Middle Click

Notes

Two-button mouse

A Mouse Wheel Click can be used wherever a Middle Click is required in the tips below. For those without middle mouse buttons or mouse wheel, clicking both mouse buttons at the same time also mimics the Middle Click function. Many Laptops mimic the Middle Click function if you click the right and left pads at the same time.

Logitech Wheel button and SetPoint software

By default, when SetPoint is installed, the wheel button doesn't seem to work at all. The following settings seem to allow for the Wheel button to work as intended in Firefox:

1. In SetPoint select the 'My Mouse' tab.
2. If you have more than one mouse, select the mouse you want to configure.
3. In 2. Select Button, choose the 3^rd entry (default '3 AutoScroll')
4. In 3. Select Task select the 'Other' bullet.
5. Select 'Middle Button' from the list and click 'OK' to close the pop-up.
6. Apply the changes and click 'OK' to close the SetPoint software.

The wheel button should now work as expected.

Opening Tabs

Middle Click on a link will open that link in a new tab. This principle will work in many other situations, such as on bookmarks, bookmark folders, history items, page images, and also on toolbar buttons such as Home, the Back and Forward buttons, Personal Toolbar items, and the Throbber [the 'busy' icon at the top-right]. Moreover, you can even Middle Click on menu items which represent web page (such as items from the Back, Forward, Bookmarks, Go, and View Image menus) to open them in a new tab.
In Firefox 2.0 and above it is possible to Middle Click the "Go" buttons for both the Location Bar and the Search Bar to open the link in a new tab.

Closing Tabs

Middle Click on a tab marker will close that tab.

Note that user preference "middlemouse.contentLoadURL" must be set to false (default for Windows version) for this to work. To verify that the preference is set to false, enter "about:config" in the Firefox address bar, enter the preference "middlemouse.contentLoadURL" in the filter, and verify the setting appears as 'false' in the 'value' column. If it is set to 'true', double-click anywhere along the row and it will revert to 'false'. Middle-clicking on a tab to close it will now work.

10 Tips for Using a Computer Mouse

The following tips should help you avoid a mouse-related musculoskeletal injury. The same posture principles apply to other input devices (e.g. trackball, touchpad, pen, digitizing puck etc.). Postural variation is a key factor for good ergonomics. Try to regularly vary your posture when you work with a mouse, and in this way you will help to minimize the risk of ergonomic problems. remember, the best ergonomic mice are designed to allow you to vary your posture while working with the mouse.

1. Mouse Grip - don't throttle your mouse (it's already dead)! Hold the mouse gently to move it over a mousing surface.
2. Mouse from the Elbow - don't skate or flick the mouse with your wrist. Make controlled mouse movements using your elbow as the pivot point and keep your wrist straight and neutral.
3. Optimal Mouse position- sit back in your chair, relax your arms then lift your mousing hand up, pivoting at the elbow, until your hand is just above elbow level. Your mouse should be positioned somewhere around this point. Don't use a mouse by stretching to the desk or out to the side of a keyboard. With a flat mouse platform, position this 1-2" above the keyboard and over the numeric keypad if you are right handed - you can easily move it out of the way if you need to access these keys. With a downward sloping mouse platform, position this close to the side of the keyboard so that you can use the mouse in a neutral wrist position. Position adjustable mouse platforms are commercially available (e.g. Humanscale, Proformix, Flexrest, 3M etc.)
4. Protect your wrist - if you look at the anatomy of the wrist it is curved away from any contact surface (you can easily see this by resting your hand/arm on a flat surface - you'll see light under the wrist and can probably even pass a thin pen under this). The forearm is shaped liked this for the wrist to remain free of surface pressure contact.
5. Avoid restricting circulation - For may people there are exposed blood vessels near the skin at the wrist, which is where the pulse is often taken. Any pressure in this region will disrupt circulation into the hand and this will increase the risks of injury.
6. Don't use a Wrist Rest - research has shown that using a wrist rest doubles the pressure inside the carpal tunnel, because the floor of the tunnel is a more flexible ligament that transmits external pressure changes directly into the carpal tunnel (the roof of the tunnel is bone so the pressure doesn't get transmitted on through the hand). Indeed, one test for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), know as Tinel's sign, simply involves tapping on the palmar surface of the wrist, which is enough to cause tingling and numbness in someone developing CTS.
7. Avoid Restricting Arm Movement - with a softly padded wrist rest, especially one that is rounded, or a soft chair arm rest the forearm becomes "locked" into position and this encourages people to make mouse movements by flicking the wrist, which also increases intracarpal pressure.
8. Keep the Mouse Free Moving - The base of the palm of the hand is the part of the body designed to support the hand when resting on a surface. For keyboard use a broad palm support is best. However, mouse use is different from keyboard use. With a keyboard the best posture is for users to float their hands over the keyboard when typing and then to rest on the palm support in microbreaks between typing bursts. You can use rest-breaking software (e.g. Magnitude ErgoManager, Break reminder etc) to help track and advise on your mouse use. With mousing this doesn't happen. A mouse is used by moving its position over a surface, and resting usually occurs when mouse movements stop but with the mouse still being held in the hand. Mouse movements should be made using the elbow as the pivot point, not the wrist. Anything that impairs free movement of the forearm/hand and mouse will increase injury risks.
9. Mouse shape - choose a mouse design that fits your hand but is as flat as possible to reduce wrist extension. Don't use a curved mouse. Use a symmetrically shaped mouse. Consider a larger mouse and there are several new interesting products on the market , such as the Whale mouse or the Perfit mouse, that encourage arm rather than wrist movements or that encouirage postural variety and one or two-handed use. Pen-based mice designs also allow a more comfortable grip. Some types of mouse palm support can be attached to the mouse, such as the Mouse Bean
   
