Fitts' Law OS X

I will be referring to this interesting read from Smashing Magazine (specifically, point 6, which is Fitts' law): http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/12/top-10-usability-highs-of-the-mac-os

This is not so much a question as an observation, and I would like to see people's perspectives on this.

To review, Fitts' law states that the time needed to acquire a target is proportional to the distance to travel and the width of the target (for 1d motion; there are variations for 2d motion, which are essentially the same). The example always stated is that Mac's menus are at the top of the screen at all times, which essentially makes their size infinite, thus requiring less time to acquire them (this is also true for the Dock, btw). While this is 100% true, I am boggled by some of the other choices Apple made, specifically the size of their buttons.

What's with Safari and the Finder's tiny back and forward buttons? Actually, all the the buttons are so tiny that I feel it's a chore to use them (slight exaggeration). Thankfully, multitouch to the rescue! I never use the back and forward buttons, and always do the 3-finger swipe, which is the best thing since sliced bread, in my opinion.

Also, the close window, minimize window, and "zoom" buttons are even smaller! Now those are really hard to click (again, according to Fitts' law), so I always use the keyboard shortcuts. However, I feel for the users who don't like to memorize the keyboard shortcuts.

I'd like to hear what you guys think, and also if you have any other "man that's annoying" "features" in OS X.

I agree with everything you have said. The buttons (particularly the upper left 3) are incredibly small and clicking them is made even harder with the pointer acceleration. The mouse movements are definitely different than Windows and harder to control. I go up to click a button and I can't get the mouse over a specific point like I could with Windows. I've been on Mac for about 3 months now and I'm still not used to the mouse movements; I guess I just can't adjust to it.

Download Steermouse, you'll be able to make the mouse movement just like Windows. Personally though, I don't have a problem with either regarding mouse movement.


Additionally, while mousing is over all more convenient, I do find that OS X is easier to use from a keyboard shortcut perspective though. Because of this cmd-w, cmd-q and cmd-m are all far more convenient than clicking anything. So not really annoying, just a different workflow. Then again, the buttons are the exact same size in firefox.

I've been a Windows user for years, and just recently switched to the Mac. Actually, I don't remember ever feeling that the mouse on OS X was different than the mouse on Windows. but I've read other posts which have complained about it.

OS X is very heavy on keyboard shortcuts, it may take a long time to learn them all but once you do you'll find there so much easier to use

Andre said:

Thankfully, multitouch to the rescue! I never use the back and forward buttons, and always do the 3-finger swipe, which is the best thing since sliced bread, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Really? I never knew about a three-finger swipe. Then again I am a switcher and had my Mac for not even two weeks. I am also using Firefox by the way.

EDIT: Nevermind, I looked into it and found MultiClutch.

EDIT AGAIN: Great, just figured out it works only with MBPs and MBAs......

GK27V6 said:

Really? I never knew about a three-finger swipe. Then again I am a switcher and had my Mac for not even two weeks. I am also using Firefox by the way.

Click to expand...

I find myself consistently trying to use the 3-finger swipe in Firefox; unfortunately, it's not supported!

I've only had a Mac for about 3 months now, and I found that after about 2 weeks, I was using multi-touch everywhere. It's unfortunate it's not supported everywhere, though..

yeah the 3-finger swipe only works with some Apple applications such as Safari…

Install and configure multiclutch as previously stated and you can use it in any application.

It does require a different touchpad though, which is why it only works on MBP's and airs.