Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

127 points

Side-scroll affects wrong "shelf" in iTunes Store

Hi I have three 2015 Retina iMacs in our house. And all of them experience this issue, so I assume it can be recreated by others.

Hovering over a new iTunes Store "shelf" (side-scrollable window) - in any of the the last several versions of iTunes (currently 12.3.1.23) - the scroll input initially does not respond. Attempts to side-scroll seem momentarily dead. (Using Magic Mouse)

And then after a couple- dead- attempts to scroll, iTunes suddenly wakes up and starts responding and all seems fine. But then when you move your cursor over the next "shelf", that shelf doesn't respond. At least that's what I thought - BUT...

Then I realized that iTunes WAS side-scrolling the second time I tried - but it wasn't affecting the shelf I was hovered over, it was rather affecting the previously scrolled shelf! Even if you already scrolled that shelf off the screen vertically. Meaning - that even though the cursor is clearly hovering over shelf 2, shelf 1 is still the one responding to side-scroll input.

Continuing to swipe the mouse and change direction, iTunes once again suddenly wakes up and switches the target shelf and starts scrolling correctly.

But this poor behavior just seems very un-Apple, and I can't quite wrap my head around whether there is something I'M doing that's causing it or what.

This inconsistent effect can be recreated ad nauseam simply by choosing new shelves to scroll. Vertical scroll works fine. It doesn't require a new page to load. I find the effect more pronounced in movies and tv show sections in the iTunes store.

This does not happen in any other app. Just iTunes. No discernible bluetooth issues appear to be present. All batteries in Magic Mice (mice? mouses? meese?) are new.

Any idea whether this is user-fixable, or is this just another weirdness with El Cap?

Thanks!

Posted on Dec 11, 2015 2:35 PM

37 replies

Joel Pro Author

Level 1

127 points

May 31, 2016 8:13 PM in response to dialabrain

HI dialabrain, understood. That's not what people are talking about. It is that completely separate shelves (not the same double height shelf) scrolls horizontally - not the one you're hovering over. It need not be the adjacent shelf. The "incorrect scrolling" shelf can be separated by several shelves from the "hovered" shelf if you simply scrolled vertically enough.

Just to clarify for people who have suggested that is is perhaps a Magic Mouse issue - I have determined that is incorrect. I was able to cause the effect repeatedly on a friend's new MacBook Pro the other day using the embedded track pad.

No, this would appear not to be a hardware issue. This can be caused on ANY Mac using ANY input hardware. If you do not see this effect yourself you simply do not happen to move your cursor in such a way as to trigger it. But rest assured, it can be made to happen on your machine. its like a magic trick I've learned to perform on demand for friends. No set up has stumped me. Unfortunately it happens when I don't want it to as well.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,627 points

May 31, 2016 8:36 PM in response to Joel Pro

I believe you but, I have tried a few times on three different Macs running El Capitan since I first read this post and I can't recreate what others decribe no matter what I've tried. That includes a wired mouse, a magic mouse, two trackpads. I feel cheated! 😁

Joel Pro Author

Level 1

127 points

May 31, 2016 8:42 PM in response to dialabrain

FWIW, Joel, so far three users have reported this problem out of millions of Mac users. It's not a "thing"

WIth respect, this is not the kind of problem that is going to disrupt the vast majority of users. I've stepped on my shoelace causing it to become untied and the fact that people don't write blog posts or complain on message boards about it doesn't mean it has not happened to someone you know. This effect happens and then it stops and corrects itself in a blink if you lift your finger off the input device.

But I can cause it so consistently and dependably, I have zero doubt that I can cause it on your machine. It is most certainly a "thing" (as opposed to something imagined). You obviously do not know how to cause it. It has a gestural trigger. You have merely not gestured in such a way, I assure you. I have triggered the effect on several new MacPros, an older silver tower MacPro, countless iMacs, new and old, a gold MacBook, a MacBook Pro. It can be caused by gesturing on a Magic Mouse, an embedded trackpad, or an external BT trackpad.

My only explanation for so few people complaining is that either people see it and it resolves so quickly due to their gestural behavior that they barely notice it, or don't at all, or if they do see it they assume they themselves made a mistake, or else they simply do not move to the next shelf as quickly as those few of us who have seen it do. It admittedly requires a quick retargeting of another shelf- while the last shelf is still in motion (even just at the very tail end of the ramp down in speed).

It's a software bug. It's a thing. But it is one that obviously most people, including yourself, fortunately, do not exhibit the user behavior to reproduce.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,627 points

May 31, 2016 8:47 PM in response to Joel Pro

Perhaps some few have magic fingers.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,627 points

May 31, 2016 9:28 PM in response to Joel Pro

FWIW, I finally recreated the behavior with a Magic Mouse on my 5K iMac. Try as I might I couldn't reproduce it with the wired Apple Mouse.. First, it seems rather random which leads me to believe it's a hardware timing problem. I would have never discovered it using a mouse normally.

I had to fiddle with it a lot.

Jun 2, 2016 10:53 AM in response to dialabrain

I have no difficulties reproducing this problem on my late 2009 iMac loaded with OS X 10.11.5 using my wireless Magic Mouse, the same mouse that were included with the iMac.

And as you, I can't reproduce it using my wired Mighty Mouse. But then, Apple has made this mouse unusable under 10.11.x with the extremely sensitive scroll ball (for example: I can scroll this page from top to bottom just by quickly swiping my finger vertically once on the scroll ball slightly more than one inch).

And as before, downgrading my iMac to OS X 10.9.5 solves the problem with wrong drawers scrolling in iTunes and brings down Mighty Mouse scrolling to normal usable levels. So the same problem on my late 2013 MBP and late 2009 iMac. And the same solution for both: downgrade to OS X 10.9.5.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,627 points

Jun 2, 2016 11:07 AM in response to abubasim66

abubasim66 wrote:

And as you, I can't reproduce it using my wired Mighty Mouse. But then, Apple has made this mouse unusable under 10.11.x with the extremely sensitive scroll ball (for example: I can scroll this page from top to bottom just by quickly swiping my finger vertically once on the scroll ball slightly more than one inch).

Not sure what your issue is with the scroll ball. Although I can scroll the page you posted with one swipe, I can also take more than 30 swipes.

Edit: actually I can scroll appox. 1 or 2 pixels at a time.

Side-scroll affects wrong "shelf" in iTunes Store