What functions do you have assigned to your Mouse buttons?

[RenegadeX]

I'm always amazed when I see people on web-browser forums complain that "there's no Go! button" next to the address bar or search box..

So it occurred to me recently that these people must not have their mouse thumb button set to 'Enter'.... as I, being the genius that I am, figured out many moons ago was the best assignment for the button, or perhaps they've forgotten that they assigned it that way and never use the thumb-button? There can't possibly be another explanation, can there?!

Seriously though - that leaves me wondering - what the heck do these people have their thumb-button assigned to if it's not the Enter key?

.. Which then leaves me wondering how everyone else has their mouse buttons set up (other than left-click and right-click, obviously).

My mouse (MX500) has 2 thumb buttons and I've got:
- thumb button nearest my palm -> Enter key
- thumb button (thumb-tip) -> double-click (great for file/folder browsing, or highlighting single-words on webpages, emails, etc)
- wheel-click -> Middle button
- 3 other buttons (by the wheel) -->> i never use...

So how's your mouse set up?

[B40]

Wheel button click - Open Windows Explorer - C:\porn - can't waste no time

[mlc2000]

Click wheel button = Internet Back.

Used to prgram more buttons, but its the *****s the day after drinking...hands shaking, all kinds of apps opening/closing.

I program my keyboard instead.

[RenegadeX]

Yeah but what about the THUMB button??

[akito925]

default button keys.. I'd should reprogram my mx510 for opening explorer to organize my files.

[thedarkhorse]

Yeah but what about the THUMB button??

standard mice don't have thumb buttons. I have a mx510 and it has 2, one defaults for page forward the other one page back and I like it that way,

[mochachicka]

thumb button is Back (for Internet browser)
pinky button is Forward
other buttons are the standard functions

[Avant_Garde]

Mouse3 = Alt F4
Mouse4 (Thumb) = back
Mouse 5 (Pinky) = forward

[steve.m]

1 button copy,
1 buttonpaste,
1 button open Mozilla,
2 other buttons open different folders,
1 button opens bitcomet,
1 button opens PIM,
1 button opens memturbo.
on the mouse

[RenegadeX]

"standard mice don't have thumb buttons."

.. and (many base packages on) cars don't have air conditioning, but it makes like so much more comfortable!!

So nobody here has mapped the "Enter" key to their mouse?
Seriously?? Geez... you guys don't know what you're missing!!!!

Try it (on the thumb button if you have it), you'll never go back!
hmmm.... seeing as it appears nobody else has tried it, that might explain why some of you are still buying mice with no thumb-buttons.....

[sankou]

wheel click - exposé (view open documents as thumbnails)
side buttons - back/forward

[steve.m]

i still don't get the enter key on the mouse deal.
when you finish typing, hands are on the keyboard so you chose to move your hand to the mouse to press enter?

unless you are using it for a game? explain when you use the enter on mouse.
copy and paste are great. one click each.


if you can demo a good use for the enter key i have space to map it to my mouse wheel click down button.

[cjpark]

thumb forward: delete
thumb back: enter

[RenegadeX]

yay 'cjpark' !!

i still don't get the enter key on the mouse deal.
when you finish typing, hands are on the keyboard so you chose to move your hand to the mouse to press enter?

unless you are using it for a game? explain when you use the enter on mouse.
copy and paste are great. one click each.

if you can demo a good use for the enter key i have space to map it to my mouse wheel click down button.

Sure..

note: I still say that if you have a thumb-button, then 'Enter' is the best possible assignment for it, but feel free to substiture wheel-click or whatever else as you please.. (steve, you don't have wheel-click assigned to 'middle-button' .. aaagh? .. next thing you'll tell me is that you've never experienced Tabbed-browsing either!!)

• 1) 'Submit' forms or search boxes from your anywhere (mouse location) on the page.
  - Especially handy if you have a browser that autofills usernames & passwords for you but you encounter a website (such as eBay) that does not automatically sign you in every browser session. Normally all you have to do if the info is prefilled s move the mouse to the Submit button and click it - but if you have the Enter key mapped, a simple click from whereever your mouse happens to be when you arrive on the page and the info is submitted and you're on your way.
  
  - Similar to the above example, an 'Enter' mouse-button is expecially handy when you want to cut/copy-&-paste or drag some text into a search box, or web-form and then do a 'submit' (ie: a situation where no typing is required). After cut/copying and pasting the text using the right-click function, just click the 'Enter'-button and the text is submitted. Normally, you would have to move the mouse across the page to a 'Submit' button and click it. Not having to move the mouse is more efficient..
  
  - In the case of web-browser layout, you now can remove the 'Go' or 'Submit' buttons for the address bar or other search bars. Less clutter = good.
  
• 2) Create new lines in text documents easily, handy when cut/copying-and-pasting items
  - Using right-click cut/copy-&-paste, you want to paste text into a text-area (such as a forum post, an email, or a text document (Word), etc). Normally, you would use the mouse to highlight the text, Copy, and to Paste it, but then you'd have to take your hand off the mouse and use the keyboard to hit the Enter key in order to create a new line. This is especially time-wasting and repetitive if you are creating a list of items via copy-and-paste. No more, Right-click to Paste, then click your mouse's 'Enter'-button and you're on a new line ready for the next item!
  
• 3) Highlight text and delete it (again esp useful when Pasting / Start a new paragraph
  - Imagine you wanted to copy-and-paste a section/paragraph of text but for whatever reason, after pasting, you realized that you didn't want to keep the last sentence. Normally, you'd Paste, then highlight that last sentence and then hit the Backspace key, the Delete key, the Spacebar, or the Enter key to get rid of it. Do it without the keyboard - highlight the text and click your mouse's 'Enter'-button. Bam! It's gone! Click again to start a new paragraph .. and you're ready to go.

As an aside, I've seen quite a few computer users in my time who do a constant 'back-and-forth' thing where for example, when filling out a web-form they use the mouse to click between fields, then go back to the keyboard to type their name and address (or whatever info is required), and then when they get to the end and encounter a Submit button, then they move their hand back up to the mouse so that they can click it. [i]These people are usually beyond help - you can gently remind them a million times that they could have just hit 'Enter' on the keyboard but they always forget. Regardless, an 'Enter'-button on their mouse would save them the 5-10 seconds it takes them from locating the 'Submit' button somewhere on the page...

[cnbc]

Logitech MX1000 here.

Firefox controls:
thumb up: close tab (C+F4)
thumb middle: prev tab (C+S+Tab)
thumb down: next tab (C+Tab)

cruise up: foward (A+Right)
cruise down: back (A+Left)
left scroll: as is
right scroll as is

wheel click: open link in a new tab (middle click)