Mike McBride
2002-02-12
3.00.00
KDE KControl mouse

## Mouse

This module allows you to configure your pointing device. Your pointing device may be a mouse, a track ball, a touch-pad, or another piece of hardware that performs a similar function.

This module is divided into 2 tabs: General and Advanced

### General

Button Mapping

  If you are left-handed, you may prefer to swap the functions of the left and right buttons on your pointing device by choosing the left-handed option. If your pointing device has more than two buttons, only those that function as the left and right buttons are affected. For example, if you have a three-button mouse, the middle button is unaffected.

Double-click to open files and folders (select icons on first click)

  With this option enabled, you can single click to select files, and double click to open them.

Single-click to open files and folders

  This is the default setting for &kde;. Clicking once on an icon will open it. To select you can drag around the icon(s) or &Ctrl;Right click, or simply click and hold to drag it.

Change pointer shape over icons

  When this option is checked, the shape of the mouse pointer changes whenever it is over an icon.

  This option should be checked in most situations. It gives more visual feedback and says, in essence, if you click here, something will happen.

Double-click to open files and folders (select icons on first click)

  If this option is not checked, icons/files will be opened with a single click of the left mouse-button. This default behavior is consistent with what you would expect when you click links in most web browsers. If checked however, icons/files will be opened with a double click, while a single click will only select the icon or file. This is the behavior you may know from other desktops or operating systems.

Visual feedback on activation

  When this option is checked, &kde; gives you visual feedback whenever you click on something and activate it.

Large Cursor

  This will give &kde; a larger mouse cursor.

  The large cursor will not be seen until &kde; is restarted.

Automatically Select Icons

  If you check this option, pausing the mouse pointer over an icon on the screen will automatically select that icon. This may be useful when single clicks opens icons, and you only want to select the icon without opening it.

  You can still select an icon or file without opening it, even when Single Click Opens is checked. This is done by either holding down the &Ctrl; key and then clicking, or by dragging a box around the icon(s) or file(s) which you wish to select.

  If you have activated this option, you can use the slider to select how long the mouse pointer must rest on an icon before it becomes selected.

### Advanced

Pointer Acceleration

  This option allows you to change the relationship between the distance that the mouse pointer moves on the screen and the relative movement of the physical device itself (which may be a mouse, track-ball, or some other pointing device.)

  A high value for the acceleration multiplier will lead to large movements of the mouse pointer on the screen, even when you only make a small movement with the physical device.

  A multiplier between 1x and 3x will works well for many systems. With a multiplier over 3x the mouse pointer may become difficult to control.

Pointer Threshold

  The threshold is the smallest distance that the mouse pointer must move on the screen before acceleration has any effect. If the movement is within the threshold, the mouse pointer moves as if the acceleration were set to 1x.

  Thus, when you make small movements with the physical device (⪚ mouse), you still have fine control of the mouse pointer on the screen, whereas larger movements of the physical device will move the mouse pointer rapidly to different areas on the screen.

  You can set the threshold value by dragging the slider button or by clicking the up/down arrows on the spin-button to the left of the slider.

  In general, the higher you set the Pointer Acceleration value, the higher you'll want to set the Drag Threshold value. For example, A Drag Threshold of 4 pixels may be appropriate for a Pointer Acceleration of 2x, but 10 pixels might be better for 3x.

Double Click Interval

  This is the maximum amount of time between clicks for &kde; to register a double click. If you click twice, and the time between those two clicks is less than this number, &kde; recognizes that as a double click. If the time between these two clicks is greater than this number, &kde; recognises those as two separate single clicks.

Drag Start Time and Drag Start Distance

  If you

  - Click with the mouse

  - drag within the time specified in Drag Start Time, and

  - move a distance equal to or greater than the number (of pixels) specified in Drag Start Distance

  &kde; will drag the selected item.
Mouse Wheel Scrolls By

  If you have a wheel mouse, use the slider to determine how many lines of text one step of the mouse wheel will scroll.

### Section Author

Ellis Whitehead kde@ellisw.net

Updated by: Mike McBride mpmcbride7@yahoo.com