The Joy of a Two-Button Mouse

On a Macintosh.

Anyone who visits this site regularly will know that I’m a Mac user. I’ve been using a Mac since 1989 and although I’m required to occasionally use a Windows PC for some of my books and articles, I really prefer Macs.

And if you’re a Mac user, you know that the difference between a Mac’s mouse and a PC’s mouse is the number of buttons: Macs normally have just one while PCs usually have two.

I used to tell people that Macs were so advanced that Mac users only needed one button. And, in a way, that’s true. After all, we do only need one button.

But there are certain tasks that are quicker and easier to perform with a two-button mouse.

Most obvious is the display of contextual menus. Those are the menus that appear at the mouse pointer when you hold down the Control key and click something onscreen. For example, in Microsoft Word, hold down Control and click a word or some selected text. A menu pops up with options that can apply to that word or selection. This is especially useful if the word is misspelled and you want to correct it, as shown here.

Any Windows user can tell you that you can display a contextual menu like this by clicking the right mouse button. That’s how you do it in Windows. But guess what? If you have a two-button mouse connected to your Mac, you can right-click to get the menu, too. So that turns a two-handed task (Control-click) into a one-handed task (right-click). That leaves your other hand to do more important things, like lift your coffee cup, hold the telephone receiver, or scratch your nose.

A mouse can also have a roller, which is normally between the two mouse buttons. This roller can scroll a window’s or list’s contents. Just position it over the window or list (or sometimes over the scroll bar), and roll the roller. This can speed up the scrolling process since you don’t need to “drive” the mouse to a specific position onscreen (a scroll arrow) to get scrolling started.

Personally, I’m a bit baffled as to why Apple hasn’t come out with a two-button mouse. At this point, it’s as if they’re in denial about the benefits of having and using one. I’m not in denial. I know the benefit enough to have not one but two of them. And I can recommend either one:

• Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 is a wireless 2-button mouse with roller. I bought one of these for my PowerBook — I really hate using the trackpad. It’s got a great ergonomic shape that really fits well in my hand and feels good to use. (I never thought I’d ever say that about a piece of computer equipment.) The big drawback, however, is that it does not utilize the Bluetooth technology built into my PowerBook. Instead, it has a USB receiver that plugs into the computer. When I’m not using it, I have to unplug this thing and snap it into a spot on the bottom of the mouse. This provides receiver storage and turns off the mouse to conserve battery power. This device is literally plug-and-play; I simply plugged in the receiver and the mouse started working — instantly. The trackpad continues to work, too.
• Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Bluetooth Mouse is a wireless two-button mouse with roller that uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with the computer. Since most Macs have Bluetooth built in this days, it’s a good choice. There’s no receiver to hog up one of your USB ports (or lose). Instead, on the bottom of the mouse, there’s an on/off switch that you can simply flick to enable or disable the mouse. The drawbacks: the mouse doesn’t seem to fit my hand as well as the Microsoft mouse, you must go through a one-time “pairing” process to introduce the mouse to the computer, and once the mouse is enabled, you can’t also use the trackpad. But it does come with a niftly little case to protect it in your computer bag. I got one of these for Christmas — it was on my Amazon.com Wish List.

I’m not sure which one I like better, but I recommend them both. They’re both relatively inexpensive; you can get the Microsoft Mouse for about $25 and the Logitech mouse for about $38. The links above are for Amazon.com, but you can find them both at most computer/electronics stores, like Fry’s, Best Buy, CompUSA, etc. And maybe — but I can’t guarantee it — at the Apple Store. And, of course, there are also wired two-button mice out there. They’re probably a bit cheaper; you can use one to replace your stock Apple mouse. I went wireless because I wanted to use the mouse primarily with a laptop.

If you haven’t tried a two-button mouse, what are you waiting for? It won’t take long for you to break old one-button mouse habits and learn new tricks to work faster and more efficiently. You’ll never want to go back to your one-button mouse ways.

Update: I stand corrected. Apple does have a “two-button” mouse.