One of the most vulgar criticism of Apple ’s computers — particularly among more modern users — is that after all these years , they still ship with a single - button mouse ( or , in the suit of laptop , a single button for the trackpad ) . It ’s not that Mac OS X does n’t provide support for ever - useful contextual menus ( known to Windows drug user as “ right - clink ” menus ) ; in fact , if you link up a multi - button mouse to your Mac , you’re able to “ right - click ” to your spunk ’s content . The freehanded outcome is that without an after - market rodent , the only mode to access contextual menus on a Mac is by “ Control - clicking”—holding down the Control keystone as you press your mouse ’s alone individual button .
“ So what ? ” you might say . Well I say ( and I know a well act of people who jibe with me ) that such a procedure is a pain because it means that you need to utilise two hands to do what should take only one . This is especially the case on PowerBooks and iBooks , where you ’re less likely to be using a third - party , multi - button input equipment .
Back in the days of Mac OS 8 , there was a clever utility calledLook Mom , No Handsthat activated contextual menus when you reserve down the mouse / trackpad button ; unfortunately , the utility never made the changeover to OS X. The Firefox and OmniWeb browsers presently admit like functionality , but it ’s limited to the internet browser themselves .
aim to sate this nigh - four - yr - old void , Old Jewel Software has recently released the $ 6.85 organisation Preferences paneOne Finger Snap (; presently at interlingual rendition 1.1.1 ) . Like the OS 8/9 usefulness mentioned above , One finger’s breadth Snap lets you get at contextual menus by just click the black eye or trackpad clitoris and holding it down ; how long you postulate to defy it can be set anywhere from half a second to 3 seconds . A nice trace is that One Finger Snap can provide feedback — in the manakin of a finger - snap sound , a screen news bulletin , or both — to get you know when you ’ve hold the black eye clitoris long enough ; this is utilitarian for situations where One Finger Snap does n’t sour — such as with incompatible applications — so you are n’t sitting there wait long after the contextual menu should have seem .
One Finger Snap is also smart enough to understand the difference between control and dragging — if you move the pointer while you have the release compress , One Finger Snap will acquire that you ’re trying to drag content and will not activate the contextual fare .
Finally , you could inactivate One Finger Snap in specific software if you discover that it ’s unsuited with those apps . Unfortunately , the subprogram for doing so requires typing a command in Terminal . The command is documented in the public utility ’s ReadMe file , but make to employ Terminal for such a basic setting is a hassle ; a better approach would be a dialogue in which you could choose the appropriate app(s ) .
One Finger Snap is especially useful for PowerBook and iBook user , since they ca n’t replace their trackpad with a multi - button rendering , but it ’s even helpful for those who ’ve already purchase a two - button mouse for their Mac : By using One Finger Snap to access contextual menus , you free up your 2d shiner button for other thing , such as trigger off Expose or Dashboard .
Side note : Savvy users will likely do it that standardized click - hold functionality can be found in Unsanity ’s $ 10FruitMenu (; July 2002 ) and Balance Software ’s $ 25Ittec (; February 2004 ) . alas , FruitMenu ’s click - hold feature act only in the Finder , and Ittec is not yet in full compatible with Tiger .
One Finger Snap is compatible with both Tiger and Panther
