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Scrolling in Lion


Jeff Wexler

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It is well known now that the traditional method of scrolling in Lion will be REVERSED from the behavior we have all gotten accustomed to for probably the last 15 or 20 years of computer use. We can spend a lot of time debating the logic or philosophy behind the act of scrolling the contents of a window but it is clear that Apple has made a global decision that changes a lot of this thinking.

from Macworld website:

According to Apple, "When you scroll or swipe in Lion, content now moves in the same direction as your finger." In other words, drag two fingers downward on a MacBook's trackpad or Apple's Magic Trackpad — or spin your mouse's scroll wheel towards you—and the content of the current document or window scrolls down, as well. This is exactly the opposite of how it's worked since the mouse scroll wheel debuted over 15 years ago!

We can debate whether or not this is a good change, but it's the default behavior in Lion. And while Apple has provided a simple setting in System Preferences to revert scrolling back to the traditional behavior, it's safe to say that Apple sees Lion's approach as the future.

You don't have to wait for Lion's debut to start getting used to "reverse" scrolling. Thanks to a new utility, you can get yourself ready for Lion scrolling while you're getting ready for Lion's imminent release. Scroll Reverser is a simple utility that, when running, places a new menu in your menu bar that lets you choose your scroll behavior. Choose Reverse Scrolling, and your Snow Leopard will act like a Lion—at least as far as scroll direction goes. The utility even reverses horizontal scrolling—drag two fingers across your trackpad to the left, and onscreen content moves to the left, as well.

I am using Scroll Reverser now and it is driving me a little batty. Reminds me of the extra attention I have to make when driving on the "wrong" side of the road in the UK, Australia or New Zealand. Every move has a little hesitation and un-certainty when the traditional and automatic way of doing things is changed.

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It is well known now that the traditional method of scrolling in Lion will be REVERSED from the behavior we have all gotten accustomed to for probably the last 15 or 20 years of computer use. We can spend a lot of time debating the logic or philosophy behind the act of scrolling the contents of a window but it is clear that Apple has made a global decision that changes a lot of this thinking.

from Macworld website:

According to Apple, "When you scroll or swipe in Lion, content now moves in the same direction as your finger." In other words, drag two fingers downward on a MacBook's trackpad or Apple's Magic Trackpad — or spin your mouse's scroll wheel towards you—and the content of the current document or window scrolls down, as well. This is exactly the opposite of how it's worked since the mouse scroll wheel debuted over 15 years ago!

We can debate whether or not this is a good change, but it's the default behavior in Lion. And while Apple has provided a simple setting in System Preferences to revert scrolling back to the traditional behavior, it's safe to say that Apple sees Lion's approach as the future.

You don't have to wait for Lion's debut to start getting used to "reverse" scrolling. Thanks to a new utility, you can get yourself ready for Lion scrolling while you're getting ready for Lion's imminent release. Scroll Reverser is a simple utility that, when running, places a new menu in your menu bar that lets you choose your scroll behavior. Choose Reverse Scrolling, and your Snow Leopard will act like a Lion—at least as far as scroll direction goes. The utility even reverses horizontal scrolling—drag two fingers across your trackpad to the left, and onscreen content moves to the left, as well.

I am using Scroll Reverser now and it is driving me a little batty. Reminds me of the extra attention I have to make when driving on the "wrong" side of the road in the UK, Australia or New Zealand. Every move has a little hesitation and un-certainty when the traditional and automatic way of doing things is changed.

I actually think people will like this change.

phil p

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This reminds me of the shooting games where you have the option to invert the y axis on your controller. I grew up playing games with a joystick. If you were playing Castle Wolfenstein, for example, then pushing the joystick up would cause your character to go "up" on the screen. If playing a flight simulator, then of course pressing up would be controlling your attitude, and would push the nose of the aircraft down. For me, I could never adapt to controls that used a first person where up = up... I always had to invert back to the flight sim style of play. Other people are different and I think Apple should leave the option to personal preference. They are obviously ramping up for touch screen control, where it only makes sense to may a swipe up = up. I think that for desktop document use, I could get used to this new paradigm, but as it stands now, up means moving the scroll bar up. This is a paradigm that users will have to retrain themselves for, and I think most people can get it, but it does seem heavy handed on Apple's part if they don't give you the option to at least use the paradigm that has been in use the last 25+ years.

Paradigm change of:

1) am I looking at the content on my desktop through the "lens" of a window/camera and I am changing the position of the window/camera?

2) is the desktop on my computer an actual virtual desktop, where I'm manipulating the files directly.

