I haven't used a mouse for 14 years

The three finger drag pattern comes from Fingerworks, the multitouch trackpad company that Apple bought to get their multitouch tech.

A Fingerworks trackpad is when I switched away from a mouse, and in some ways it was even better than a modern Apple trackpad. First it was huge, maybe like twice the area of a MacBook Pro trackpad. It had no click switch at all. Taps only, which were very reliable.

It also lay flat on the desk and was only a few mm thick. So it felt like just resting your hand on the desk. And it was possible to just passively rest your hand on it with no reaction. So using it, my hand and wrist were totally relaxed when not moving the cursor (most of the time). Whereas with modern Apple trackpads, I sometimes get spurious inputs when resting my hand on it.

It also had tons of gestures that were mapped to keyboard shortcuts. So an “opening the jar” arcing motion with 4 fingers opened whatever file was currently highlighted. And “closing the jar” closed the current window. Etc.

I spend most of my time using a ThinkPad laptop touchpad, but the critical property that makes it usable for me is the physical mouse buttons. I find it incredibly awkward to use any system without physical mouse buttons, or any system where tap-to-click has not been disabled.

I tried, on my current laptop, to see if I could get used to having tap-to-click enabled even without actually using it; I wanted to see how far off I was from being able to deal with any non-ThinkPad. I ended up turning it back off after a few days, after many many clicks I didn't want to click.

I don't know, does a trackpad count? In one sense, no, it's not a mouse. In which case, I guess I'm in the same boat. I don't know if I even have any mice in the house anymore.

OTOH, I thought this might be a post from a keyboard shortcut wizard.

I thought it was going to be about someone who’d fully embraced the terminal.

Preferring a trackpad to a mouse seems not so unusual, right? I guess sticking to it so completely is. I prefer marble-mouse type devices, but I can’t say with any certainty that I haven’t accidentally touched a mouse in the past 14 years.

It’s funny: I’d never given it a moment’s thought until I saw this piece but I’ve realised I’m probably the same. The only time I’ve used a mouse since maybe 2012 or so is on the odd occasion I’ve fired up an FPS on a laptop rather than on a games console. And that’s it.

(I’ve tried playing FPSs with trackpads as well but, even with Mac trackpads, which remain far and away the best, it is not a good - or even acceptable - experience. Mouse all the way for fragging action.)

I haven't used a mouse in ages, but I haven't used a trackpad - ever. I've never found one that matches the accuracy, speed, and overall joy of using TrackPoint to move the mouse cursor.

I exclusively use trackpads like Magic Trackpad 2 when I'm on MacOS. But I exclusively use a mouse when I'm running Windows and Linux.

MacOS just seems more tailored to the touchpad experience. Windows and Linux more tailored to the mouse experience.

Wish I could use a trackpad as-is. My wrists are mildly FUBAR after decades of computer work/obsession, and now I'm having to deal with it. For me, that means that continual wrist pronation freaking hurts.

Let your arms hang straight down. Now bend your elbows and lift your forearms so that they're at 90º to your body, i.e. parallel to the ground. Notice that your hands are naturally oriented so that if you were holding a pole, it would be much closer to pointing downward than sideways. Rotating your wrists "inward" so that your hand is parallel to your desk, in the position to use a trackpad, is not their normal position.

I used a magic trackpad for quite a while until I found myself in agony by the end of the day. One of my coworkers told me he was exploring using vertical mice and that caught my attention. I tried one and it stopped the pain, like, immediately. Mousing around was awkward for a few days until I got used to the different hand orientation and movement, but that passed quickly. Now I'd never, ever go back to a trackpad.

I'd considered making a little block to mount my magic trackpad sideways at, say, a 45º angle to my desk so that my wrist wasn't so pronated, but even then it nudges you toward radial and ulnar deviation which can also become uncomfortable over time. I'd rather just painlessly use my vertical mouse which uses forearm movement and write extension/flexion to zip the cursor around my screen.

I've tried them all. Trackpad, trackpoint, trackball, all of them. I keep coming back to a mouse. Everything else is either frustrating and finicky, or it induces RSI after a few hours.

> macOS setup guide used to include an option to turn on three finger drag, but now it has been hidden in the accessibility option.

I don't understand why Apple does this. It's like the "allow ANC with one AirPod" setting, which is also inexplicably an accessibility option.

One of my buddies has beaten minecraft many times using only his mac trackpad. In fact, he's better than I am with a mouse.

