Are there any apps that make it now possible to scroll with Mountain Lion ?

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Level 2

399 points

Are there any apps that make it now possible to scroll with Mountain Lion ?

I just gave up on a project that required me to be able to scroll through a Senate bill. I'll probably go back, but it just shouldn't be so difficult, so painful. and I'm not talking about the bill's language. No, it's just Apple's decision to do away with the USEABLE search arrows that existed before Mountain Lion, and, yes, I know that you can use the little up and down triangles--sometimes--for this purpose. I have written to Apple about this on more than one occasion, but I never felt that this would do any good. Anyway, I came here to see if anyone knows of an app that has been developed to overcome this strange, almost malicious, behavior of Apple's. Are there any apps I can use on my iMac for scrolling? If not why not? I know I have a lot of company in my disgust with Apple's behavior, so I have to there is some prohibitively difficult problem that makes such a fix impossible. Is that the reason why no one has come to the rescue of Apple's suffering customers?

iDVD 7.1.1 (1150)

Posted on Jul 9, 2013 10:45 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 9, 2013 10:56 AM in response to Niku

Do you have a mouse with a scroll wheel or a track pad? Scrolling is WAY easier with other methods than clicking little arrows. With the trackpad, scrolling is GREAT.

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Answer 2

Niku Author

Level 2

399 points

Jul 9, 2013 11:10 AM in response to William Lloyd

I've gone through many, many different tools for scrolling, including the Track Pad, and I completely disagree with you, as I have to believe most people do. I don't remember how much I paid for the Trackball, but I put it in my desk drawer after trying to use it for a week (I wanted to be fair). As a matter of fact, it was only after chucking the Trackpad that I discovered that I hadn't thrown away an old and, I suppose, primitive mouse. I thought, well, what the ****!, so I tried it again and then had to wonder why I had ever given it up. The attraction of newness, of novelty, I suppose.

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Answer 3

nbar

Level 5

7,019 points

Jul 9, 2013 11:21 AM in response to Niku

Have you changed scrolling speed?

System Preferences > Accessibility > Trackpad (or mouse) options > Scrolling speed

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Answer 4

cbs20

Level 4

2,796 points

Jul 9, 2013 11:40 AM in response to Niku

I hate to sound rude, but I am positive the majority would disagree with you and attest to how simple scrolling is with the trackpad. There have been other posts about ppl complaining about scrolling and the majority of them were using a mouse. Once ppl told them to get a trackpad and they did they stopped complaining.

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Answer 5

Niku Author

Level 2

399 points

Jul 9, 2013 11:45 AM in response to nbar

That might have done the trick. I haven't yet given the new settings a complete check, but setting tracking speed to "slowest" and scrolling speed to "fastest". enabled me to scroll as I haven't been able do do since I installed Mountain Lion.

I'll report back later if necessary, but I've seen enough now to give you my heartfelt thanks. I can now tackle the Senate's Immigration Bill. The wording is daunting, but at least I won't be stopped by being unable to scroll through the bill. Who knows, I might even be willing to have Office Depot print it for around $75. First, though, I'll have to see if I can handle those thousand plus pages. That's a formidable job.

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Answer 6

Niku Author

Level 2

399 points

Jul 9, 2013 12:02 PM in response to cbs20

cbs20,

Well, I seem to have gotten the scrolling function to work acceptably now, but here's one sentence from my review on Amazon, together with the remarks of a dissident. You weren't rude, but he certainly was.

Niku: What's wrong with it? Think of the things you can do with a mouse: THEM.

Disagreer: Are all the lobes of your brain intact and functioning? You may want to do a system reboot.

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Answer 7

cbs20

Level 4

2,796 points

Jul 9, 2013 12:38 PM in response to Niku

True that was very rude. I do believe the trackpad is the best option for smooth scrolling. Make sure you access System Preferences>Trackpad settings and also look at Accessibility in System Preferences for trackpad settings. Mess with these until you find it to your liking.

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Answer 8

Niku Author

Level 2

399 points

Jul 9, 2013 1:04 PM in response to cbs20

I had meant to mention that the Trackpad got three hundred ninety-five five-star reviews and twenty-four one-star (including mine) reviews. I'd also like to say that I really appreciate the people at this site who keep the comments from turning into the type of thing you see on YouTube and sometimes Amazon. Good work! You are keeping this useful AND civilized.

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Answer 9

nbar

Level 5

7,019 points

Jul 9, 2013 12:58 PM in response to Niku

Cheers. Maybe trackpad reform can be added to the house agenda next 😎

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Answer 10

Niku Author

Level 2

399 points

Jul 16, 2013 8:21 AM in response to nbar

Here's something else i just discovered. For some reason I had great difficulty in installing it yesterday, but I now am beginning to see how it enhances the scrolling experience. Sorry I forgot to grab a link before coming here. but you should be able to find "Smart Scroll" without any difficulty. I got it from MacUpdate for $10.00+.

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Answer 11

Network 23

Level 6

12,333 points

Jul 16, 2013 8:49 AM in response to Niku

For very long documents in PDF or on a web page, I just lean on the space bar for big jumps (Shift-spacebar goes up), or on the down arrow keys for short scrolling. If I'm on my laptop, the trackpad provides both large jumps and fine control. If I'm on my desktop, I love my scroll wheel mouse.

In apps like Word, you can't scroll with the spacebar because you need it to type spaces, so I just use the Page Up/Page Down keys. On short Mac keyboards you press Fn+Up Arrow or Fn+Down Arrow to page up/down.

There are so many more and better ways to scroll now compared to the 1980s when the only way was to click-click-click over and over again on stupid scroll arrows. If it stopped scrolling it meant you had to re-aim the mouse because the mouse slipped a little and the arrow is no longer hitting the arrow. If you wanted to scroll up, you had to move the mouse quite a ways because the arrows were on opposite ends of the bar. Scroll arrows were the worst and least efficient way to scroll and I don't miss them at all.

I'm glad we have so many superior alternatives now where, unlike scroll arrows, you don't even have to look at the screen to scroll quickly and accurately. Today, the only good use for a scroll bar is to tell you how far you are through the document.

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