mapsource interface question: use of mouse wheel

does anyone find the action of the mouse wheel useful in mapsource??
seems it only scrolls the map up or down. i keep rolling expecting it
to zoom (ala google maps). i might make a feature request to garmin.

eff1fan@yahoo.com (4MLA1FN) wrote in


I prefer it to scroll; MS MapPoint also zooms and I find that feature
useless.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

what i don't understand is why they (garmin) provide an easy way to
scroll up/down when map surfing doesn't have a strong up/down bias
(unlike most scrolling in webpages or word processing, etc). if i
need to move the map, i just click the left button and mouse about.


i guess the solution is to let the user configure the mouse actions.
(strange that you regularly find this kind of configurability in games
and rarely in other kinds of software.)

eff1fan@yahoo.com (4MLA1FN) wrote in


Maybe so, but you can go overboard in offering config options,
especially those that affect the user interface.

I just don't like surprises. I spend my day sitting in front of a PC
using a variety of tools, all of which scroll up and down with the
mouse wheel; having one act differently from all the others is
annoying.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

yep, you're absolutely. fact is that if the initial design is well
done, there's no need for user config, or if included, most users
won't use it.


you'll not like google maps then. ;) seriously though, i'm in the
same boat in terms of using a variety of tools all day where the
wheel scrolls. but when using an app without a clear up/down bias, my
brain expects it to so something else; in this case, zoom. maybe
because i use a lot of graphic apps with the regular stuff.

anyway, i think both of our expections are legitimate. hence it seems
garmin should make the mouse wheel configurable.