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Apple Magic Mouse and ID

Nov 10, 2009 7:58 AM

  Latest reply: Directingart, Jan 2, 2013 6:56 AM
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  • thinkingmanhawaii
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    80. thinkingmanhawaii,
    Aug 13, 2012 11:52 AM   in reply to Dougefresh091
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    This is precisely the point of this question: is the fault Apple’s or Adobe’s? Not to be _finding_ faults on purpose, but I have to tell you that the Magic Mouse works great for me just about everywhere else (except Safari 6, but don't even get me started on that right now ;-).

     

    Apple can only provide options for situations it knows about, mouse accelleration, movement and gestures are from an API embedded in Apple’s software. Adobe’s software does not use that in the case of InDesign, Photoshop and I’m pretty sure Illustrator and Acrobat as well. You can tell because scrolling and motion work completely differently in those programs, and the performance is not nearly that of Apple’s - but of course Apple doesn't have to do all that processing that Photoshop does.

     

    Therefore, if Adobe is writing their own control software, they should tune it with Apple's hardware and make it work more like Apple’s does, once and for all, or just use Apple’s APIs. Neither of these are easy tasks, but I have to tell you that this is some functionality that, for my own work, has become seriously broken in the last few years and I find it to be a real hindrance to productivity in the CS suite of applications.

     

    I’ve made suggestions to Adobe that made their way into Photoshop, so if enough of us do suggest these things, they will most likely listen.

     

    Aloha,

    Adam

     
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  • rexprints
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    81. rexprints,
    Aug 13, 2012 12:04 PM   in reply to thinkingmanhawaii
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    The problem is important, long-standing, well-documented, and many of us have asked Adobe. I used the new features channel. What all else has been done is part of the mystery. What else could be done is another part of the mystery. Why it hasn't been done is the worst part of the mystery.

      I've got all my career eggs in Adobe's basket. Mysteries this real are worrying.

     
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  • thinkingmanhawaii
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    82. thinkingmanhawaii,
    Aug 13, 2012 1:13 PM   in reply to rexprints
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    I just posted another request to Adobe. Let’s see if they respond to more user requests: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

     
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  • flaming1
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    83. flaming1,
    Aug 13, 2012 6:27 PM   in reply to rexprints
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    @rexprints, I was just offering my/our experience. I'm not sure how you take that as being unhelpful.

     

    In our studio's experience the Magic Mouse behaves perfectly well with Indesign. As I said, two of our operators don't like it, the other five do. Those five, of which I am one, have absolutely no issues with the Magic Mouse when using Indesign, and never have had any issues. So we aren't saying that we are happy with it behaving badly as you imply, we are happy with it because we don't experience the sort of behaviour that some people are finding.

     

    My brother is another user who struggled with the Magic Mouse, but he took the time to analyse how and why he was experiencing the issues, he found that he was inadvertently dragging his hand across the mouse's surface when he lifted his hand off to move to the keyboard. He also found that he tended to rest his palm flat on the mouse so it was more likely to happen for him. He subsequently moved back to the Mighty Mouse as he found it worked better for him.

     

    So, from our experience, a fair amount of the issue is squarely around the user and how they use the mouse. That's not to say that Adobe, or Apple, couldn't improve the situation for other users though.

     

    I wonder how your impression is any more helpful than ours...

     
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  • rexprints
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    84. rexprints,
    Aug 13, 2012 7:13 PM   in reply to flaming1
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    Because using the same system, I don't have the same problems with other software. And if over a quarter of the users have that problem, it's a problem.

     

    Sorry if my comment was blunt and a bit offensive, but Adobe's got me by my software. It's almost all my business and what I teach at the college. I get a little sensitive.

     
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  • flaming1
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    85. flaming1,
    Aug 13, 2012 7:37 PM   in reply to rexprints
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    No problem @rexprints.

     

    Just to be clear, I'm not saying that there isn't a problem, just that it's not so absolute. I'm not sure how many people it affects, so I can only speak from my direct experience. Some people have no problem, but it certainly sounds like others have major problems.

     

    We too are well and truly locked into the Adobe way and don't have any alternatives, but we are not affected by the issue. The two people who don't use the Magic Mouse in our studio simply don't like using the mouse - in any situation, not just Indesign.

     

    It would be interesting to know if you have any of your students that use the mouse without any issues. As I noted, in my brother's case there was a clear correlation in how he used the mouse and the issues he was having. When he watched how I held the mouse he could clearly see why I didn't have the same problem. Neither of us are right or wrong in what we were doing, and neither of us were deliberately trying to cause, or avoid, the issue. It was just the way we have 'evolved' our mousing technique/grip I suppose.

