Aug 11, '04 10:53:00AM • Contributed by: lilrabbit129
[robg adds: I've gotten so used to control-clicking for the contextual menu that it's almost second nature ... but it's nice to know there's a no-keys alternative.]
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One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
Aug 11, '04 10:53:00AM • Contributed by: lilrabbit129
I just noticed this behaviour in Firefox. If you hold down the mouse button, after about two seconds the contextual menu will pop-up. This seems to only work in Firefox. This is a real boon for laptop users who use the built-in trackpad. Now if only the rest of OS X could adopt this behaviour, Apple's one-button mouse philosophy would work great.
[robg adds: I've gotten so used to control-clicking for the contextual menu that it's almost second nature ... but it's nice to know there's a no-keys alternative.]
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Been around for years...
If I'm not mistaken, every web browser since Netscape 2.x has had this feature (IE, Netscape, iCab, Opera, OmniWeb, etc.). I doubt it's been posted to many web sites, so I'm glad you did. Now everyone who's anyone will know... 8-)
Been around for years...NOPE
Safari doesn't behave this way...
Even IE
This feature has been around in Mozilla as long as I can remember, even IE has it, which means it really has been around for years (when did the last feature update to IE happen, 2001?).
Much much older
Dude, this thing is really old. You know - it's older then the whole IE on the Mac. The even older then the whole IE! I've been using Netscape since version 1.1 (was that back in '95 or am I already too senile?). I think the contextual menus were really implemented in 2.0 as the original poster said. So about '96 or so. Which is like a millennium before 2001 in web terms.
It's just Safari
So, just to sum it up, I believe Safari is the first Mac browser NOT having this feature. I guess Apple wanted to unify the contextual menu workings of OS and browser.
Been around for years...
I had become so accustomed to this hold-for-drop-down behaviour in my Mac browsers (Netscape 2+, M$IE, Mozilla and now FireFox) that when I use Safari (Adobe's Help files always open in it, even though I have FireFox as my default) I wind up wondering why nothing happens when I continue to hold the button down...
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
I requested Apple to implement this click-and-hold-for-contextual-menu as a systemwide feature a while back. My argument is that this feature works great with Apple's one button mouse. If you click and hold any item on your dock, a relevant contextual menu will appear.
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
or break down and buy a two button mouse....
control-space works as well...
it is a common keystroke for the auto-complete feature of software IDEs, and that is how i stumbled upon it.
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
I've seen this in Mozilla as well. Actually, I find it somewhat annoying, since I occasionally highlight text to keep focused on what I'm reading, or to improve the contrast, and then, if I hover too long, Mozilla pops up a "helpful" context menu over the text I was trying to read. But then, I use Safari for most things these days.
As for button use on laptops, I'd go nuts without SideTrack, and highly recommend it to all iBook/PowerBook users. Not just more mouse buttons, but also vertical and horizontal "scroll wheels". And freeware, at least until it emerges from beta (more stable as a beta device driver than some "released" apps -- never had the slightest bit of trouble from it).
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
There is an app called "FruitMenu" from Unsanity that does a good job organizing the Apple Menu, but also provides a click-and-hold contextual menu for the Finder. Check it out!
The real trick
... would be to *stop* the behavior from happening in the Toolbar Bookmarks area.
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
Or you could use the newest version of the SIDETRACK driver on your laptop, and map a corner to "Mouse Button 2" and have a corner to hit for the contextual menu.
Another alternative powerbook button setup
I suggest using sidetrack to map the mouse BUTTON on the powerbook to be the RIGHT-CLICK, then use the "tapping" on the powerbooks trackpad to function as the LEFT-CLICK. Just a suggestion.
Problem!! This is in Violation of Patents! (ones that shouldn't exist)
If I rember correctly, Micro$oft just recently applied for and recieved a pattent on how the mouse works and the methods in which you can do different things with it depending on the number of clicks or the length of time the button is depressed. For myself I think Micro$oft should be taken out and shot for even sugesting that they had anythng to do with the development of the Mouse, that is short of copying the idea from Apple and xerox.
MS patent not applicable here
The MS patent referred to in the parent comment (and in the following comment) is not applicable to the Mac. That patent is applicable only to "substantially smaller palm-type computers".
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
Folks,
We shouldn't even be talking about this! Just as the previous poster mentioned, Microsoft has a patent on this, as well as the double-click. Stop using your browser (and Finder) this instant!
Patent number 6727830 From the patent: "Alternative application functions are launched based on the length of time an application button is pressed. A default function for an application is launched if the button is pressed for a short, i.e., normal, period of time. An alternative function of the application is launched if the button is pressed for a long, (e.g., at least one second), period of time. Still another function can be launched if the application button is pressed multiple times within a short period of time, e.g., double click."
MS patent not applicable here
The MS patent referred to in the parent comment (and in the preceding comment) is not applicable to the Mac. That patent is applicable only to "substantially smaller palm-type computers".
MS patent not applicable here
And it only referred to specific type of inputting on a touch screen with a stylus. I love the slashdot herd mentality.
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
Heh... this is how contextual menus were introduced on the Mac in the first place. Control-clicking was an alien concept and appealed mostly to power users who didn't like to wait two seconds for the menu to appear. Two-button mice were even more alien.
Opposite: Keyboard stroke for CM?
So, pressing and holding the mouse is nice, but I find myself with the opposite question: is there a way to bring up the contuxual menu with a key stroke in OS X? Often I'm in a text field typing and want to make a spelling correct without reaching for the mouse. Windows keyboards have a special key for it. Is there a way to do it on the Mac?
ittec pref pane
I use ittec pref pane to achieve this.
this feature finally available for Safari...kinda
I found out about a browser called Shiira, which is an open-sourced browser pretty much built from the same engine as Safari. Anyway, among other features, the click-and-hold feature is offered in Shiira, which allows not only contextual menus for links, images, etc., but also a nice back/forward history simpy by clicking and holding on the respective button on the button bar. Oh, and by the way, the button bar can also be customized, a feature that I was surprised Apple left out of Safari.
Another nice feature for those of you who are into simply testing the browser alongside Safari, but not yet ready to completely ditch Safari, there's also a feature that would allow you to syncronize and share bookmark sets. I've just started using Shiira, and I'm already in love :-) ---
One-button access to Firefox's contextual menu
let's not forget good ol' finderpop [www.finderpop.com] from the OS 9 days! when i upgraded to X, i was very sad to let finderpop go.
You LIKE this?
I can't believe anyone LIKES this. It was cool back when Netscape was brand new (or maybe 2.0, as another post suggested) but it's downright annoying now. Since every mouse I own except those that have shipped with my Macs are multi-button mice, and since I don't really mind using Control from time to time, I find that the only time I use this feature is when it rears its head when I don't want it to. If I hold the mouse down for a second for whatever reason, I get the stupid menu in my way. And there's no way I know of to disable it.
And don't forget the scrollwheel. I can't live without a scroll wheel!
...
yes - I LIKE this?
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