Using the Mouse
This appendix describes the mouse actions and the different mouse pointers.
It includes the following information:
A mouse is a pointing device that helps in moving the mouse pointer
over the screen. The mouse pointer is a small arrow with which you point to
objects on the screen. Depending on which button you press, a particular action
is performed on the object over which the mouse pointer is situated.
Mouse Button Conventions
The mouse button conventions are as follows:
Left mouse button – The button on the left side of a
mouse device. The left mouse button is frequently used for selecting, activating,
pressing buttons, and so on. When you are told to click, click with the left
button.
Middle mouse button – The middle button of a mouse device.
On many mouse devices with a scroll wheel, the scroll wheel can be pushed
down for a middle mouse button click.
Right mouse button – The button on the right side of
a mouse device. Often, this button displays a context menu for the object
under the pointer.
Some mouse devices lack a middle button. If you have a two-button mouse
device, then the system might be configured to use chording to enable middle
button simulation. If chording is activated, press the left and right mouse
buttons simultaneously to simulate the middle mouse button.
Use the Mouse preference tool to reverse the orientation of the mouse
device. You will then need to reverse the mouse button conventions used in
this guide.
Mouse Preference Tool
With the Mouse preference tool you can determine the following settings:
Configure your mouse for right-hand use or for left-hand use
Specify the speed and sensitivity of mouse movement
Configure mouse accessibility features
Choose System → Preferences → Mouse to display the Mouse Preference
tool.
General Mouse Preferences
Use the General tab to specify whether the mouse buttons are configured
for left-hand or right-hand use and configure the speed and sensitivity of
your mouse.
The following table lists the general mouse preferences that you can
modify.
Table A-1 Mouse Button Preferences
| |
|---|
Right-handed
| Configures your mouse for right-hand use. The left mouse button is the
primary button and the right mouse button is the secondary button.
|
Left-handed
| Configures your mouse for left-hand use. The functions of the left mouse
button and the right mouse button are swapped.
|
Show position of pointer when the Control key is pressed
| Enables a mouse pointer animation when you press and release the Ctrl key. This feature can help you locate the mouse pointer. Note - The position of the Ctrl key on the keyboard
can be modified in the Keyboard Layout Options dialog. For more information,
see Keyboard Layout Options.
|
Acceleration
| Specifies the speed at which your mouse pointer moves on your screen
when you move your mouse.
|
Sensitivity
| Specifies how sensitive your mouse pointer is to movements of your mouse.
|
Threshold
| Specifies the distance that you must move an item before the move action
is interpreted as a drag-and-drop action.
|
Timeout
| Use the slider to specify the amount of time that can pass between clicks
when you double-click. If the interval between the first and second clicks
exceeds the time that is specified, the action is not interpreted as a double-click. Use the light bulb icon to check double-click sensitivity: the light
will light up briefly for a click, but stay lit for a double-click.
|
|
Mouse Accessibility Preferences
Use the Accessibility tab to configure accessibility features that can
help people who have difficulty with exact positioning of the pointer or with
pressing the mouse buttons:
Open a contextual menu by clicking and holding the primary
mouse button. This setting is useful for users that can manipulate only one
button.
Perform different types of mouse button click by software.
This setting useful for users that are not able to manipulate any buttons.
The types of click that can be performed are:
Single click – A single click of the primary mouse button.
Double click – A double click of the primary mouse button.
Drag click – A click that begins a drag operation.
Secondary click – A single click of the secondary mouse
button.
The following table lists the mouse accessibility preferences that you
can modify.