     
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  • thinkingmanhawaii
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    86. thinkingmanhawaii,
    Aug 17, 2012 2:30 PM   in reply to flaming1
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    @flaming1: Most users actually drag their fingers and palms inadvertently against the mouse all the time. In fact, you don’t even have to touch the mouse for it to detect the proximity of your finger (test this using a piece of paper, and/or by holding your finger a millimeter from the surface). I think that for some people, especially those that live in humid island (i.e. perpetually slightly salty) environments as some do, the sensitivity of the mouse is increased. Therefore, Adobe should do test cases on the mouse in labs which are exposed to seaside and/or other conditions, or provide some sort of compensation. The mouse doesn’t behave this way for everybody, either, so it may have something to do with an individual’s electrostatic properties, which is what I understand the mouse surface is sensitive to.

     

    Whatever the issue, it has to be solved, like, now—this is a serious annoyance. I keep scrolling through 50 pages of my document ten to fourteen hundred times a day.

     

    On the other hand, getting to actually do some CS6 work is great! Love the apps!!

     
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  • Bill Lomax
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    87. Bill Lomax,
    Aug 19, 2012 10:22 AM   in reply to wjwm
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    Hey John,

     

    Haven't read all the commentary here, but I do have a suggestion. Under your System Preferences (assuming Mac OS X Lion+) there is an icon labeled Mouse. Try easing back on the tracking speed, and disabling some of the More Gestures. It will slow down the response to your hand movements. You can always change them back for Safari, and other APPs where it's useful.

     

    I have Magic Mouse issues in AI15 when dragging objects to copy them using the option key, that seems to trip a pasteboard resize - which is not my intent.

     

    Bill Lomax

     
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  • flaming1
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    88. flaming1,
    Aug 19, 2012 1:47 PM   in reply to thinkingmanhawaii
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    @thinkingmanhawaii - can you honestly speak for the experience of Most users? I can only state my experience - I doubt very much whether anyone here can speak accurately for Most users of Indesign.

     

    If I was to give accurate numbers for Magic Mouse users that I have direct experience with, Most users in our studio have no problems using the mouse with Indesign (5 out of 7 people).

     

    I spoke to my brother again about his experience and he also confirmed that it was most definitely NOT just Indesign that displayed the issues. He said MS Excel had exactly the same issues for him. Again, this points (in his particular case at least) to the user as much as the software.

     

    I've no doubt that it is a serious annoyance for people that if affects, but if that is the case why not just go back to the Mighty Mouse? It's still available from Apple and is still an option as a substitute for the Magic Mouse with any Mac purchase.

     
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  • re_volver
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    89. re_volver,
    Aug 20, 2012 7:42 AM   in reply to flaming1
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    @flaming1,

     

    I have both a magic mouse AND a mighty mouse and have tested this problem between two iMacs at my work, and my iMac at home (all running Snow Leopard).

     

    • InDesign CS3 scrolls beautifully - with either the magic mouse OR the mighty mouse. No problems.

     

    • In every later version of InDesign, I touch the mouse, and I've suddenly scrolled 12 pages away from where I want to be... I can't even scroll from a left to right page without ending up on the far end of the pasteboard. Which mouse I use is irrelevant. Using the mighty mouse doesn't fix the scrolling problem in InDesign.

     

    • I have NO problems using the magic mouse with InDesign CS3.

     

    • I've had absolutley no issues in any other application with the Magic mouse. For me, it seems to be only InDesign, which is unfortunately the application I use the most often.

     

    I've given up on the later versions of InDesign, and am using CS3 for my print layouts - simply because of this one problem. I do love the magic mouse - I like the ergonomics and the 360 degree touch scrolling in Illustrator. However I would happily switch back to the mighty, if it actually made a difference.

     

    I can only speak to my specific experience, but it's the same experience on three separate workstations...

     
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  • Directingart
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    90. Directingart,
    Jan 2, 2013 6:56 AM   in reply to wjwm
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    if anyone is talking about the sliding around in Illustrator with the mouse actions do this to turn it off - it was driving me nuts too.

     

    If you're not a fan of this feature, then you can disable it very easily. To do so, follow these steps:

    1. Open System Preferences
    2. Click "Universal Access"
    3. Select the "Mouse" tab
    4. Click "Mouse Options..."
    5. Select your option from the drop-down menu next to "Scrolling"

     

     

    http://www.daviddifran.co/home/2011/7/21/how-to-disable-inertial-momen tum-scrolling-in-mac-os-x-lion.html

     
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