Re: Re. Leftmoused button?

[Scott Browne <sbrowne -at- UNICOMP -dot- NET>]

Geoff Hart wrote:

<snip>
> I must be missing something here... why would we possibly
> want to avoid using "left, middle and right" to describe
> the buttons on a three-button mouse?

<material cut>

> These terms (left etc.) are all well-accepted for mice and
> their mutant kin (trackballs etc.), and are common enough
> in most user documentation to constitute a standard.
<snip>

I agree with Geoff - I don't see the problem. I use the mouse with
either hand, depending on my mood, and the left mouse button is
*always* on the left. Left means left, not "the button under the
index finger".

And as tech writers, I don't think we are held responsible for people
who remap their mouse buttons for whatever reason. I can remap my
keyboard so that when I press the S key, a P appears on the screen
instead. If I do that remapping, then I've created my own situation
to deal with. That doesn't meant that all documentation which says,
"Press CTRL S to save" should be rewritten to account for people who
changed what their S key does. If the *user* has remapped the primary
mouse button from the Left to the Right, then that is something that
the user must take into account for themselves.

Scott Browne                    "Writing is like Prostitution.  First you do
Technical Writer                 it for the love of it, then you do it for a
Greenleaf Software, Inc.         few friends, and finally, you do it for the
Dallas, TX                       money."
sbrowne -at- unicomp -dot- net                                              -Moliere

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