The three finger drag is an ergonomic marvel, combined with tapping (vs. clicking) and a couple of four finger gestures it’s perfect. I don’t use (or drag around) a mouse since very long; not even when heavily using Photoshop and similar pointer-heavy applications.

If, like me, you like to script your Mac environment setup, the following two commands SHOULD do the same thing:

    defaults write com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad TrackpadThreeFingerDrag -bool true
    defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad TrackpadThreeFingerDrag -bool true

ETA: I tested it, and the behavior is correct when I log back in after running the above. Oddly though, the settings aren't showing as turned on in the settings panel. If anyone has a scriptable solution to that I'd love to hear it.

I like laptop trackpads because it means you're always close to the keyboard, so you can easily switch between cursor and typing without only relying on one. It's good for UI design work for example.

I'm in much the same boat. Daily Apple trackpad driver for the past 15 years at least, maybe more. Every time I have to use a PC with a mouse it kills me a little (and don't get me started on those trackpads cheap PC laptops ship with...)

I haven't used a mouse since about 1999 when my index finger told me I'd been doing entirely too much double-clicking in my Flash animation job. It's been all drawing tablets since then. I have a mouse that I use on the rare occasion of playing a game that requires you to move the view by pushing the cursor against the screen edges; I have to hold it in a weird, awkward grip because that tendon still starts screaming if I try to use it to click a mouse button.

When I do use a mouse, I use a Logitech Lift because horizontal grip mice are uncomfortable, but now that I've retired and 99% of my time is on my MacBook Air, it's all trackpad, and my hands don't seem to mind it.

I switched to a mac trackpad years ago due to hand pain that comes whenever I grip/use a mouse. Something about that half-closed-hand light grip has become just super painful. Unfortunately I still need to use one for FPS gaming, just haven't found a controller to match the speed and precision needed to aim and fire at a game opponent.

can anyone recommend similar hardware compatible with linux? that also supports the three fingered drag and other stuff mentioned in the article?

Trackball gang here. Nulea seems to be my latest iteration, I've tried a bunch of them.

When I first learned of them I thought they were ridiculous, but it really saved my hands going ergonomic w/ the Trackball and Keyboard (Microsoft Ergo style - Nulea as well).

I can't use the trackpad for too long without getting RSI type feelings.. I am trackball these days.

One of my favourite features on my Asus Zenbook (Windows) is the "Disable Touchpad" hotkey.

You have me beat by two years and I never knew about the three fingers drag. Great find... thanks!

Windows has something better than three finger drag. It has single finger second tap and hold. Plus extended zones for when the trackpad is not big enough to stretch across

I get the love for Macbook trackpads, but Lenovo really nailed it with the ThinkPad trackpoint and glass trackpad combo, especially on more recent models.

I love the Magic Trackpad and I've used exclusively for years, at some point my wrists start to hurt and I'm now stuck with some Logitech MX Vertical.

The Magic Trackpad and Logitech MX Master 3s mouse are an excellent combination for me. I see benefits from both.

I'm on 12 years and I didn't know about the 3 fingers drag, thanks for sharing!

I despise trackpads. They feel so sloppy and approximate. Mice work great for my needs. But the best laptop pointer for me has been the pointing stick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick

I have tried to go completely mouse/trackpad free with vimari/vimium, scoot, and rectangle. Worked relatively well, and helps me move things around as fast as I can think.

web moves: https://github.com/televator-apps/vimari mouse moves: https://github.com/mjrusso/scoot window moves: https://rectangleapp.com

Drag lock is a good setting, just test drove it and will be using it.

>I am still amazed by Mac's Trackpad quality to this day. I used to own Windows laptops, and most of their touchpads are so shit

I have hear multiple times that patents are the reason for the bad trackpads outside of Apples products. But I have never been able to find a confirmation.

Talking about mouse alternatives I would like to give rollermouse a shout-out. Beside the relaxed arm position they give, I really like that they invite to use both hands at the same time. With the similar workload between both hands and arms I find the over all strain lower even with repetitive tasks for a long time.

It is utterly insane that 3 finger drag isn't the default or at least not buried 3 layers deep inside accessibility. Apple, what are you doing?

Anecdotal, but I haven't used my Magic Trackpad 2 since I bought a trackball (Kensington Expert Wireless). Removes all the same wrist strain issues while retaining flick accuracy of a mouse.