Chapter 3 Working With Assistive Mouse Tools

Assistive mouse features provide users with motor impairments or limited mobility with alternative ways to use a mouse. You customize these features in the Pointing & Clicking section of the Universal Access settings panel in the GNOME desktop.

To access the Pointing & Clicking section from the GNOME Classic desktop:

  1. From the Applications menu, select System Tools, and then select Settings.

  2. In the All Settings window, click the Universal Access icon to open the Universal Access settings panel.

To access the Pointing & Clicking section from the GNOME desktop:

  1. On the top bar of the desktop, click Activities to open the Activities overview.

  2. In the Type to search... field, start typing "universal access", then click the Universal Access icon to open the Universal Access settings panel.

Customizing Mouse Tools for Accessibility

You can customize the following settings in the Pointing & Clicking section of the Universal Access settings panel:

  • Mouse Keys: Enables you to control the mouse pointer by using the numeric keypad on your keyboard.

  • Click Assist: Enables you to perform various mouse clicks without using a hardware button. The tool also includes capability for simulated secondary clicks, dwell clicks, and pointer capture.

    The Click Assist functionality is provided by the Mousetweaks tool, which you can also invoke by using the command line. To obtain up-to-date command-line usage for the tool, run the man mousetweaks command.

    In the Click Assist window, you can enable one or both of the following options:

    • Simulated Secondary Click: Triggers a secondary click by holding down the primary button. You can specify a length of time for the delay (ranging from Short to Long) by adjusting the Acceptance delay slider.

    • Hover Click: Triggers a click when the pointer hovers. To specify a length of time for the delay (ranging from Short to Long), adjust the Delay slider.

      To specify a motion threshold range (from Small to Large), adjust the Motion Threshold slider.

  • Double-Click Delay: Enables you to configure a time delay between the two clicks so that the click is registered as a double-click.

For more details, see Section 1.2, “About Universal Access in the GNOME Desktop”.

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