Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
Among the many changes inLion(Mac OS X 10.7 ) , one of the most controversial is a raw way of scrolling . In Lion , when you puff two fingers downward on a MacBook ’s trackpad or Apple ’s Magic Trackpad ( ) , or whirl your mouse ’s curl wheel towards you , thecontentof the current document or windowpane scroll down , as well . In other Scripture , scrolling is backwards compared to how we ’ve been doing it for the past 10 and a one-half .
The initial rage over this change is starting to die down as people have either contract used to the New Way or used Lion ’s option , in System Preferences , to trade back to the Old Way . But even among those who ’ve adjusted to — or , heck , sky-high welcomed — this inverted scrolling , there are a couple pertinacious charge . The first is that there ’s no way to configure Lion to use the new scrolling orientation with trackpads while maintaining traditional scrolling with mouse and trackballs . ( Count me in this group — I’ve mostly adjusted to the novel way of scrolling on my trackpads , likely because it ’s similar to the way I touch - scroll on my iPhone and iPad , but I ca n’t quite acclimate to it when using my mouse ’s curl wheel or my trackball ’s scroll ring . ) The second is that some citizenry who like this unexampled focussing for perpendicular scrolling have n’t yet taken to invertedhorizontalscrolling .
Before Lion was released , Iwrote abouta nifty utility calledScroll Reverserthat rent you reverse scroll . At the clip , it was designed to let Snow Leopard ( OS X 10.6 ) drug user get a head start on Lion ’s new scrolling ; it remains a useful agency for Snow Leopard users to invert scrolling .
But since that article , Scroll Reverser has encounter a number of significant update , and the current reading works great inLionto let you customise scrolling beyond OS X ’s simple inverted / traditional checkbox . Specifically , Scroll Reverser addresses the aforementioned shortcomings of Lion ’s scrolling option .
Launch Scroll Reverser , and its systemwide menu allow you quickly adjust your scrolling orientation . By default , all scrolling is reversed ( from whatever your System Preferences setting is ) for all input signal machine . you’re able to quickly disable Scroll Reverser by choosing Reverse Scrolling from the menu to uncheck it . ( Scroll Reverser strike only traditional scrolling ; it does n’t affect other Multi - Touch gesture . )
But the Preferences sub - card is where Scroll Reverser ’s tangible public utility lies . Here you could choosewhichdevices — trackpads , mice , and pad — are affected by Scroll Reverser . ( The Mouse category let in most trackballs . ) In other words , if you require to keep Lion ’s invert scrolling for your trackpads and tablets , but use traditional scrolling when using a mouse or trackball , you may do so . you’re able to also choose whether to reverse both horizontal and vertical scrolling , or just one or the other .
There are a mates limitations here . One is that Scroll Reverser depends on information from Mac OS X to determine the type of each twist . For representative , the non - Multi - Touch trackpads on older Mac laptops are treat as mouse , rather than trackpads , as are the trackpads on some third - party keyboards with build up - in trackpads or touchpads .
Another is that your horizontal and vertical preferences apply toeveryclass of machine ( trackpad , mouse , or tab ) you ’ve chosen to “ reverse . ” I ’d like to see separate horizontal and vertical options for each type of stimulant equipment . In addition to being more whippy , such a preferences interface would really make configuring Scroll Reverser less confusing — between Lion ’s own scroll - direction place setting , Scroll Reverser ’s main on / off setting , and the various stage setting for direction and twist types , sometimes figuring out the right combination of place setting to get your trust result feels like an LSAT interrogative .
Still , Scroll Reverser is a welcome solution for customizing Lion . For some citizenry , it just may be the thing that finally get them using Lion ’s Modern scrolling — at least onsomeof their stimulation devices .
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