Fantastic Mac Hacks

04 June 2006

Wow, I just got two hacks intalled on my Macbook Pro and they are really amazing.

First off is the Mail.app widescreen hack, write a couple of options and enable Mail bundles, drop in the widescreen bundle, restart and then you get a fantastic new three paned mail view.

Next hack is converting the Macbook Pro trackpad to feature right clicking by placing two fingers on the trackpad and clicking the big button. Whilst it is a subtle change it has saved me from having to hold ctrl and click to get the context menu up.

If you’ve got a Macbook Pro, then try both of these out.

Comments

  1. ro Says:
    July 07, 2006 at 06:20 AM try sidetrack to ease the way you utilize the trackpad http://www.macupdate.com/reviews.php?id=12800
  2. David Says:
    July 17, 2006 at 10:26 AM I've used SideTrack before on my old iBook, in all honesty I prefer the integrated trackpad wizadry that Apple have included in new laptops. Since they included the "two-fingers-on-track-pad-right-click" feature in the OS X 10.4.7 update I have no need for any more trackpad tricks.
  3. Chris Bidmead Says:
    August 21, 2006 at 11:36 AM You describe the right-click trackpad feature as "a hack". Strictly speaking, as I understand it, this isn't a hack. What you get once it's installed is the standard right click feature Apple wrote for the 17 inch MBP but for some (internal political?) reason didn't offer 15 inch users. The only hack here is that some smart guys have written a very nice installer for this standard piece of Apple software. A second, and rather more useful point: You describe this as "right clicking by placing two fingers on the trackpad and clicking the big button." It's a lot better than that. Forget the big button. Just hit the trackpad with two fingers (having enabled clicking in Sys Prefs). By default the trackpad is a pretty dumb device. Coming to it from the ThinkPad's excellent Glidepoint (that liberal shepherds give a grosser name) was something of a shock. But once you've installed the right button feature, and switched on all the options (dragging with drag lock is highly recommended), the trackpad really comes into its own. -- Chris

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