Trouble with Mighty Mouse? Your hand could be at fault.
By Barb Dybwad 
posted Aug 9th 2005 11:15AM
posted Aug 9th 2005 11:15AM
So a sizeable minority of folks seem to be reporting having difficulties piloting the
Mighty Mouse, and Maury McCown of RAILhead
Design thinks he knows the reason: user error. This is no design flaw — you're just holding the thing wrong, people.
What's more, you're at risk for carpal tunnel if you hold the mouse too far back and don't make proper contact with the
"touch sensitive areas" (not to be confused with buttons). So just remember today's mantra, kids, and feel free to
spread this far and wide — "When in doubt, establish full contact with touch sensitive areas." This has been a public
service announcement. Thanks.
[Via TUAW]
But how am I supposed to reach the side-buttons now?
ah yes, PEBKAC
or is it PEBMAC in this situation...
I am a gangsta mouse driva, lean back!
Layer 8 error.
Lesson for this artitle is :
DOUBT YOURSELF FIRST when your new gadget toubles you!
Right. I'll stick with my normal mouse and not have any of these silly problems, thanks.
This is retardo. It's a MOUSE. If there's a "right" and "wrong" way to HOLD YOUR MOUSE, there is something horribly, horribly wrong in the DESIGN, not on the user end.
People hold their hands back on the mouse, and for a reason -- it's less comfortable to cover the mouse as shown in the picture.
Enjoy your carpal tunnel, Orbberius.
I dont need Apple telling me how to hold my mouse. I dont need them telling me how to do anything. I will stick with my PC.
I guess you were sort of kidding, but when a multitude of users have trouble with an interface, it _is_ a design flaw.
"and fell free to spread this far and wide"
*falls over to spread the word*
Yes...you spelled 'feel' wrong...
There's a right and a wrong way to apply pressure to your accelerator and your brake pedal in your car...if you used your left foot or tried using the top of your foot instead of the bottom and it was "less comfortable", would you blame GM or Ford's design group?
Is this any different?
If I sit upside down in a classic Eames Lounge chair and I say it's "less comfortable," it doesn't mean that Charles and Ray are bad designers. It means I am an idiot.
(this is my first post. keep it real.)
***WARNING! ERROR ID:10T DETECTED!***
You know what really grinds my gears? *LOL*
It's mac users that hold a mouse like a large pencil! If you look at them, most of them hold the mouse much like the "WRONG" photo shown. Where I work, I see artsy Mac users nestling the mouse between their thumb and middle finger, and press the middle of the mouse body with their index finger.
Nothing against Macs (I own 6 of them) or Mac users that have a clue (of which I know many) but it seems that the "no button" mouse was simply a bad idea. I knew it from the start, but this just confirms it.
See my link for pics of me holding a mouse the way I see it done in our art labs. Not just wrong, but looks terribly uncomfortable, yet it's the norm around here.
http://www.focushacks.com/temp/shrink_stupidmouse.jpg
Mr. Withers:
Yes. This is different.
Why, you ask?
Well, it's called an "established standard."
What's by far the most commonplace method of using the mouse? Holding your hand at the back of it. The Mighty Mouse asks you to hold your mouse, which is shaped like any other mouse, in a different manner than you would hold any other mouse, that is not correct design.
A better analogy than yours would be a car manufacturer making a car where the brake pedal and gas pedal were oriented for left-footed use.
man, this mouse is hard to use. what do i do with the second button? is the second button for people who use the mouse with their left hand? i dont get it. I'll stick to my regular single click mouse. i cant belive i wasted my money on this joke of a product. a company like apple who have invented such great things as the mp3 player and wi-fi can do better than this. let us start a online petition to rid this product from apples near flawless acessorie line. who's with me?!
Another common user error is pushing the right "button" without lifting off the left "button". Doing so would register a left click, rather than the indended right click.
This, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that the sensors are easily confused, but rather that Apple is doing you a favor by giving your index finger some much needed exercise.
People are so stupid.
I would have thought this was a no-brainer. Full size mice are not designed by ANYONE to be held that far back. If you want to hold your mouse by the fingertips, get a notebook mouse.
That said, I just ordered 9 mighty mice for a lab, so I have a vested interest in hoping they are good. It was the horizontal scrolling for Final Cut Pro timelines that sold me.
I find it both hilarious deeply saddening that some Mac zealots are actually trying to defend this manifestly dysfunctional and pointless product.
a new way to hold a new mouse...like Michael jackon holds his nuts...ow!
#6
i second that motion
if the 'proper' hand/finger placement is used, it seems to me that an awkward motion would be needed to use the scroll device.