10. Load sharing - if you want to load share between your right and left hands, that is using the mouse for some of the time with each hand. For this you need to choose a mouse platform that can easily be configured to the left or/and right, and a symmetrical shaped mouse that can be used by either hand.

Other input devices - whether you choose a different mouse design, a trackball, a joystick, a pen, a touchpad, a multitouch pad or some other input device, make sure that your position this comfortably, and that your wrist is in a neutral position when using the device.

Double Click

Opening Tabs

Tab Bar

Double Clicking empty space on the Tab Bar will open a 'New Tab.

Closing Tabs

Tab

Double Clicking on a Tab to close a Tab is an option in extension.

Download Manager

Double Clicking a file entry in the Downloads Manager will open/launch the file (provided that you haven't moved it from its saved location).

Right Click

Customize the toolbars

You can adjust your toolbars to your liking. Right click on any toolbar, and select 'Customize'. While this dialogue is up, you can move buttons around on your toolbars by click-and-drag to the new location. The window that pops up when you do this is a holding area for unused icons. You can drag any item from it onto your toolbars to have it made available, and you can drag any icon from your toolbars onto this box to hide that icon completely.

Tip

Some toolbar items, such as the Location bar, will expand to take up all available space.

Tip 2

You can fit the Menu Bar, Personal Toolbar, Location bar, Back and Forward buttons, etc, all to one single row if you really want to maximize web pages' viewable area.

Create a keyword bookmark

Right clicking in a search box (such as the search box on the left of this page) and selecting 'Add a Keyword for this Search' lets you make an interactive keyword bookmark.

Here is how it works

Give it a name, such as 'mozillaZine Knowledge Base search'

Now, assign a keyword to it, such as 'mozkb'

Click 'OK'

From now on, you can search mozillaZine Knowledge Base (or any other search box you used for this) from your address bar like this

Enter 'mozkb search topic' in your address bar and click Go!

View selection source

Right-click on a highlighted area of a page (obtained by click-and-dragging the mouse, for example) and choose 'View selection source' to display the source code for the selected part of the page only.

Drag and Drop

Moving bookmarks and folders

To change a bookmark's position within the same folder by dragging it to your desired position.

To Move a folder to another position or location by dragging the folder to new location.

To move a single bookmark or a selection of bookmarks to another location hold down SHIFT while dragging it to the new location. If you drag a single bookmark, or a selection of bookmarks to a new location without holding down the Shift key, you will copy the bookmark(s). (see Sorting_and_rearranging_bookmarks_-_Firefox)

Icons

You can bookmark the current page by dragging the icon from the location bar (or the tab) to your Bookmarks folder. You can also drag it to the desktop to make an icon for that page. Drag a text file, a link, a picture, etcetera... from your folders or your desktop to Firefox and it will open in Firefox!

Links

"Click-and-drag" a bookmark to the main content window (which is the biggest on the Firefox user interface),so you can open it in a new tab! Dragging a link onto a new tab will open the link in the new tab.

Downloading links

Drag any link to the Download Manager Window to add and download the link. You can also directly download anything from a page by drag and dropping it onto the "Downloads" icon in your toolbar (provided you put it there through Customize).