Also, in addition to windows you can also move other items such as icons using the three-finger drag gesture. Enable Three-Finger Window Drag Gestures on Mac Step 1: On your Mac click on the Apple logo from the menu bar and then click on ‘ System Preferences ‘ from the menu. Drag and drop works fine on the new Mac Force Touch trackpads, use it frequently, though when you first encounter it on a new Mac, it does take a little getting used to. The secondary force click is smart enough to not activate while dragging, too.
The Trackpad (or the mouse touchpad) that comes with the Macbook Pros and Airs these days, which is also available as a separate product to be used with iMacs or Windows systems, was launched sometime in 2010 and Apple calls it Magic Trackpad.
It was not just Apple's obsession with the word 'magic' that resulted in the name that this product was anointed with. The Trackpad was a revolution in many ways. It introduced some amazing gestures and enabled people to move from the old one or two-finger clicks or scrolls to using three fingers, horizontal scroll, pinching gestures for zooming in or out, and more. (image credit – kazzhx)
You may also customize the Trackpad gestures and change the scroll or drag behavior in a way that suits you the best. This is what we'll see in this post.
Steps to Customize Trackpad Gestures in OS X Lion
Step 1: Click on the Apple Menu and then click on System Preferences.
Step 2: Click on the icon that says Trackpad.
Step 3: You'll now see the Trackpad options window popping up. You can see 3 tabs at the top – Point & Click, Scroll & Zoom and More Gestures. Lets check out the first one.
You may browse through the options and customize them according to your preferences. For example, the Secondary click or the right-click can be customized to a bottom right corner click or bottom left corner click from the default two fingers tap.
Step 4: Moving on to the Scroll & Zoom options, you may set the scroll and zoom operations here according to your liking. A quick demo is shown on the right as you select the options.
Step 5: Finally, we've got the More Gestures page where you can customize the new gestures that Lion introduced (swiping between full-screen apps and mission control for example). It's all pretty easy. Just click on an option, select the one you want from the dropdown menu and you're done.
If you ask me, I did face some initial hiccups while using the Trackpad which I guess any longtime Windows user is likely to face. But over the days, the Trackpad has grown on me and I've started to enjoy the various gestures it allows me to use for controlling the OS.
What about you? Do you like the Magic Trackpad? Customized the gestures yet?
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#os x lion #How-to/Guides
Did You Know
The Seiko TV Watch was one of the first watches to have a built-in TV.
3 Finger Drag Windows
More in Mac
Top 4 Ways to Fix Mac Desktop Icons Missing or Not Showing
In computergraphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by 'grabbing' it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to invoke many kinds of actions, or create various types of associations between two abstract objects.
As a feature, drag-and-drop support is not found in all software, though it is sometimes a fast and easy-to-learn technique. However, it is not always clear to users that an item can be dragged and dropped, or what is the command performed by the drag and drop, which can decrease usability.[1]
Actions[edit]
The basic sequence involved in drag and drop is:
- Move the pointer to the object
- Press, and hold down, the button on the mouse or other pointing device, to 'grab' the object
- 'Drag' the object to the desired location by moving the pointer to this one
- 'Drop' the object by releasing the button
Dragging requires more physical effort than moving the same pointing device without holding down any buttons. Because of this, a user cannot move as quickly and precisely while dragging (see Fitts' law). However, drag-and-drop operations have the advantage of thoughtfully chunking together two operands (the object to drag, and the drop location) into a single action.[2]Extended dragging and dropping (as in graphic design) can stress the mousing hand.
A design problem appears when the same button selects and drags items. Imprecise movement can cause an attempt to select an object to register as a dragging motion.
Drag And Drop Mac
Another problem is that the target of the dropping can be hidden under other objects. The user would have to stop the dragging, make both the source and the target visible and start again. In classic Mac OS the top-of-screen menu bar served as a universal 'drag cancel' target. This issue has been dealt with in Mac OS X with the introduction of Exposé.
In Mac OS[edit]
Drag and drop, called click and drag at the time, was used in the original Macintosh to manipulate files (for example, copying them between disks[3] or folders.[4]). System 7 added the ability to open a document in an application by dropping the document icon onto the application's icon.
In System 7.5, drag and drop was extended to common clipboard operations like copying or moving textual content within a document. Content could also be dragged into the filesystem to create a 'clipping file' which could then be stored and reused.
For most of its history Mac OS has used a single button mouse with the button covering a large portion of the top surface of the mouse. This may mitigate the ergonomic concerns of keeping the button pressed while dragging.