#5 you'd be surprised that there is actually a wrong way to hold ur mouse.. i walked into work one day and swiped my key card to get in only to see the idiot lobby guy having his mouse backwards.. so the cord was towards his wrist instead of going outward.. sigh.. i was going to say something to him.. but decided against it since i was already laughing my ass off.. then i realized that is why he is the doorman and i'm up in the cozy office slacking and looking at porn.
Mighty Mouse - Apple's Plan to teach Mac users to adopt PC style hardware. No one noticed that this came out after their announcement that they were moving to Intel PC style hardware? I have a feeling that they are trying to win the market share they have been lacking in and are trying to find new ways to help coax thier followers to accept the "new programming".
Besides, without tactile feedback, this mouse failed before it ever left the design house.
Great, another case of Apple releasing beta-quality products for consumers to discover the bugs. That's why their products are so cheap; they save millions on testing--wait a minute...
- a lifelong and recently-frustrated Mac user
If you hold a mouse like in the right picture you have to move the whole arm. That is in my opinion terribly uncomfortable. I always laugh about people using a mouse that way, it looks like they are paddling.
The "wrong" pictures shows the way I prefer to use a mouse, because that way I have to move only the mouse, not my arm, therefor a precise movement is possible.
I hope they put a warning on the box, that you can't use the mouse if you prefer the "wrong" way of using a mouse.
There is a reason why mac users hold their mouse back that far, most of us are designers and that gives a more tactile feeling, especially when you're not using a pen or Wacom pad. Apple just released a product without thinking of their main installed base first. No big deal, most designers I know already have a nice two button mouse for their macs, and since this mouse isn't wireless I'm not going to waste my time trying to learn Apple's way of rodent UI.
After reading these comments I feel like I'm the only person here who has actually used a Mighty Mouse (got it yesterday).
1) You can hold like any other mouse. Duh!
2) There is tactile feedback and (faint) audible feedback.
3) The only "problems" I've had are a) if you're a bit lazy and don't reach far enough to the right it does a middle click; b) some applications (Firefox) do non-intuitive things with horizontal scroll (walk the tab history) and c) the side buttons are waste. You can't hold the mouse in any sensible way and use them so you may as well use a keyboard accelerator.
It has the same mechanical feel as the one button mouse but they cleverly hid three sensor zones under the shell. When you press the scroll "ball" the whole shell moves -- it's nothing like the typical wheel mouse. I'm not sure how they tell where you're pressing.
One thing I think is a clear win: if you press with multiple fingers it's a button-1 click which lets my middle finger help out my overworked index finger (I always buy mice that have very sensitive buttons otherwise long sessions e.g. Gimp, are tiring).
BAD DESIGN. I am SHOCKED they released this product. One of the major tenets of industrial design as it applies to user interface with an object is that it provides redundant tactile feedback: thats why spring loaded keys, keys that click, mouse buttons that move down and spring back, are ESSENTIAL to a good product. The mechanical tactile response lets you know youve done something. That why I HATE the ipod touch sensitive buttons, and why I WILL NOT BUY THIS MOUSE.
#22
boo hoo. your acting like its the end of the world, its a freaking mouse.
er, uh, #23 i mean.
no i'm not. Apple's brand perception is one of highly refined and well engineered design. They failed with this product. I am an industrial designer, so I am happy to poopoo a bad design. so dont worry, I have a life beyond my mouse. do you?
Why is that hand on the right side so hairy? Do Yetis use Macs?
I hold my mouse exactly like they show in the picture anyway, and have had no problems "adjusting" to using the mighty mouse.
Scrollball owns j00.
And #23 -- there IS tactile, mechanical feedback. The front of the mouse moves down when you click. It feels very natural.
Honestly, how many haters here have actually TRIED the thing? I've been using one for several days now at home, and I'm thinking about getting one for work.
What does that cord sticking out of the front of the mouse do?
I agree with Nate...if you don't like the mighty mouse, don't buy it. If you do like it, buy it. Its a pretty simple concept. But sitting around typing messages in a vague attempt to make this mouse topic worthy is hardly a good use of anyones time.
I am a Mac user, I will make no secret of that. However, there are many fanatic Mac users out there who are not willing to accept that Apple makes mistakes from time to time. ALL companies make mistakes from time to time.
Now, I am not insinuating that the mighty mouse is a mistake, but is certainly not something one can use to judge Apple as a company. For that matter, the iPod is not a good gauge as well. That being said, if one chooses to judge Apple based off of one or two particular aspects of a product line, then judge companies like Microsoft or Nokia. Least we bring up the blunders of Windows ME or the N-Gage.
