OT - shortcut buttons

[darryl]

I've looked many times to find a shortcut button that can be placed anywhere on the desktop, and can be made to be 'always on top'. Three would be the most I need, different colors is all that's required. I dont need a large cumbersome program, KISS makes sense here. I wonder if anyone knows of such a thing that will work on this P-2 with win 98? Just a few buttons would be great.

[Evan]

Why not just put them in the quick launch area beside the start button?

[darryl]

Maybe I'm just lazy with the mouse, but I can't scroll the height of the screen without picking up the mouse and repositioning it. I can get full side to side, but not top to bottom. To reach the tray area, I have to pick up and reposition the mouse. I could alter the mouse speed, but I want to keep the setting as is. It's no big deal, but it bugs me to be knocking the mouse around that way, and I don't have good hand control with the cursor at the bottom of the screen with the resulting wrist position. Once I'm done at the tray area, I have to pick the mouse up again to get back up where I'm working. A minor annoyance, and one that the shortcut buttons would fix for me.
Something else that would work for me (possibly better) is to split up the tray, and hide a half of it on each side of the screen, more or less centered between top and bottom. As I said before, I have good side to side control, just not good up and down.

[JPR]

Darryl

Try this http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/BarLa...ml?tag=lst-0-5

[JPR]

The screen shot

http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/kyagi/images/barlaunch.gif

[This message has been edited by JPR (edited 07-09-2004).]

[Evan]

Put the task bar at the side or the top then.

[mochinist]

Darryl get a mouse with a scroll wheel in the center , once you get used to it you'll love it.

[John Stevenson]

Use a genuine track ball.
Mine sits on the desk and never moves - it can't my desk is worse than my floor

[darryl]

I do have a scrolling mouse, and like it, though I continually have the problem of doing a small scroll everytime I left click. Anyway, I realise I didn't explain myself very well, so to clarify and redefine what I want to do, here it is. When I start an app, it shows up in the taskbar. I usually have two or three apps running at once that I'm continually switching between. What I want is to have only whatever apps I have started to show up in a floating taskbar, that I can make 'always on top', and position anywhere, so I don't have to move the mouse far to access an already started app. This would then become a 'tool', kind of like what some graphic programs have, where you can keep some selected tool buttons in a group near to where the cursor is working.
It's easier for me to select from running programs if I put the taskbar at the side of the screen, but I don't like it there, for a few reasons. If I could shrink the start button away from the corner an inch or so, and do the same for the clock at the other end of the bar, that would be ok, since it would then leave the corners free, where I have other hidden functions. Can I do that? Essentially shrink the length of the taskbar about two inches? My problem would be solved if I could take out or duplicate just the running apps section of the taskbar, and have it hidden at one side, leaving the existing taskbar as is.
The whole thing is not a big deal, but it would make my mouse hand a little less tired after a few hours at the 'pooter. Thanks for the replies.

[Evan]

Open several apps and then try Ctrl-Tab to switch between them. Also as another tip try using the Windows key with D. Fun eh?

[darryl]

Thanks, Evan. Alt/tab does it, for the last two opened programs. Ctrl is a dud. I think I'll see what I can learn about shortcut keys. Maybe I'll discover something NEW AND EXCITING about windoze.

[Evan]

Sorry, I did mean Alt-Tab.

See here for a comprehensive list. You can operate Windows totally without a mouse.

http://www.computerhope.com/shortcut.htm

Did you know there is a triple click function?

[This message has been edited by Evan (edited 07-11-2004).]

[Joel]

Holding the shift key while turning the scroll wheel yields a high-speed forward/back. If you are on a link while scrolling forward, it goes to that link.

[spope14]

The answers are good here, but one thing not mentioned here is the question and answer of why you can't move your mouse from the bottom to the top of the screen without lifting it and re-positioning it. Sounds like the pointer is too slow and you have to move about 6 inches in the X and Y to cross the screen. No freaking fun!!!!! Not necessary to live with by any means.

