Trackpad - equivalent to click-hold?

Just to clarify... I know the trackpad can be physically pressed and held because it still operates as a button - so I've managed to use the Power Zoom I'm referring to.

* What I'm wondering precisely, is if there is a 'gestural' equivalent to the click-hold, because I've stumbled over this with other apps and if there is a standard way of doing it, then knowing it would help me out.

Thanks

Hi... thanks for responding.

I'm afraid I already have everything in the system trackpad preferences ticked (except 'secondary click'). I've been really very pleased with the transition to the new gestural trackpad which has come a long way since my old Tiger MacBook. The videos you refer to helped me 'tune-in', so adapt quickly.

Some apps authors have resolved the 'click-hold' action to 'tap + tap-drag'. In PhotoShop for example, the 'secret' doc info pop-up menu at the bottom of the doc window (bottom left, next to the scale) which I use all the time and has traditionally been a mouse click-hold action to view, does respond to the tap + tap-drag gesture.

After playing with the power zoom feature in InDesign however, the precise issue is that it is one of those 'click-hold' commands which does require a pause of a second or two in order to activate. This is why I think tap+tap-drag isn't resolving to it.. there is no room for a pause.

I'm trying to remember when I've encountered this before and can't, but feel it was the same - a 'click-hold+pause' action. I'm concluding there is no gestural equivalent so I've to resort to pressing the trackpad like old days... already feels antiquated, crude and jarringly inelegant on the new machine - quite something when you consider I've only had the new MacBook less than a month.

Thanks again. All the best.

Hi, thanks for helping.

I would recommend to anyone the newest trackpad/Snow Leopard combination. However, I committed to buying a laptop as opposed to a desktop machine for home some years ago and as part of that I also committed to the 'painful feeling' of adapting to 100% trackpad use. I own two mice and I think I've plugged one into the last laptop once. It does take time, and persistence, when one has been 'mouse only' for some time. IMHO, I've done nothing but gain in speed and ease.

I've just completed a complex series of photo montages requiring a great deal of precision and been very impressed with the improvement in this latest trackpad. I will say that I personally find there are occasions, though not many, when I need to feel more 'drawing & airbrushing' and a tablet is the way to go then - I suspect because I'm not (currently) doing much illustrative 'art' work.

Hope this helps anyone reading this debating whether to go laptop or not.

Something I maybe should add is that I do know a gentleman who is well over 6 foot, with hands appropriate to his height, who really doesn't have much time for a trackpad. I can understand this.