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Cocoa Gestures - Mouse actions in Cocoa apps Pick of the Week
Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 1:15AM PST • Contributed by: robg
Cocoa GesturesThe macosxhints Rating:
9 of 10
[0 to 10 lights; 10 = perfect!]
A while back, we ran a hint on mouse gestures in Mozilla. Mouse gestures are basically motions of the mouse that lead to actions within a program. Sometime last week, someone submitted Cocoa Gestures 1.0 as a potential pick of the week. After looking at the program, I must say I agree. It may not completely change your world, but Cocoa Gestures is a cool little program.

As you might have guessed from the name, Cocoa Gestures gives you mouse gestures in any Cocoa application. Installation is trivial (drag a folder to your Library folder), and gestures are then available to any subsequently launched Cocoa programs. Every Cocoa app will have a new Cocoa gestures menu item in its application menu; this is where you set the gestures and the actions they will perform. You start by deciding what modifier key to use with what mouse button, and then you can add and remove gestures from each app's "gestures dictionary." There are pre-defined gestures for many things, and you can add and delete from the list as you like. As an example, up-down-up in Mail is predefined for "New Message." Hold down your modifier key and selected mouse button, and drag up then down then up, and a new message window springs open.

Cocoa Gestures is harder to explain than it is to use, so give it a try ... if you've never used mouse gestures before, Cocoa Gestures is a very easy way to get acquainted with them.
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If you really like gestures...
Authored by: Elander on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 4:46AM PST
...maybe you should try out the various "keyboards" from Fingerworks:
http://www.fingerworks.com/

I have the "Touchstream LP", and it is really cool. Open a file? Select it and move your hand as if you were opening the screw-on lid on a jar. Close a window? Move your hand as if you were closing the lid. Zoom out in Photoshop by starting with your fingers spread out, and bring them together. Zoom in by doing the same in reverse. There is a bunch of ready-made application specific gesture sets, and a comprehensive global set.

Unfortunately you can't build your own gesture sets yet, but that seems to be on its way.

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Cocoa Gestures
Authored by: englabenny on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 6:52AM PST
freaking awesome!
can't wait til Finder gets Cocoa!

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Gestures Rock!
Authored by: stewby on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 8:56AM PST
All I can say is, what's the missing dot for? This is easily 10/10!

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No icon :-)
Authored by: robg on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 9:57AM PST
About the only thing missing was a program icon ... that's about the only reason I took a dot off :-).

-rob.

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No icon :-)
Authored by: mahakk on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 11:34AM PST
why on earth would one want an icon on something like this?
this is like a prefpane, a service, a screensaver. no icon needed.
so... give 'em credit. 1 star up, this thing rocks. :)

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It's still a 9...
Authored by: robg on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 11:44AM PST
All decisions of the judges will be final, barring excessive amounts of under the table cash in exchange for a higher score ;-).

It does rock; I just wish everything was Cocoa so it worked everywhere, especially in the Finder ... of course, if you use PathFinder instead of the Finder, it should work given that PathFinder (nee SNAX) is Cocoa.

-rob.

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It's still a 9...
Authored by: meancode on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 6:06PM PST
and after all, what power user DOES NOT use Path Finder :)

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:::
Authored by: poultryfarm on Mon, Oct 28 2002 at 4:56PM PST
this is amazing!
i love it.
the end.

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Gestures Rock!
Authored by: Ezra Balaraj on Tue, Oct 29 2002 at 4:35AM PST
Indeed. It deserves a perfect "ten"!

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HELP ME !! I'm addicted !
Authored by: sunsoul on Tue, Oct 29 2002 at 9:00AM PST
Three little things:

1. This app just rules :oD

2a. For those like me who were so excited about working Cocoa Gestures with the Finder and installed Path Finder (a cocoa finder), here's my problem: each time I try to bind a gesture to the go menu (like a gesture for the Utilities or Desktop folder), I always end up to my ~/.Trash. Looks like some misprogramming in the menus. Any workaround ?

2b. Again with Path Finder: After switching the Finder for Path Finder at startup, I can't use folders in the dock anymore. Each time I try to open a folder shortcut in the dock, the Finder lauches and open a new window for that clicked folder. Any "plist wiz" out there that could tweak the dock settings so it opens folder aliases via Path Finder ?

Oh.. almost forgot: Cocoa Gestures still REALLY rules :o)))

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Send Feedback!!!
Authored by: gerti on Tue, Oct 29 2002 at 6:53PM PST
Folks, If you find something like that, send feedback to the author! Do not rely on 'someone else will send it in'. Many people think gestures is too obscure of a feature to even try, so there are not as many users as you might think, and even fewer who send feedback. And I can't possibly monitor every place where people talk about CocoaGestures.

Having said that, macosxhints.com is one of the sites that I do routinely monitor (thanks robg and others for this great site), so I happened to read the above. I just fixed the problem with Path Finder and the 'Go' menu, look for the CocoaGestures 1.1 release due out this weekend.

Oh, and feel free to send 'really like it' kind of feedback too, that keeps working on CocoaGestures fun for me! Special thanks for the folks who did send encouraging words! Gerd

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I really want to love it but it won't love me!
Authored by: jlemus@primo.com on Wed, Oct 30 2002 at 1:34PM PST
I can't get it to understand my letters. how perfect does it have to be. is there a trick like palm graffiti?

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RE: I really want to love it but it won't love me!
Authored by: nick on Sat, Nov 2 2002 at 4:22AM PST
CocoaGestures doesn't "understand" letters. it understands directions. so for example a "G" is left, down, right, up, left. an "O" could be the same. i suggest you start with simple gestures like just left for "back" in a browser or up for "bigger text".

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Can't see what all the fuss is about
Authored by: eno on Tue, Nov 12 2002 at 8:22AM PST
As an example, up-down-up in Mail is predefined for "New Message." Hold down your modifier key and selected mouse button, and drag up then down then up, and a new message window springs open.

Erm... and how is this easier or faster than pressing command-N????



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Can't see what all the fuss is about
Authored by: mahakali on Fri, Nov 15 2002 at 7:45AM PST
Both are the same (in speed.) It's just when you use it that matters. I use keyboard shortcuts when my hands are on the keyboard. When my hand is already on the mouse (and my other hand is holding a smoke,) is faster to use mouse gestures than keyboard s/c.

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Can't see what all the fuss is about
Authored by: blafusel on Sat, Jun 24 2006 at 6:32PM PDT
I had the same problem. I still have to push down a key and then execute the gesture? Not so. I setup my CocoaGestures to 'Right mouse button' and no modifier key. Then I setup some gestures for Safari (and the same functionality gestures on all the other browsers/systems I might use). Granted, it takes a bit longer now to actually get the right-mouse click menu...

l - History/Back
r - History/Forward
ul - Window/Select Previous Tab
ur - Window/Select Next Tab
ldr - File/Close Window (Tab)
and so on...

Basically I can control all the browsers on either Windows and Linux (Firefox) or Mac (Safari, Camino) the same way. I found this very handy.

Now if only the Finder would allow Gestures! (Or does it?)

[ Reply to This | # ]

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