By Graham K. Rogers

System Preferences in OS X has had some changes with the update to version 10.10, Mavericks. The Mouse preferences panel which has different displays depending on the type of mouse that is attached, has retained the same content as before although gestures for the Magic Mouse have been updated and of course the overall look of OS X panels has been revised.

Mouse preferences evolved in the last few releases of OS X from the earlier Keyboard & Mouse preferences. The preferences panel will change depending on the type of mouse connected. On the MacBook Pro which has an in-built trackpad, the Mouse panel opens with a generic image of a mouse displayed. A similar panel is seen when a new desktop Mac is started for the first time and it searches for a mouse (see below - Magic Mouse).

As before, a caption indicates that the system is searching for a Bluetooth mouse, or asks that a USB mouse be attached. Added text advice in the panel suggests that if the Bluetooth mouse does not appear, a user should check that it has batteries and is turned on.

When the panel is open with no mouse connected, a gear-wheel spins near the bottom. Alongside is the word, "Searching. . . ." Displayed in bold in the center of the panel are the words, "No mouse found." When any mouse is connected to the computer, the panel changes. The new image and information display will depend on the type of mouse connected.

Single Button Mouse

Two controls are available: sliders for Tracking speed and Double-Click speed. Below is a button for setting up a Bluetooth Mouse. This appears in every Mouse Preferences panel.

Two-Button Generic Mouse

If users wish to use such a 3rd party mouse I suggest they try connecting it first before installing any additional driver software, which itself may cause conflicts initially (or later when the operating system is updated). I have tried several 3rd party (e.g. Logitech, Microsoft) and generic devices, none of which has needed a driver to be installed.

There are two sliders to the left of the panel for Tracking speed and Scrolling speed (Slow - Fast), while on the right of the panel is a single slider for Double-click speed.

Below the Double-click speed slider are radio buttons for selection of the Primary mouse button. Some prefer this to be the Left click, while others prefer the Right click. As with the single-button mouse, additional features are available by pressing the Control key before the mouse click.

The ability to zoom using the scroll wheel (and a specified key - e.g. Control) as an option is not available using this panel. As with the trackpad, this is turned on in Accessibility preferences (Vision - Zoom).

Mighty Mouse

There are buttons both sides of the waist section of the mouse. When pressed - the action is like squeezing - this behaves like one button. This does not have Primary or Secondary button options, but the other selections (such as Mission Control) are available plus Other, Button 4 and Off.

Magic Mouse

A panel appears with a display that shows mouse functions and options for gestures. The pane is in two parts: Point & Click; and More gestures.

Point and Click has three checkboxes to the left of the panel for options:

• Scroll direction: natural. Like the Trackpad preferences allows the use of the scroll gesture to be natural: the content follows finger movement (ignore the scroll bar, follow the page);

• Secondary Click allows the selection of either the left or right side to be used for this;

• Smart Zoom allows a panel in some applications to zoom in and out. Only some applications (e.g. Safari) will allow this. This is also available in in Trackpad preferences where 2 fingers is used.

More Gestures has three checkbox options:

• Swipe between pages allows the user to scroll left or right with one finger. A menu is available with two more options:
  • Swipe left or right with one finger
  • Swipe left or right with two fingers
  • Swipe with one or two fingers

• Swipe between full-screen apps is a gesture that uses 2 fingers. When a two-finger option is selected in the Swipe between two pages (above) this becomes inactive. If this is reselected, the first option reverts to a one-finger action. There are no options, unlike the Trackpad which uses either 3 or 4 fingers for this action.

• Mission Control is activated with a double-tap using two fingers.

At the bottom of both panes there is a display to indicate the power remaining in the batteries of the mouse. If this is low the figure displayed changes to red. A user will need to change the AA batteries.

A button at bottom left, like on other panels, is available to set up a Bluetooth mouse. This brings up a small panel in which any nearby units are identified and may be selected.

See Also:

• Accessibility
• App Store
• Bluetooth
• CDs & DVDs
• Date & Time
• Desktop & Screensaver
• Dictation & Speech
• Displays
• Dock
• Energy Saver
• Extensions
• General
• iCloud
• Internet Accounts
• Keyboard
• Language & Region
• Mission Control
• Trackpad

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.