Become A Power Trackpad User With BetterTouchTool [Mac]
|
| ||||||||
| Compare: | Web Design Calculator | Web Design Cost Guidelines |
Are you an E-Commerce Web Designer? Add a Free Listing
For several years now the powerful Preferences program, SteerMouse has been one of my favorite and most used tools on my Mac. SteerMouse allows you to customize the buttons on your USB or Bluetooth to activate keystroke menu items and other mouse button actions. For me, using this program is ten times faster than memorizing and typing keyboard shortcuts.
It’s especially useful for Mac users who do lots of work in applications like iPhoto or Aperture, or who surf the web. It enables you, with the click of a button, to close tabs in Safari, delete email messages, save a document, and much, much more without lifting your hand off the mouse.
Now that same powerful technology can be used with Apple’s MagicMouse, Magic Trackpad and the trackpad on Mac laptops. The application is aptly called BetterTouchTool, and in my view it should get the title of Application Of The Year. Let me explain why.
What It Does
If you‘re a Trackpad or Magic Trackpad user, you’ll know that you can configure two, three, and four-finger gestures to perform certain actions on your Mac. This includes activating Exposé, swiping Left/Right to switch applications, or using two fingers to rotate an image in Preview. Well, BetterTouchTool is finger gesturing on steroids. Yes, it’s a cliché but it’s the best way to describe it.
BetterTouchTool includes a list of over 100 gestures and actions that you can customize for your trackpad or Magic Mouse. I was salivating over the number of possibilities this application will provide for navigating my MacBook Air.
With BetterTouchTool you can set gestures to, for example, open a file or URL, sleep your computer, create a new file in a current folder, show the window switcher for an active app, hide or show all windows; and if you have two monitors, you can set a swipe gesture to quickly move your main screen to your secondary one. Now that’s totally sweet!
How To Set It Up
The instructions on the website are pretty clear, but in a nutshell when you first launch the application, its Preferences window will appear. You can also access the application from your computer’s menu bar. You can set actions for your Magic Mouse, Trackpad/Magic Trackpad, Keyboard and Normal Mouse.
In the Preferences window, you can select which device you want to set gestures for. In this example I have selected the Magic Trackpad. Next you click the “+Add new gesture,“ and then you click on the Touchpad Gesture pop-up menu button to get the long list of gestures, which include “Single Finger Tap Top Middle“, “Three Tap Bottom“, “Triangle Swipe Top Left Corner“, “Single Finger Tap Top Right“….there are over 50 gestures, including “11 Finger Tap/Whole Hand“ for the ultimate power gesture.
Next, you click the Predefined Action pop-up menu to set the action you want your gesture to perform.
So for example, I set “Three Finger Tap” to open the MakeUseOf website. I set a “Single Finger Tap Top Left” to mute the sound on my Mac.
As you can do with SteerMouse, you can set BetterTouchTool to perform a certain action only in a particular application. So for example, you may use “TipSwipe Left Finger Down” to close out individual tabs in Safari.
Advanced Features
There are advanced features that you will need to spend some time figuring out. One feature includes Window Snapping which will maximize or re-size a window when it move to the edge or side of your computer screen.
The developer warns that there are some Preference settings you probably should not bother with, but as you learn and observe how the program works, how your gestures behave, and what you have for setting various preferences, you might want to delve deeper into BetterTouchTool. For example you might need to change the sensitivity settings for tapping your trackpad, say because you have a pretty heavy or light hand, or you may need to change the Trackpad speed for how the cursor moves.
If you need to get a more accurate sense of the various sides and parts of your Trackpad or Magic Mouse, BetterTouchTool includes a Live View to show the most previous action performed. This may help work out problems with complex gestures you’re trying to set.
No doubt after you spend time creating various actions and setups you will probably want to use them on another Mac or MacBook laptop. Well, BetterTouchTool has you covered, because you can both export and import your actions.
All this makes for a professional grade application, which on top of all that is free. The developer only asks for a well deserved donation, and he will be getting mine shortly.
I‘m not sure if there’s another application like this for the Mac trackpad, but if there is let us know about it. Plus, let us know what you think of BetterTouchTool, the application of the year, in my view.
Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.
Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:31:43 GMT
Tags: Mac Apps & Tips, mouse gestures, productivity, productivity tips,
Bluff City E-Commerce | Fenton E-Commerce | Montgomery E-Commerce | Irvine E-Commerce | Northport E-Commerce | Vancouver E-Commerce | Carmel E-Commerce | New Rochelle E-Commerce | Dumyat E-Commerce | Detroit E-Commerce |
Mac Apps & Tips
Awesome Free Digital Video Converter and Streaming Apps For Mac
The fairly new Apple Mac Store is jock-full of reasonably priced applications, but if you hang out in there long enough you can find some awesome programs that can be downloaded for free. I’ve reviewed several free App Store programs, here and here, and i
Protect and Secure Your Mac With Intego VirusBarrier X6 [Giveaway]
It’s been said before that Mac users simply don’t come under target as much as Windows from viruses and threats. That said, it’s always better to be safe than sorry, and the ultimate protection for Mac users probably comes in the form of
mouse gestures
Eliminate Unnecessary Reaches To Your Mouse With The Fingertips Application Launcher
Part of becoming a true power user is minimizing the number of long and exhausting reaches you go for between your keyboard and mouse. We've shared all sorts of keyboard tricks with you before, but Fingertips is a Windows software that can really shift y
productivity
Catch Notes, A Note-Taking App For Android & iOS That’s Definitely Worth A Look
In my constant quest for the best note-taking environment, I’ve used Evernote, SpringPad, SimpleNote, reQall, and finally, Toodledo‘s Notebook, which unfortunately only takes formatted text at best, which still remains a text-only note applica
Best Of Windows Software: 15 New Apps Added
Our Best Of: Windows Software page is gaining popularity! If you haven't any idea what it is, well, check it out. It's basically a page where we share our favourite Windows apps -- those that we absolutely love and think you should use. We've recently
Need E-commerce Design? Check out our member profiles:
ecommerce website solutions for 100 products to 100,000 products. easy to use admin area, exert hosting services. turn key solution
De Pere, Wisconsin US
Professional website design, hosting and content management for a low monthly fee. See what our clients have to say
Beaumont, California US
Viva la Pixel - affordable Web Design, Web Development, E-commerce, Internet Marketing, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing and Social Network Marketing to business big and small.
Manchester, New Hampshire US
CALL 888-760-0878 Integrated Technology and Design is a professional website design company located in Joliet, Illinois but we meet and work with selective clients from all over the United States.
Joliet, Illinois US
TOPSCHEME.COM A WEB DEVELOPMENT COMPANY IN INDIANA,US DESIGNS, DEVELOPS AND MAINTAINS WEBSITE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT THAT ENABLE ENTERPRISES TO SOLVE COMPLEX AND CRITICAL BUSINESS PROBLEMS
Indianapolis, Indiana US
Web site design and development-eCommerce,customer management systems,SharePoint 2010,customer relationship management,product lifecycle management,supply chain management,extranet,intranet
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma US
Get a website for $400.00. See our facebook page for more details. http://www.facebook.com/Computer.Wonders
Dunmore, Pennsylvania US
We offer a wide range of services, including web development, custom web design and marketing, flash animation, ecommerce, web site design and professional web application development.
Altoona, Pennsylvania US
Lasers, Unblockable Messaging, LED Hats & Plastic Recyclers – 4 More KickStarter Projects Worthy Of Your Attention
I think crowd funding is a great way to support independent developers and scientists so I m not as
Determine Your Location With Geosense Location Sensor [Windows 7]
With Windows 7 Microsoft introduced the Windows Sensor and Location platform which theoretically e
Easily Create Screencast Videos With Kazam Screencaster [Linux]
What do you do if you want to make a video tutorial on Linux yourself You ve may have seen some peo
Make Your Plaintext Emoticons Snazzy Using Emojicons
Whether our IM client or SMS interface converts them to graphical smilies or not every single one o
6 Tips for Improving Twitter Link Click Through Rate
When it comes to sharing links through Twitter what makes them click Dan Zarella from HubSpot set
Latest Hilarious Picks [MakeUseOf Geeky Fun]
Check out the top picks from MakeUseOf Geeky Fun during the last couple of days Facebookanol Cure
INFOGRAPHIC : The History Of Video File Formats
I was watching Law 038 Order Special Victims Unit on my iPhone the other night when it dawned
Article Tags
E-commerce Design Articles
Web Apps & Internet (374)
News (291)
Web Apps (129)
Inspiration (128)
Music (119)
iPhone / iPad / iPod (116)
cool web apps (108)
Google Android (101)
Mobile Tips (100)
Announcements (99)
deals (88)
Games & Gaming Tips (84)
Tech Deals (82)
Opinion & Polls (76)
Cool Software Apps (76)
Social Media (66)
iOS (66)
Browser Tips & Tricks (66)
iPhone Apps (59)
Freebies (58)
geeky fun (58)
Photography (58)
iphone (55)
Google (53)
troubleshoot (53)
android (52)
Photoshop (52)
Graphics (51)
facebook (50)
How-To Articles (50)
Friends:
E-Commerce Website Pricing
Web Design Quote
Website Design
Graphic Designers
