Hiding applications via a programmable mouse

Oct 14, '02 08:01:50AM

Contributed by: mr5m

Here is a little trick that greatly improves my efficiency. It's not new to X, but I still wanted to share. We all know that If you option-click on any background window, the active application will hide. But this also works if you click on the empty desktop.

So, I've programmed the fourth button of my mouse to be a simple option-click (I use USB Overdrive). Now I have a gigantic button (the entire desktop) that I can click on whenever I want to hide my current app (Fitts's Law here we come!). Obvious? Yes, but the extra step of setting up a mouse button brings a whole new life to this simple shortcut.

[Editor's note: I'm using this simple but effective tip as a reminder that you can save a ton of time and keystrokes with a multi-button mouse. I use option-click on the right side button, and (the real time saver for me) command-option-click on the left side button. So with a simple thumb-press on a given application, all other applications hide on switch. You can effectively get this same behavior with third-party programs, but they are an 'all or nothing' proposition - you either always hide on switch or you don't. With the multi-button mouse, my main button still behaves as normal, and the extra buttons provide two additional switching modes. I realize the Mac was originally sold on the concept of a one-button mouse, but if you haven't tried a multi-button mouse, you may wish to do so ... there are many advantages!]

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