Web surfing with a multi-button mouse

Dec 31, '02 09:25:17AM

Contributed by: meta4ic1

With a Logitech track ball, or other four button device and Quickeys, it is possible to speed windowing navigation by trading dedicated button clicks for menuing or mousing.

The first big win is to create a dedicated Close-window button. This close-window functionality is useful in any application, not just surfing. The next speedup is to create a dedicated Command-Click button. Command-Click opens a link in a new window (some of you may prefer an open window behind version). The next speedup is to create a dedicated "Back" button.

With those three dedicated buttons (open links in new window, close windows and back to the previous link), it is now possible to just click for 90% of www navigation, all without keystrokes or mouse movement. Like any other change, it takes a little getting used to.

[Editor's note: If you have a programmable mouse of some sort, it really is worth the trouble to set up the extra buttons to have different functions in your major programs. I use the side buttons on my Intellimouse for forward and backward, a click on the scroll button executes a command-click, and if I press and hold the scroll button and then roll it up and down, it switches tabs. I have a completely different set of commands assigned to Word, Excel, Mail, etc. Once you've used a multi-button mouse, it's hard to go back to just one button!]

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