Table A-2 Mouse Motion Preferences
| |
|---|
Trigger secondary click by holding down the primary button
| Enables simulated secondary clicks by pressing the primary mouse button
for an extended time.
|
Delay slider in the Simulated Secondary Click section
| Specifies how long the primary button must be pressed to simulate a
secondary click.
|
Initiate click when stopping pointer movement
| Enables automatic clicks when the mouse stops. Use the additional preferences
in the Dwell Click section to configure how the type of click is chosen.
|
Delay slider in the Dwell Click section
| Specifies how long the pointer must remain at rest before an automatic
click will be triggered.
|
Motion threshold slider
| Specifies how much the pointer must move to still be considered at rest.
|
Choose type of click beforehand
| Determines the type of click to perform from a window or panel applet.
|
Show click type window
| When this option is enabled, the different types of click (single-click,
double-click, drag-click or secondary click) can be selected in a window. Note - The Dwell Click panel applet can be used instead of the window.
|
Choose type of click with mouse gestures
| Moving the mouse in a certain direction determines the type of click.
Assign directions to the different types of click. Note that each direction
can be used for only one type of click.
|
|
Note - To enable these
accessibility preferences, the system administrator must install the gnome/accessibility/mousetweaks package.
The mouse buttons perform the following actions.
| |
|---|
Left mouse button
| Select text
Select items
Drag items
Activate items
|
Middle mouse button
|
|
Right mouse button
| Use the right mouse button to open a context menu for an item. For most
items, you can also use the Shift+F10 keyboard
shortcut to open the context menu once the item has been selected.
|
|
For example, when viewing files in the File Manager, you can select
a file by clicking the left mouse button and then open it by double-clicking
with the left mouse button. Clicking with the right mouse button displays
a context menu for that file.
Note - In most applications, you can select text with your left mouse
button and paste it in another application using the middle mouse button.
This process is called primary selection paste, and works separately from
normal clipboard operations.
To select more than one item, you
can hold the Ctrl key to select multiple items, or hold the Shift key to select a contiguous range of items. You can also drag
a rectangle in the empty space around items to select several items.
Mouse Pointers
The appearance of the mouse pointer can change. The appearance of the
pointer provides feedback about a particular operation, location, or state.
The following mouse pointers are displayed as the mouse passes over different
elements of the screen.
Note - Mouse pointers might differ from those shown here depending on
the mouse preferences used.
Table A-3 Mouse Pointer Description
| |
|---|
 Normal
pointer | Appears during normal mouse usage.
|
 Busy
pointer | Appears over a window that is busy performing a task. You cannot use
the mouse to give this window any input, but you can move to another window
and work there.
|
 Resize
pointer | Indicates that you can grab the control to resize parts of the interface.
This pointer appears over the borders of windows and over resize handles between
panes in a window. The direction of the arrows indicates the direction in
which you can resize.
|
 Hand
pointer | Appears when you hover over a hypertext link, for example, in a web
page. This pointer indicates that you can click the link to load a new document
or perform an action.
|
 I-beam
pointer | Appears when the mouse is over text which you can select or edit. Click
to place the cursor where you want to type text, or drag to select text.
|
The following mouse pointers are displayed when dragging an item such
as a file or a piece of text. They indicate the result of releasing the mouse
button to drop the object being moved.
|
 Move
pointer | Indicates that when you drop the object, it is moved from the old location
to the new location.
|
 Copy
pointer | Indicates that when you drop the object, a copy of the object is created
where you drop it.
|
 Symbolic link pointer | Indicates that when you drop the object, a symbolic link to the object
is created where you drop the object. A symbolic link is a special type of
file that points to another file or folder. See Creating
a Symbolic Link to a File or Folder for more information about creating
symbolic links. |
 Ask
pointer | Indicates that when you drop the object, you will be given a choice.
A menu is displayed which enables you to choose which operation you want to
perform, for example, you might be able to move, copy, or create a symbolic
link.
|
 Not available pointer | Indicates that you cannot drop the object at the current location. Releasing
the mouse button has no effect. The dragged object is returned to its original
location.
|
 Move panel object pointer |
|
 Move window pointer | Appears when you drag a window to move it. See Working
With Windows for more information about moving windows. |
|