Talk:Scroll wheel

Clean up and verification?
The end of the history version reads very poorly, it seems it was written by someone whose first language was not English. (Specifically the last paragraph)


 * This issue appears to be fixed as of today, so I thought I'd go ahead and note that this topic appears to be closed, since no one's yet done so. Mousenight (talk) 02:19, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Computer games
Some computer games use the 'scroll wheel' too. Such as in FPS (First person shooter) games, example Doom 3, you can change weapon by scrolling. Depending on which way you scroll, it changes to previous/next weapon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frap (talk • contribs) 06:45, May 23, 2006
 * The "mouse wheel up" and "mouse wheel down" are usually implemented as mouse button "clicks" on those respective "buttons". As such they can generally be remapped in a FPS as with any other button. So it is only fair to say that that is a common default key binding - any button on the mouse or keyboard can make the claim of being usable as a "next weapon" or "previous weapon" key binding. 216.36.186.2 (talk) 17:15, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

misplaced text
"Also, clicking a certain hyperlink with a scroll wheel can create a tab in certain browsers." This seems misplaced. The scroll wheel click is just equivilant to a middle click and this seems to suggest that scroll wheels were, in part, developed to allow people to middle click on links to open them in a new tab. You could assign any button to do that... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.137.201.94 (talk • contribs) 13:16, January 23, 2007


 * I am a professional geek and I did not know that clicking the scroll wheel would open a new tab in Firefox. This is great. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.107.39 (talk • contribs) 15:19, February 28, 2007

who was first
Actually, I was wondering, who first added the scroll wheel to the mouse? MasterCKO 22:03, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Further information is required. Buxton mentions a CHI 1989 paper that does not exist. Or maybe it was a demo at this time? There is a CHI 1993 paper --Tom~frwiki (talk) 16:25, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Scrollwheels on laptops
AFAIK, scroll-wheels were never popular on laptops, most touchpads just designate the right and bottom edges for scrolling. —Preceding unsigned comment added by W3bbo (talk • contribs) 11:58, March 31, 2007

notches
what are the 'notches' called on some scroll wheels which make the ratcheting sound as you turn it?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.43.48.129 (talk • contribs) 11:19, April 11, 2007

I think the visible notches are just cosmetic and probably don't have a name. The detents are what make the noise. 128.2.153.87 (talk) 20:34, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Origin
Anyone know where they appeared first (which vendor introduced them first)? That is the question on my mind that prompted me to come with this page. Also, I don't think the opening of a link in a seperate tab has to do with the scroll wheel, that works with the third (middle) mouse button on any three button mouse. --202.168.39.41 (talk) 23:23, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Conventions and Design
It would be pretty nice to have a discussion of the origin of the convention for the scroll wheel to mirror the scrollbar widget instead of the content pane in light of Apple's decision to change the convention in OS X Lion. William (talk) 14:35, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Thumbwheel redirect
Why the hell does Thumbwheel redirect here? Kendall-K1 (talk) 21:09, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
 * It doesn't anymore. Thanks for pointing this out. DraugTheWhopper (talk) 18:24, 10 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Because it is a related topic at least giving someone unfamiliar with the term "thumbwheel" a rough idea what it might be, and because noone has written an article about thumbwheels yet. You could be the first.
 * @Kendall: Many editors object to this kind of language. Please don't use foul language in Wikipedia.
 * @Draug: It is generally a bad idea to delete such redirects with possibilities.
 * --Matthiaspaul (talk) 05:04, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Anything on why scrollwheels are painful for some users and not for others?
Given that many operating systems and desktop environments are getting rid of scrollbars, or narrowing them, and the usual response to accessibility issues with other scrolling methods is to ask people to use scrollwheels, the accessibility issues with scrollwheels seem pretty important to me. 71.191.70.36 (talk) 22:00, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Isn't it obvious?
I read this and felt the statement in the Functionality section was too obvious to warrant citing refs, so I took the liberty to change it from

"Scroll wheels are prevalent on modern computer mice.[citation needed] To many users,[by whom?] they have become an integral part of the hardware interface. However, non-wheeled mice are still available."

to

"Scroll wheels are prevalent on modern computer mice and have become an integral part of the hardware interface. However, non-wheeled mice are still available."

This seems to nip two birds in the butt with the same stone, giving it a less weaselly tone. However, if anyone feels the statement requires a source or two to back it up, be my guest. It seems very obvious to me, but I'm just throwing it out there in case others disagree. Mousenight (talk) 02:33, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

English
Scrolling the wheel 122.2.75.123 (talk) 09:27, 24 April 2024 (UTC)