a few days ago, i came across a *great* feature i had no idea existed on my mac, which in its limited but real way changed my life...
now my father had always been boosting about his browser (i think it was opera), which allowed him to zoom in on any page/image... sure, it's a neat trick -- and i couldn't say my safari or firefox could do the same.
but a few days ago, as i was browsing, i accidentally used a shortcut i'm used to with firefox on windows: ctrl-mousewheel up or down to make the text bigger or smaller. i was actually trying to zoom in, but had forgotten i wasn't using my PC at work, but my neat Mac at home. but hey, what's that?? it does zoom in! i thought "neat, so firefox *does* have a zoom feature after all. but then i notice that not only the text, but *everything* is bigger -- and when i move my mouse (which is bigger), the screen seems to be moving along! so i thought "it can't be a firefox thing, let's try it somewhere else". i switch to photoshop, try it... guess what: it zoomed in on my picture! of course at the current screen resolution -- as i said, it actually enlarges the screen as a whole, down to perhaps a 10x size or more! of course, when you do that, the screen image gets bigger than your display -- that's why the part displayed follows the mouse -- in a very natural way i must add.
one might think "well, great, so you see bigger pixels, now what?". now i can't stop using it! even if the mouse moves at the "same speed" (relatively to the actual resolution of your display), even if you don't get more details (actually i think i can remember the text is anti-aliased), it's just so practical! first it's very easy and quick -- when i'm browsing, i always have one hand on my mouse and one on my keyboard. well, that's exactly what i need to see a webpage bigger, without messing up the whole layout. also, i have a 19" display, and with a resolution of 1600x1200, the pixels are pretty small. i have a good sight, but i don't complain if they're a bit bigger... besides, when zooming in on a picture i'm working on, i still have it whole in my window -- only the window gets bigger, and i can still reach all of it. basically, it's just as if i had a 30 or 40" display, always focusing on what i'm actually looking at...
there are so many ways it can be used, and it just doesn't get in the way -- it's there when you need it, but if you need to see the whole screen, well, it's just a small mousewheel move away!
but i've been disappointed though... i have an "old" (2 years!) dual G5, running Tiger 10.4.9, a CRT display, and logitech cordless keyboard and mouse. dunno if that's relevant, but yesterday i was at an apple store (or the closest equivalent we have here in germany), and i tried it on an imac with a mighty mouse... disappointment! the desktop remains motionless...
so i'm not sure what the winning combination is. or is it just a configuration thing? i think i've seen pretty much all ways the keyboard and mouse can be configured, and i can't remember seeing anything like this -- and i know i haven't set it myself... can some of you try and say what they get?
i want to get a new mac soon (but i'm waiting till after the WWDC
), and i know i'll be awfully disappointed if i can't use this feature on it...
and i hope they keep it in Leopard!!
now my father had always been boosting about his browser (i think it was opera), which allowed him to zoom in on any page/image... sure, it's a neat trick -- and i couldn't say my safari or firefox could do the same.
but a few days ago, as i was browsing, i accidentally used a shortcut i'm used to with firefox on windows: ctrl-mousewheel up or down to make the text bigger or smaller. i was actually trying to zoom in, but had forgotten i wasn't using my PC at work, but my neat Mac at home. but hey, what's that?? it does zoom in! i thought "neat, so firefox *does* have a zoom feature after all. but then i notice that not only the text, but *everything* is bigger -- and when i move my mouse (which is bigger), the screen seems to be moving along! so i thought "it can't be a firefox thing, let's try it somewhere else". i switch to photoshop, try it... guess what: it zoomed in on my picture! of course at the current screen resolution -- as i said, it actually enlarges the screen as a whole, down to perhaps a 10x size or more! of course, when you do that, the screen image gets bigger than your display -- that's why the part displayed follows the mouse -- in a very natural way i must add.
one might think "well, great, so you see bigger pixels, now what?". now i can't stop using it! even if the mouse moves at the "same speed" (relatively to the actual resolution of your display), even if you don't get more details (actually i think i can remember the text is anti-aliased), it's just so practical! first it's very easy and quick -- when i'm browsing, i always have one hand on my mouse and one on my keyboard. well, that's exactly what i need to see a webpage bigger, without messing up the whole layout. also, i have a 19" display, and with a resolution of 1600x1200, the pixels are pretty small. i have a good sight, but i don't complain if they're a bit bigger... besides, when zooming in on a picture i'm working on, i still have it whole in my window -- only the window gets bigger, and i can still reach all of it. basically, it's just as if i had a 30 or 40" display, always focusing on what i'm actually looking at...
there are so many ways it can be used, and it just doesn't get in the way -- it's there when you need it, but if you need to see the whole screen, well, it's just a small mousewheel move away!
but i've been disappointed though... i have an "old" (2 years!) dual G5, running Tiger 10.4.9, a CRT display, and logitech cordless keyboard and mouse. dunno if that's relevant, but yesterday i was at an apple store (or the closest equivalent we have here in germany), and i tried it on an imac with a mighty mouse... disappointment! the desktop remains motionless...
so i'm not sure what the winning combination is. or is it just a configuration thing? i think i've seen pretty much all ways the keyboard and mouse can be configured, and i can't remember seeing anything like this -- and i know i haven't set it myself... can some of you try and say what they get?
i want to get a new mac soon (but i'm waiting till after the WWDC
), and i know i'll be awfully disappointed if i can't use this feature on it... and i hope they keep it in Leopard!!
