Filed under: Found Footage, MacBook Air
MacBook Air trackpad settings video included in System Preferences
Among the delightful tidbits taking up precious space on the MacBook Air's slender hard drive or SSD, you'll find this very handy video guide to stretching, zooming, scrolling and rotating using the power of human touch. It's tucked away in System Preferences under the
It seems a little silly to animate a guide like this, but I'll admit that I found myself more likely to try the finger moves after watching the demo. No doubt the upcoming multitouch-equipped MacBook Pro machines will feature a similar guide for the perplexed.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ryan said 7:11PM on 2-27-2008
...
Reply
alex rainert said 7:53PM on 2-27-2008
I actually had a hard time with the sensitivity settings on the MBA - I would inadvertently trigger clicks all the time. I can't tell if its a bum laptop, a firmware issue that will be refined over time or simply user error.
Any tips would be appreciated,
a
Reply
Nate Orloff said 7:30PM on 2-27-2008
Seriously?
O.o
I dont' know about anyone else but this has been known since the air came out. It was in the keynote, on apple.com, and documented (I'm pretty sure but too lazy to look) on TUAW when it came out.
Reply
Nick said 7:33PM on 2-27-2008
Nothing silly about it.
I have an MBA, and without the video's it would be very difficult to describe a one finger drag, and a one finger drag lock.
A short paragraph might do it, but preference panes are not the place for help files. The videos show me both what I am setting, and how to use it in a simple and totally intelligible way.
Reply
Dewey said 7:42PM on 2-27-2008
Is it just me or does it seem that the swipe is backwards in that video, or even in the MacBook Air in general. Swipe left to right and the picture comes in from right to left.
Reply
Shunnabunich said 11:40PM on 2-27-2008
Absolutely! It would be much better (and more consistent with the already-established iPhone/iPod touch gestures) the other way around. Little things like this make me wonder how they could possibly slip by Apple with their level of attention to detail. This, and the wonky perspective of the Leopard dock's "Abbey Road" divider. :P
Wartooth said 8:14PM on 2-27-2008
You're right dewey. The other day I was playing with an iPod touch swiping the photos. When I tried out the three finger swipe on the Macbook Air it worked the opposite way for pictures in Preview. I can understand why they do this (as the scroll bar is actually scrolling down the list) but I thought conistency across the devices would be more important.
How does it behave in fullscreen on the Air?
I prefer the iPhone/Touch behaviour as it is closer to the expected and known physical behaviour of moving photos.
Reply
Elliot said 8:32PM on 2-27-2008
I've got a brand new MBP w/ Multitouch right here, and I can confirm this is in the pref pane.
Multitouch is neat (I just blew away our IT guy showing it off) but it's a little janky in it's implementation. There are really only a few programs you can use it it, and sometimes it has wierd assignments, ie pinching/stretching zooms in Preview but not in iPhoto.
Anyway, I'm more excited about the future of this tech than it's current implementation.
Reply
drewpurchacct said 9:11PM on 2-27-2008
So...TUAW...Why have you been so, well, un-informing lately? This has been something that most people knew since the DAY it was debuted at Macworld. Steve talked about it, and Apple employees were quick to point it out. You've been so slow to produce new news lately, and now you're recapping OLD news? Why?
Reply
Zinod said 9:26PM on 2-27-2008
You can copy-paste this path into the Go To Folder dialog:
/System/Library/PreferencePanes/Keyboard.prefpane/Contents/Resources
This is where the videos are located. Some non-multitouch macs have the videos installed none the less.
Reply
tendo said 9:23PM on 2-27-2008
come on its The Unofficial Afterthefact Weblog
I kid, but really this is old old news.
Reply
Marcos said 11:12PM on 2-27-2008
How is it silly? It's a fantastic way to teach people that don't watch the Keynote nor the liveblogging for the Keynote nor read Apple websites everyday (i.e. most people).
Most of you probably don't remember, but the old old old Control Panel on System 1 through 6 (not sure about 7) had little pictures and little animations showing what a double click is. Macs used to come with a Mousing Basics program to teach you how to drag.
Some of these actions are a given now, but when they were introduced to the masses having those illustrations there was very valuable.
This videos are the same thing, only in 2008.
Reply
tmd said 12:07AM on 2-28-2008
Anyone know if you can use this 3 finger swipe to navigate your Spaces?
Reply
Elliot said 2:40AM on 2-28-2008
@tmd:
As best I can tell, the swipe isn't assigned to anything in Finder. Unfortunately, it's not configurable at all, it does what it's set to and that's it. It goes forward and backward in iPhoto and Preview, as well as Safari. That's all I've found so far.
Callipso said 7:12AM on 2-29-2008
Guys does anyone know if the MacBook pro recieved the new multitouch trackpad, like the Air?
I've seen those news here:
http://www.maconair.com/next-gen_macbook_pros_to_gain_airs_multi-touch_trackpad
Reply