As the OS integration gets deeper and your can do more physical-like manipulation with the digital data, paradigm #2 will become more and more vital, hence Apple's intention to make people switch sooner than later, perhaps even a bit forcibly.

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Other people are different and I think Apple should leave the option to personal preference.

As the OS integration gets deeper and your can do more physical-like manipulation with the digital data, paradigm #2 will become more and more vital, hence Apple's intention to make people switch sooner than later, perhaps even a bit forcibly.

At this point there is every indication that scrolling behavior, even in Lion, will have a setting that is user configurable. Like so many other user configurations (even here on this site), most every user will just go with the default setup which is why Apple's intention with Lion is interesting.

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you can change it - and most users will want it changed. during the preview you couldn't change it during the early versions and testers hated it (including me).

I've been running Reverser which is a little utility that reverses the scroll behavior to match what will be the default in Lion. I'm still not used to it yet, not surprising, but when I think about the logic and concept, it really makes sense in some ways. As someone put it, it really depends on the analogy you use when moving the contents of a page on your screen --- is the monitor a window frame that is looking at an object (the page) and you move the frame up and down, or is the monitor a surface, a desktop, over which you move the object (pushing it up or pushing it down).

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They are obviously ramping up for touch screen control, where it only makes sense to may a swipe up = up. I think that for desktop document use, I could get used to this new paradigm, but as it stands now, up means moving the scroll bar up.

But as of now, sliding a finger up on an iphone/ipad (touch screen control) makes the screen go down, as per 'usual'. Think of it as pushing the content up with your finger. Swiping down, you're pushing the content down to get to the top. If this was inverted on a desktop or even an idevice, I don't think it make sense. Dragging/Sliding as opposed to Scrolling.

In terms of desktop scrolling, If I am in a window that needs scrolling, and I put my finger on the scroll wheel and turn towards me (i think of that as down), the content does go up, but in terms of reading, I am moving DOWN the page. The wheel is controlling the postion of the scroll bar, in my mind. Perhaps because Lion doesn't/wont have scroll bars, they assume people will need to change their (obviously) ingrained behaviour.

Apple. We know what you want. Here it is. Don't love it? Change, you're wrong.

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Choice is good, it's when that choice is taken away, or made less obvious, or radically different to us that it becomes as problem. Final Cut Pro X is a good example of this change. Many of the things that 'aren't in FCPX' actually are, they're just in a different place, harder to find, or work in a different manner.

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Choice is good. And the new scrolling paradigm makes total sense for anyone seeing a mouse for the very first time. But for the other 99.999% of people who buy Lion, it seems bizarre that the default behavior is 180-degrees opposite to what all users of all mouse-based operating systems have known for 27 years. It's a little like swapping the gas pedal and the brake pedal but telling people they can switch it in the menu system if they really really want to. (I sure hope the menu where the preference is made doesn't involve any scrolling.) Might it have made sense to offer the choice but make the default be the behavior people already know?

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I tried using an Apple Magic Trackpad for several months, and I had no problem doing a downward gesture to get the page to scroll down. For a variety of reasons (had to edit a project with another person), I temporarily changed back to a trackball, but believe me, you can get used to the direction over time.

At least Apple gives you a choice, so I'm glad they understand how important (and personal) this issue is for users.

Me personally, I'm going to avoid Lion for the time being, especially until it's OK with Pro Tools.

--Marc W.

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wait....what? What apple is describing is how my macbooks, my pc laptop, and every computer I've ever used have worked. when I want the content to scroll down on my macbook, I use two fingers to swipe down, or towards me, on the trackpad. when I have to use a mouse...same thing...I scroll down, or towards me, on the scroll wheel. The way I read this, they aren't changing anything, unless their definition of "down" is different from mine.

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Actually everyone is talking about how Lion moves pages the same way that iOS does, which is not totally correct, and it’s the reason everyone is having a hard time with Lion. On my iPad, the screen moves in the direction I move my finger, which is what Lion does BUT ONLY IN THE VERTICAL MOTION. Lion is backwards of the iOS on horizontal movement. On my iPad, when I move my finger to the right, the page moves to the right and new text appears on the left. In Lion, when we do a three-finger horizontal scroll to the right, the screen moves to the left. THAT’S TOTALLY ASININE. And, while you can change the direction of the vertical scroll in preferences, you can’t change the BASSACKWARDS horizontal scroll. PLEASE, SOMEONE MAKE AN APP THAT WILL ALLOW US TO GET BACK TO REASON!

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