In OS/2[edit]
The Workplace Shell of OS/2 uses dragging and dropping extensively with the secondary mouse button, leaving the primary one for selection and clicking.Its use like that of other advanced Common User Access features distinguished native OS/2 applications from platform-independent ports.
In HTML[edit]
The HTML5 working draft specification includes support for drag and drop.[5] HTML5 supports different kinds of dragging and dropping features including:
- Drag and Drop texts and HTML codes
- Drag and Drop HTML elements
- Drag and Drop files
Based on needed action, one of the above types can be used. Note that when an HTML element is dragged for moving its current position, its ID is sent to the destination parent element; so it sends a text and can be considered as the first group.
Google's web-based e-mail application Gmail supports drag-and-drop of images and attachments in the latest Google Chrome browser and Apple's Safari (5.x). And Google Image search supports drag & drop.
On a touch screen[edit]
Touch screen interfaces also include drag and drop, or more precisely, long press, and then drag, e.g. on the iPhone or Android home screens.
Also, in addition to windows you can also move other items such as icons using the three-finger drag gesture. Enable Three-Finger Window Drag Gestures on Mac Step 1: On your Mac click on the Apple logo from the menu bar and then click on ‘ System Preferences ‘ from the menu. Drag and drop works fine on the new Mac Force Touch trackpads, use it frequently, though when you first encounter it on a new Mac, it does take a little getting used to. The secondary force click is smart enough to not activate while dragging, too.
The Trackpad (or the mouse touchpad) that comes with the Macbook Pros and Airs these days, which is also available as a separate product to be used with iMacs or Windows systems, was launched sometime in 2010 and Apple calls it Magic Trackpad.
It was not just Apple's obsession with the word 'magic' that resulted in the name that this product was anointed with. The Trackpad was a revolution in many ways. It introduced some amazing gestures and enabled people to move from the old one or two-finger clicks or scrolls to using three fingers, horizontal scroll, pinching gestures for zooming in or out, and more. (image credit – kazzhx)
You may also customize the Trackpad gestures and change the scroll or drag behavior in a way that suits you the best. This is what we'll see in this post.
Steps to Customize Trackpad Gestures in OS X Lion
Step 1: Click on the Apple Menu and then click on System Preferences.
Step 2: Click on the icon that says Trackpad.
Step 3: You'll now see the Trackpad options window popping up. You can see 3 tabs at the top – Point & Click, Scroll & Zoom and More Gestures. Lets check out the first one.
You may browse through the options and customize them according to your preferences. For example, the Secondary click or the right-click can be customized to a bottom right corner click or bottom left corner click from the default two fingers tap.
Step 4: Moving on to the Scroll & Zoom options, you may set the scroll and zoom operations here according to your liking. A quick demo is shown on the right as you select the options.
Step 5: Finally, we've got the More Gestures page where you can customize the new gestures that Lion introduced (swiping between full-screen apps and mission control for example). It's all pretty easy. Just click on an option, select the one you want from the dropdown menu and you're done.
If you ask me, I did face some initial hiccups while using the Trackpad which I guess any longtime Windows user is likely to face. But over the days, the Trackpad has grown on me and I've started to enjoy the various gestures it allows me to use for controlling the OS.
What about you? Do you like the Magic Trackpad? Customized the gestures yet?
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#os x lion #How-to/Guides
Did You Know
The Seiko TV Watch was one of the first watches to have a built-in TV.
3 Finger Drag Windows
More in Mac
Top 4 Ways to Fix Mac Desktop Icons Missing or Not Showing
In computergraphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by 'grabbing' it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to invoke many kinds of actions, or create various types of associations between two abstract objects.
As a feature, drag-and-drop support is not found in all software, though it is sometimes a fast and easy-to-learn technique. However, it is not always clear to users that an item can be dragged and dropped, or what is the command performed by the drag and drop, which can decrease usability.[1]
Actions[edit]
The basic sequence involved in drag and drop is:
- Move the pointer to the object
- Press, and hold down, the button on the mouse or other pointing device, to 'grab' the object
- 'Drag' the object to the desired location by moving the pointer to this one
- 'Drop' the object by releasing the button
Dragging requires more physical effort than moving the same pointing device without holding down any buttons. Because of this, a user cannot move as quickly and precisely while dragging (see Fitts' law). However, drag-and-drop operations have the advantage of thoughtfully chunking together two operands (the object to drag, and the drop location) into a single action.[2]Extended dragging and dropping (as in graphic design) can stress the mousing hand.
A design problem appears when the same button selects and drags items. Imprecise movement can cause an attempt to select an object to register as a dragging motion.
