Lack of feedback considered aggravating

[dsrtao]

I've temporarily switched from a mouse to a trackpad at work, because the reduced wrist movement makes my shoulder feel better.

If you tap in the upper right triangle, it does a right-button click. Good.

If you rub on the right edge, it does a scroll up or down. Good.

If I come to the end of a scrollable section, I don't get any mechanical feedback telling me that I'm scrolling properly, so my finger believes the pad is broken.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Do you mean 'end of a scrollable section of the trackpad', or 'end of a scrollable section of a window'? The former might be solvable with a bit of thread and some superglue. The latter gets into things I've always wanted, mice/trackpads that provide some tactile feedback regarding on-screen elements. (The Wii remote does this, buzzing as you transition into UI elements. It's nice but could be richer.)

[dsrtao]

The latter. With a scrollwheel, I can feel that my finger is doing something, so when things stop moving, it's not my finger that's "wrong". With the pad, I can't tell whether the finger is missing or the pad is mistracking.

[malvinareynolds.livejournal.com]

had excellent results with the kensington mouse, and two other things: i use a mouse at the same time as the trackball (was surprised that you can use multiple devidces at the same time and have it all work) and I use al LOT of keyboard shortcuts, end result, i never do anything repetitive, and have happier joints

hope you are feeling more comfortable!

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

When I started using a laptop with a trackpad (with scroll section) this happened to me a lot too. But over time I adjusted to it and stopped noticing it.

[hungrytiger]

depending on the pad and the OS, there are lots of interesting additional tricks you can add. I downloaded: http://code.google.com/p/two-finger-scroll/ and installed it on my netbook so I could use a two-finger scroll anywhere on the pad instead of having the right-side dedicated to that. The same code also lets me add special commands for a two- and three-finger tap.

The more you poke into the touchpad settings, the more interesting options turn up.