I think Apple gets a bad rap from the so called "geek" comunity because it produces a line of products that are initially unlike anything on the market. I say initially because its not very long after a product is released that its copied. Where was the Dell Jukebox before the iPod ?
My point is...so what if a company wants to put a strong focus on aesthetics. Is it really worth making it out to be the end of computing as we know it ?
MrTeacherMan... the MS Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 has a side scroller that works just fine in FCP... and costs $30 less... and is comfortable. I'm using mine in FCP right now...
Man, I don't know how any gamer would get anything done holding their mouse like that guy on the left.
Oh, wait...we're talking about Mac users here.
Grats to Mac on taking a mouse PC users have been enjoying for years, and dumbing it down. I'll stick with Logitech and Microsoft peripherals, thank you very much.
I find it fun to hold the current mac mouse (I guess it's current, haven't touched a mac since highschool) where the whole mouse clicks in my entire hand. I was being lazy and it worked (maybe 'cos my hands are so small...).
However, for lovely two-button mice with a wheel... It's just too much drama to put your hand way up there!
I tried it and I am a mac fan, but these mice suck. They feel flimsy, the little nob is positioned horribly (it would be better if they shifted it left for right-handed mouse use so that fine control could be acheived as opposed to a scroll wheel which needs only coarse control and can thus be operated easily with any finger.) The squeeze buttons are horribly placed and frankly the whole experience is very poor.
I think I will probably go with a Razer Pro instead, but I really want wireless.
What bad design. How can you hold a mouse like the comfortably?
Also, note that in the 'right' picture, the persons hand doesnt have easy access to the customisable 'hot buttons' on each side of the mouse.
Even more so, dont these 'hot buttons' on the sides double up as a grip to hold the bottom of the mouse as you click the upper body of the mouse?
Plain and simple:
If you need to tell me how to use your mouse, you've fucked up.
#33
In the "right" picture, the user's fingers are right on top of the hot buttons you mentioned... they couldn't be any more accessible. And they need a firm press too, so you're not likely to press them accidentally.
You're right in describing the hot buttons as a grip because that's what they were in the old version of this mouse. I think that's why the Mighty Mouse feels pretty natural to me because I used the previous Apple mouse with my hand in the "right" position. On the old mouse, I first thought the grips were buttons (which they weren't) but then found it to be the easiest place to grip the mouse and click.
Ah well, to each his own (mouse).
Posted Aug 9, 2005, 2:14 PM ET by karmaghost
Plain and simple:
If you need to tell me how to use your mouse, you've fucked up.
You hit the nail on the head.
If this mouse design was released by logitech, no one would like it.
Gee, maybe if this mouse was designed properly there wouldn't be any question of how to hold it. Ergonomic shapes have only been around for ten years or so. Oh, wait, then it wouldn't look like a giant suppository.
Ok. I'm a machead. I admit it. I have an iBook, an iMac and an iPod. I have been known to salivate at lower-case "i"s at the beginning of words. I love all the mac rumours websites and I eagerly await Mac news, even if there's nothing more I want to buy.
Still, I think this is a bit silly. 38 comments for a small side story about a freakin' MOUSE?
Uuum it's a freaking mouse people, i have one it works great for me, how clever do you have to be to use a mouse, come on! as for ergonomics it feels like any other mouse i've used and i've had a couple from microsoft and kensington. If you tell me you don't know how to hold a mouse, you need help before you even switch on a computer
Yes, we are the problem, not the piece of technology that's performing unexpectedly. I think I know the solution, how about we all kill ourselves? Then there won't be any more user error and technology can perform as it should without us getting in the way.
Wait, I have a better idea, how about we make technology designed to serve us?
I miss Jef Raskin. :(
Simon (#23) the mouse still clicks like the Apple Mouse of today. It just notes where your fingers are and makes an additional sound. So it actually provides more feedback.
And I have to admit that my hand has felt incredibly better since I've starting using a Mac and using the regular Apple Mouse holding it the "correct" way shown in the article. (naturally I might add, no one told me to) I've found that clicking with my whole hand prevents joint pain incredibly. Frankly I don't care if it's the same or different than PC mice, if their design works well in a mode that doesn't cause as much carpal tunnel problems, then their only problem is designing the mouse so that your hand more naturally ends up in that mode, not the mode itself.
I tried it out at an apple store last night.....
My damn hands hurt like hell after 5 minutes of messing with the little track ball....
Maczealots are brainwashed morons, they would buy even a turd with an Apple logo on it if Holy Steve says so.