In your control panel on Windows 98 is a mouse control icon. Get into this and make adjustments on the speed and "resolutions" on your mouse. This may be under "pointer speed" on some mouse units.

Also check your mouse itself. Do you have the proper drivers loaded for it? For example, if you have a Logitech mouse of a later generation - say 2000 or better compared with windows 98, the Windows 98 may not have loaded the proper driver, and the mouse will work very slowly and with a great deal of movement to move a short distance (this was my problem). Your mouse probably came with a driver disk, use it and be sure it was loaded properly and recognized in the hardware profiles. The older mice all emulated the PSII microsoft mouse (pre 1998) in drivers, the newer ones had a few more options (such as scroll wheels). You may have to go to the manufacturer web sites for drivers if a disk was not present.

Also after loading the drivers, you may have to do a "look for new hardware" to get the driver properly loaded. All of this sounds hard, but in fact is very easy. Much akin to loading a printer or scanner.

There is also the mouse itself. You may have to remove the mouse ball and clean it, or if it is optical, find a different surface to use it on. You may also have a malfunctioning Y axis resolution wheel "reader" due to wear, a hairball in the wheel and such, or whatever. Looking at your description, your mouse works good in the X direction, but is gone in the Y axis. Check this first, and clean out that wheel (Q-tip, maybe a needle carefully used, and isopropyl as a cleaning solution). I mentioned the other things also because of the possible settings issues in case this is NOT the case.

As for liking your task bar "on top". I also have this preference, especially wih CAD programs like MasterCAM that have the "prompts" at the bottom of the screen. Some windows systems, like 98 SE as I recall, have an option to "lock the taskbar". Right click your mouse, and see if this is activated (checked off). If so, uncheck this - click on it. Then move to your taskbar, pointer on the bar in a gray area, and hold the let button down, an move the taskbar. Usually clockwise or CCW around the edges of the screen. release the mouse when positioned correctly, and "re-lock" the taskbar.

As a CAD opertor, I like my "mouse movements" to take minimal effort and movement, thus my experience in this area. I have my mouse st to move about 2" on the pad max to cover the screen area in X and Y distances. I also have advancing carpel tunnel, so smaller movements are esential (lifting the arm causes undue stress when positioning a mouse). I also have to set about 30 machines in the school I teach at, almost all with "catch as can" mice (meaning donated, bought to replace others, ect.).

I will be checking the "short cut keys" program, but also have to say that windows short cut keys are in the windows 98 manual (I also have these posted on the school computers). As for "XT" which I now run, I am still learning, but the hardware profiles setting are still the same.



[This message has been edited by spope14 (edited 07-13-2004).]

[darryl]

Thanks again for all the replies. I have a chair with an armrest and at the end of that is a 'table' of sorts, which is made for the mouse. It's easy to get side to side motion by waving my arm, but up/down motion is almost completely done by thumb and third finger, with the wrist bending, but not moving. It becomes awkward once the cursor is near the bottom of the screen. Since the mouse moves with the chair, it's more relaxed for my body in general. If I could lower the armrest, that would improve things be leaving my arm freer to move front to back, but the construction of the chair precludes that.

I have optimized this optical mouse's characteristics through it's software, which also includes matching preferred arm motions with up/down and side to side. Like everyone, I'm sure, I have to compromise between easy fine motion, and speed around the screen. There is a two-speed function to the mouse, and it's working, though I have to say I can easily outrun the software if I move my hand too fast. The surface I run it on is vinyl, and doesn't appear to be directional with it's surface roughness.

I did try a trackball, and it seems this is one of those things you either like or hate. I gave it away---

In searching the net for a suitable program to put notification on a moveable bar, I found numerous apps for the mac, and a reference to the same type program for windows, but could not locate the windows app. It's an easy thing to find and use a bar for shortcuts, but that just lets me start those apps, which mostly means starting a new instance of that program, but no capability to switch between already opened apps. I guess that's the way it goes- thanks everyone for your thoughts on this.