also @ TechSpot: Weekend Open Forum: Google Chrome OS and the future of cloud computing

Subscribe

Newsletter Our Feeds

Receive weekly updates on new articles, news and contests in your mail!

Email address:

Software

Mozilla experiments with gestures on Firefox for the MacBook

By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com
Published: October 23, 2008, 5:04 PM EST
Mouse and hand gestures are a semi-rare feature we see pop up in games or applications from time to time. They are starting to become more popular, though, as people seek to break out of the traditional point-and-click way of interacting with PCs. More recently, Mozilla has delved into experiments using the stock gesture support that is found on the newest MacBooks, and now using the pre-beta version of Firefox 3.1, people can tinker with gestures in the browser.

Mozilla hasn't planned this for a final release of Firefox 3.1, but is certainly encouraging feedback at this point. The gestures take place on the trackpad as opposed to the screen, and so far include only the most basic functions: going forward or back, going to the top or bottom of a page, et cetera.

Interacting with computers via gestures is a very nifty idea. Unfortunately many gesture systems are more cumbersome than sticking to a mouse and keyboard, so there aren't many viable ones in place yet.

Related Stories

User Comments (2)

Post a comment
skitzo_zac
on October 23, 2008
10:55 PM
Mouse gestures in Opera are heavenly. I tried using mouse gestures in Windows via Strokeit, but there was something that put me off, can't remember what it is.

Auldian
on October 24, 2008
1:29 AM
Kudos once more to Opera.

Browse more commented news