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Comment by yndoendo | Hacker News Reader

I cannot stand any Operating System that does not utilize left-click highlight and middle click paste. This is great secondary buffer to the clipboard Ctrl+C && Ctrl+V. I HATE the middle click scrolling feature that Windows uses, it is not user-friendly and not needed in the age of the scroll-wheel. Another reason you have to pay me to use Windows.

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It’s been many years since I used Windows on a daily basis but that middle click scrolling feature was one of my favorite things about it. You could activate it and position the mouse cursor just right so that the page moved with your reading speed and then you could just focus your eyes along one “line” and read that way. Hands-free scrolling after it is setup.

I’ve used it just like that on Firefox on Mac and Linux for years. I generally prefer a mouse to a trackpad and it’s a way nicer interaction than using the scroll wheel to jump down the page.

What makes that feature "not user-friendly" instead of just a personal preference?

Not OP, but I can say that it is a mode, which is its problem. You enter into the scroll mode and while not difficult per se to exit it can cause confusion. It is also pretty superfluous in the age of the touchpad and the ubiquity of the scroll wheel. Just another example of Microsoft working really hard to make Windows 11 look simpler, but not working on making it meaningfully simpler.

I don't know when middle-click scroll was introduced, but it definitely was before Windows 11, and at least as far back as 7.

Also, "no modes" is both a question of personal preference and a sliding scale. Input-has-focus is a mode, too, but getting rid of that would be an obvious mistake.

Middle-click scroll was a feature of the Windows 3.1 drivers for a Logitech TrackMan I bought in 1994 or so.

Yeah, it's not a new thing, but an ancient thing, from the days of the button mice (a third button in the center---no scroll wheel).

Middle-click scroll has been around as long as I can remember having middle-click. At least as far back as Windows XP.

Windows 95 had it.

A few years ago, after being unable to configure OS-X for highlight-copy and middle-click-paste, I turned in the brand new MacBook and requested a simple laptop to install Debian and KDE on.

I hardly ever touch the mouse, but if I am using it then I'm most likely copying and pasting. Don't make that difficult.

As a counterpoint: I love the middle-click scroll feature and use it on all platforms I can.

When I'm reading a long article, my usual strategy is to middle-click and then move the mouse to a position that causes the page to move in time with my reading speed. The continuous movement is a lot easier for my eyes to track than occasional bursts of scrolling, and I can tweak the scroll speed by subtly adjusting the mouse position. It's a bit like cruise control for scrolling.

I'm not saying you ought to use it, but you're decrying it as "not user-friendly" and "not needed" when what you really mean is "I don't like it" and "I don't use it".

Middle click scrolling is awesome.

Windows now has clipboard history by pasting with Win+V, having the best of both worlds.

I'm sorry you can't adapt, but honesty no one cares =)

You are not the only user.

Having two clipboards is a bad decision. Also, trackpad doesn't have middle button.

Yep; I often wish there were three buffers!

All trackpads I've tried support middle click via a three-finger tap.

But there are three buffers! There is a Secondary buffer as well. Emacs supports it at least, but no idea how to access it elsewhere? Top answer to this su question claims there is some old X10 cutbuffers supported in X11 as well (that I learned about just now) so maybe at least four buffers in theory?

https://superuser.com/questions/90257/what-is-the-difference...

https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Se...

My trackpad supports all clicks with physical buttons :-)

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-ZBook-15-Workstation...

I disabled tap to click and all gestures except two finger scrolling.

Many also support click/tap areas, in which you define physical regions of the touchpad to correspond to button clicks.

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