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What Is a Mouse?

Hot Tip: Keep the tail pointed away from your body! Then it will move as you expect.

• ëTis a very simple device: a ball rolling against rollers...
• As you roll it around the arrow on the screen tracks your movement
• Note: they do get dirty

• What you want to do and
• Where you want to do it

• It's eye-hand coordination
• This has nothing to do with dedication or smarts!

Please click on this URL in order to try our your new mouse skill!

We'll do some activites in a few moments....

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What can you do with a Mouse?

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Mouse Tactic #1: Clicking

To select an icon, put the pointer over an picture part of an icon and "click" by depressing and then letting up on the mouse button. (We explain all about icons in just a bit.)

• To select an icon always put the point of the arrow over the picture part of the icon, not over the text under the icon
• Don't move the mouse while you have the button depressed--that does something else. (See Press and Drag, below.)

Mouse Activities

To get back here, just close the window that clicking on the below links will create. (If you're not familar with closing a window, click on this link to learn about mainpulating windows and then come Back here.)

JigZone: Online Jigsaw Puzzles
http://www.jigzone.com/cgi-local/gallery.pl?z=6_piece_classic
Drag pices of a puzzle around to make the picture!

Mouse Practice
http://www.lawrencegoetz.com/programs/mousepractice/

Lincoln Park Zoo: Animal Stories
http://www.lpzoo.com/stories/story_colors.htm#

QuickTime VR of Red Square, Moscow Russia (Requires your computer have QuickTime)
http://www.netgate.co.uk/moscvr2.htm
(With this one, once the image loads, put the pointer inside the picuture and press the mouse key and drag around the screen!)

Zebra Online (Requies a MacroMedia plug-in to work)
http://www.lpzoo.com/zebra/student/a.html

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All About Mice

Here's the short version: Mice connected to Macintoshes have one button. Mice connected to Windows computers have two buttons. (Note that your mileage may vary but all Windows mice have at least two buttons.) The one button on a standard Mac mouse is the same as the left button on a Windows mouse. We'll ignore the right button on Windows mice for now.

Clicking on the links below will take you to a location in the documents we've designed to illustrate major differences between the Windows and Macintosh programs. You can look at both or swtich between them in order to learn about what may be, to you, the "other" kind of computer!

When you want to get back here you can click on the Back button in the upper left hand corner of your web browsers window.

Mac Mouse Matters

Windows Mouse Matters
 

When you select or highlight an icon, it "inverts" the icon.

An unselected icon (of the Trash)

A selected icon (also known as highlighted or inverted)

Try this out by clicking on the Trash or Recyle Bin icon on your computers desktop.

To deselect an icon you can click on another icon (which will select that icon and deselect the previously selected icon ) or you can click on an empty place on the desktop where there are no icons.

Now that you can select icons, it's time to talk about what you see on a computer screen (the desktop metaphore) and more information about icons.

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Mouse Tactic #2: Press & Drag

Press and continue to hold the mouse button

While holding the mouse button down, roll the mouse

The selected icon will move in outline with the pointer

The selected icon will move to where you released the mouse button

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Mouse Tactic #3: Double-Clicking

Don't move the mouse between clicks or the Mac "thinks" you're dragging that icon

If you click over the name part of the icon the system will think you're trying to edit the name, not open the icon

Opening an Icon means:

• If it's a volume or a folder you get a directory window that shows the contents of that volume or folder.
• If it's a document you launch the application that created the document and then open that document in a window
• If it's an application you launch (or open) that application

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One Click or Two?

One Click

• Selects (highlights or inverts or turns its color)

• Bring down Menus and select Menu Items
• Select Buttons and check boxes in dialog boxes
• Selecting icon(s) for some action other than opening them

Two Clicks

• Opens

• Launch or open files, folders, HD icons, etc.)

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A healthy pointer

Avoiding the Mouse Trap: Pointers for Safe Mouse Use
http://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/FacStaff/Resources/HealthBeat/Mousetrap.html

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