[foldr]

The haptic trackpads on the newer macbooks are perfect for this. You can click anywhere on the pad and the amount of pressure required is exactly the same. It's not tap to click, because you need to actually press down for a click to register.

[slantyyz]

They aren't for me.

While I would say Macs have always had excellent pads, I still hated them.

I want to be able to have a finger on a physical button that doesn't detect any touch movements when dragging something.

[foldr]

>I want to be able to have a finger on a physical button that doesn't detect any touch movements when dragging something.

But dragging works exactly the same as it does when you have a physical button. You press down with one finger and make the dragging motion with another. You can click and drag with a single finger if you want to (as I've just discovered - never occurred to me to do it that way), but you don't have to.

[slantyyz]

I have always found strange things to happen when my held down finger (on the "virtual button") moves too much or changes pressure - on both Windows and Mac. That's just one more thing to think about in the back of my head.

I especially hate the click and drag with a single finger, especially if I have multiple external monitors connected.

Personally, I prefer that a physical button only has two states (on/off), and that there be a physical division between the left and right buttons (so I don't have to look down and see whether my thumb is "over enough" - on a buttonless pad, it seems to never be over enough to the right when I want a context menu).

In the end, I just want the track pad to track, and buttons to be buttons. I don't want a unified trackpad with buttons and a software-based solution to guess what I'm trying to do. This is just me and my use case, obviously ymmv.

[foldr]

>I have always found strange things to happen when my held down finger (on the "virtual button") moves too much

All that happens is that the item you're dragging makes a corresponding movement.

[slantyyz]

Yes, but when you're trying to position something precisely, that's a problem. This doesn't happen when you have a physical button that only has an on/off state.

Keep in mind, I hate trackpads because I'm generally clumsy with them. That's just how I am. I get that it's not an issue for other people who have better hand-eye coordination.

[username90]

> But dragging works exactly the same as it does when you have a physical button.

No it doesn't, if I press down with the side of my thumb and then move around my index finger the thumb will rotate. On a physical button that doesn't matter but on a virtual button the thumbs movement will also move around the pointer. Using the thumb for buttons and index and long for trackpad is much faster and more accurate than using virtual buttons in my experience, not as good as a mouse but close.

[zapzupnz]

I've been sitting here for a good minute trying to make my thumb rotate the way you've described on my Magic Trackpad (no hardware buttons) and it simply isn't doing that.

> Using the thumb for buttons and long for trackpad

I disagree. When I want to drag and precisely position something, I use three finger dragging. They've hidden it recent versions of macOS under Accessibility, but I find it much simpler and more precise than having to do finger gymnastics.

[username90]

Right, you can't do it without hardware buttons. However with hardware buttons below the track-pad I can easily use it with either hand alone and still be fast and accurate. Therefore having hardware buttons below the trackpad is necessary for me, it is so much better than using anything else feels horrible.

Edit: Rereading my original post I guess it is possible to think that I say that virtual buttons are better. What I meant that the thumb rotating like that on the trackpad screws everything up. Sorry that I wasn't clear.

[zapzupnz]

But one's thumb doesn't rotate like that. If one needs to make one's thumb rotate to use a trackpad with a thumb and another finger, that trackpad must be the size of a sheet of paper.

I'm probably misunderstanding. I think I'd need a video to understand what you mean.

[foldr]

I don't use my thumb. It wouldn't really make sense to click and drag that way on an Apple trackpad since you don't have to reach down to the bottom. It's very easy to do using your index finger and middle finger.

[username90]

> I don't use my thumb.

Right, which is why having physical buttons where you can properly leverage the thumb and thus free up your other fingers to do only mouse movement and scrolling is better.

[foldr]

That makes no sense. You can't scroll and drag at the same time.

You are probably just trying to use the trackpad in the suboptimal way that you're used to using trackpads with physical buttons. When you can click anywhere, there's no reason to use your thumb in the first place, other than muscle memory.

Incidentally, as others have pointed out, there is no issue with using the thumb to press the button on an Apple trackpad if that's how you want to do it. You can "roll" it as much as you want to while clicking and dragging and it won't move the cursor.

[__david__]

You have to turn off "Tap to click" in the touchpad preferences. I can't remember if it is on by default or not, but it's the one thing I can't deal with. Any sort of accidental brush acts like a click and that's annoying, which sounds like what you are complaining about.

[foldr]

It's not on by default, which is what puzzles me about slantyyz's comments. I can't imagine anyone finding clicking and dragging more difficult on a macbook than on another laptop.

[slantyyz]

I usually turn them off.

I find clicking and dragging more difficult on laptops without physical buttons (Macbook and Windows) than laptops with physical trackpad buttons. YMMV