science

Mouse chording

Mouse chording is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mouse chording rather than just read about it. In short: Mouse chording is the capability of performing actions when multiple mouse buttons are held down, much like a chorded keyboard and similar to mouse gestures. One common application of mouse chording, called rocker navigation, is found in Opera and in mouse gesture extensions for Mozilla Firefox.

Key takeaways

Mouse chording belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mouse chording to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mouse chording from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mouse chording is the capability of performing actions when multiple mouse buttons are held down, much like a chorded keyboard and similar to mouse gestures. One common application of mouse chording, called rocker navigation, is found in Opera and in mouse gesture extensions for Mozilla Firefox. Rocker navigation typically involves the following two mouse chords:

Hold the left button and click the right button to move forward in the browser's history. Hold the right button and click the left button to move backward in the browser's history. The operating systems Plan 9 and Oberon and the acme development environment make heavy use of mouse chording. OS/2 Presentation Manager can also use chording to copy and paste text using two buttons however Common User Access key combinations are more frequently used.

Limitations Like mouse gestures, chorded actions may lack feedback and affordance and would therefore offer no way for users to discover possible chords without reference. A similar feature such as a context menu would require less training. When Project Athena used equipment from both IBM and DEC, DEC mice had three buttons and IBM mice had two. Athena simulated the third (middle) button on IBM mice by chording the two buttons together. This does not enable chords which involve the middle click. The Apple Mighty Mouse does not support mouse chording due to the design of the button sensors.

Applications that support mouse chording

3DS Max – Any action in the main UI that involves clicking and dragging can be cancelled by right clicking while left button is still held down. Microstation – CAD software, uses chording to snap to elements. CATIA – CAD/CAM/CAE software, uses middle and left mouse button chording to zoom, pan and rotate screen representation Acme and Wily text editors Opera (web browser) Vivaldi (web browser) Maxthon Blender 3D Plan 9 from Bell Labs Oberon operating system Sketchup Valve Hammer Editor Celestia – Pressing both mouse buttons allows the user to adjust distance from an object. Minesweeper (Windows) – Pressing both mouse buttons clears around a square after the correct number of flags have been placed in the surrounding squares. UDE World of Warcraft Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The weapon aiming system in the PC version of San Andreas implements mouse chording, as it requires the user to hold the right mouse button to aim while clicking or holding the left button to fire a weapon or use an item, such as a camera. Eve Online – Pressing both the left and right mouse buttons allows for an alternative method of camera control. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 – On the PC version of the game, by default the right mouse button must be held to take cover and the left mouse button to fire a weapon. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – On the PC version, holding both buttons activates dual casting, shield bashing, or a powerful flurry of attacks when dual-wielding melee weapons. Any number of other first-person shooters where the iron sights view or aiming down sights is mapped to the right mouse button. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order – On the PC version, once the player learns the lightsaber throw ability, they can use it by holding down the right mouse button to block, then clicking the left mouse button (used for a lightsaber attack by itself) to throw the lightsaber. Later in the game, they can perform a split saber attack by clicking with both mouse buttons simultaneously. Symbolics Genera (operating system) – the user interface management system Dynamic Windows is fully object oriented. It remembers objects for all output. Output is mouse sensitive depending on context. A three-button mouse is supported and mouse buttons can be modified additionally with shift keys (shift, control, meta, shift-control, ...). A mouse documentation line at the bottom of the screen shows the available mouse commands for the object under the mouse cursor and is continuously updated.

References

External links acme manual page, describes the various chords in acme rio manual page, describes chording inside the Plan 9 window system Copying and Pasting using the Mouse, describes chording in OS/2.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mouse chording

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mouse chording claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mouse chording before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mouse chording ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mouse chording

In research: Mouse chording appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mouse chording in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mouse chording is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics User interface techniques, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mouse chording outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mouse chording in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mouse chording means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mouse chording out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mouse chording in simple terms?

Why does Mouse chording matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mouse chording?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mouse chording.