Drag And Drop Mac
Another problem is that the target of the dropping can be hidden under other objects. The user would have to stop the dragging, make both the source and the target visible and start again. In classic Mac OS the top-of-screen menu bar served as a universal 'drag cancel' target. This issue has been dealt with in Mac OS X with the introduction of Exposé.
In Mac OS[edit]
Drag and drop, called click and drag at the time, was used in the original Macintosh to manipulate files (for example, copying them between disks[3] or folders.[4]). System 7 added the ability to open a document in an application by dropping the document icon onto the application's icon.
In System 7.5, drag and drop was extended to common clipboard operations like copying or moving textual content within a document. Content could also be dragged into the filesystem to create a 'clipping file' which could then be stored and reused.
For most of its history Mac OS has used a single button mouse with the button covering a large portion of the top surface of the mouse. This may mitigate the ergonomic concerns of keeping the button pressed while dragging.
In OS/2[edit]
The Workplace Shell of OS/2 uses dragging and dropping extensively with the secondary mouse button, leaving the primary one for selection and clicking.Its use like that of other advanced Common User Access features distinguished native OS/2 applications from platform-independent ports.
In HTML[edit]
The HTML5 working draft specification includes support for drag and drop.[5] HTML5 supports different kinds of dragging and dropping features including:
- Drag and Drop texts and HTML codes
- Drag and Drop HTML elements
- Drag and Drop files
Based on needed action, one of the above types can be used. Note that when an HTML element is dragged for moving its current position, its ID is sent to the destination parent element; so it sends a text and can be considered as the first group.
Google's web-based e-mail application Gmail supports drag-and-drop of images and attachments in the latest Google Chrome browser and Apple's Safari (5.x). And Google Image search supports drag & drop.
On a touch screen[edit]
Touch screen interfaces also include drag and drop, or more precisely, long press, and then drag, e.g. on the iPhone or Android home screens.
Drag And Drop 3 Fingers Machine
iOS 11 implements a drag-and-drop feature which allows the user to touch items (and tap with other fingers to drag more) within an app or between apps on iPads.[6] On iPhones, the functionality is only available within the same app that the user started the drag.[7]
In end-user programming[edit]
Drag and drop is considered an important program construction approach in many end-user development systems. In contrast to more traditional, text-based programming languages, many end-user programming languages are based on visual components such as tiles or icons that are manipulated by end users through drag-and-drop interfaces. AgentSheets,[8] a programming environment for kids, introduced the modern notion of drag and drop blocks programming providing 4 core affordances: 1) Blocks that are end-user composable, 2) blocks are end-user editable, 3) blocks can be nested to represent tree structures, 4) blocks are arranged geometrically to define syntax. Drag and drop is also featured in many shader editing programs for graphics tools, such as Blender.[9] Drag and drop also features in some video game engines, including Unreal Engine, GameMaker Studio, Construct 2 and, with expansion, Unity (game engine).
Can't Drag And Drop Mac
Examples[edit]
A common example is dragging an icon on a virtual desktop to a special trashcanicon to delete a file.
Further examples include:
- Dragging a data file onto a programicon or window for viewing or processing. For instance, dropping an icon that represents a text file into a Microsoft Word window signifies 'Open this document as a new document in Word'
- Moving or copying files to a new location/directory/folder,
- Adding objects to a list of objects to be processed,
- Rearranging widgets in a graphical user interface to customize their layout,
- Dragging an attribute onto an object to which the command is to be applied,
- e.g. dragging a color onto a graphical object to change its color,
- Dragging a tool to a canvas location to apply the tool at that location,
- Creating a hyperlink from one location or word to another location or document.
- Most word processors allow dragging selected text from one point to another.
- Dragging a series of code blocks such as in Blender for designing shaders and materials.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Jakob Nielsen, 'Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes,' http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html (19 February 2008).
- ^Buxton, W. (1986). 'Chunking and Phrasing and the Design of Human-Computer Dialogues'. Proceedings of the IFIP World Computer Congress. pp. 475–480. Archived from the original on 7 June 2004.
- ^'Disk Swapper's Elbow'. folklore.org.
- ^'The Grand Unified Model (2): The Finder'. folklore.org.
- ^'HTML5 W3C Working Draft'. w3.org.
- ^'iPad Drag and Drop, Multitasking, and Split View in iOS 11: Everything you need to know!'. iMore. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
- ^Vincent, James (7 June 2017). 'The iPhone is also getting drag and drop with iOS 11'. The Verge. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
- ^'Moving Beyond Syntax: Lessons from 20 Years of Blocks Programing in AgentSheets'(PDF). Journal of Visual Languages and Sentient Systems. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
- ^'Render – Blender Reference Manual'. blender.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
