right button often provides secondary fire
from the selected weapon. Games with only a single fire mode will generally map
secondary fire to ironsights. In some
games, the right button may also provide bonus options for a particular weapon,
such as allowing access to the scope of a sniper rifle or allowing the mounting
of a bayonet or silencer.
Gamers can use a scroll wheel for changing weapons (or for controlling
scope-zoom magnification, in older games). On most first person shooter games,
programming may also assign more functions to additional buttons on mice with
more than three controls. A keyboard usually controls movement (for example, WASD for moving forward, left, backward and
right, respectively) and other functions such as changing posture. Since the
mouse serves for aiming, a mouse that tracks movement accurately and with less
lag (latency) will give a player an advantage over players with less accurate
or slower mice.
Many games provide players with the option of mapping their own choice of a
key or button to a certain control.
An early technique of players, circle strafing, saw a player continuously
strafing while aiming and shooting at an opponent by walking in circle around
the opponent with the opponent at the center of the circle. Players could
achieve this by holding down a key for strafing while continuously aiming the
mouse towards the opponent.
Games using mice for input are so popular that many manufacturers make mice
specifically for gaming. Such mice may feature adjustable weights,
high-resolution optical or laser components, additional buttons, ergonomic
shape, and other features such as adjustable CPI.
Many games, such as first- or third-person shooters, have a setting named
"invert mouse" or similar (not to be confused with "button
inversion", sometimes performed by left-handed users) which allows the user to look
downward by moving the mouse forward and upward by moving the mouse backward
(the opposite of non-inverted movement). This control system resembles that of
aircraft control sticks, where pulling back causes pitch up and pushing forward
causes pitch down; computer joysticks also typically
emulate this control-configuration.
After id Software's Doom, the
game that popularized first person shooter games but which did not support
vertical aiming with a mouse (the y-axis served for forward/backward movement),
competitor 3D Realms' Duke Nukem 3D became one of the first games
that supported using the mouse to aim up and down. This and other games using
the Build engine had an option to invert the Y-axis.
The "invert" feature actually made the mouse behave in a manner that
users now regard as non-inverted (by default, moving mouse forward resulted in
looking down). Soon after, id Software released Quake, which
introduced the invert feature as users now know it. Other games using the Quake engine have come on the market following
this standard, likely due to the overall popularity of Quake.x
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