No Tap-to-click please!
No Tap-to-click please! a reader asks…
Hi Chris, I’ve read that you say to turn off my laptop’s tap-to-click, but I like it! Can you give me the reason why you say to do this?
Simple answer: I have yet to find a human being with the fine motor skill dexterity to use tap-to-click on a Windows laptop without error. I have treated hundreds of malfunctioning laptops with mysterious causes, that all trace back to an inadvertent click when using the touchpad. So to avoid as many system problems as possible, it just makes sense to turn off that function. After all, there are physical buttons right below the touchpad you can use that aren’t nearly as easy to mis-use.
I think the software engineers who develop Windows don’t seem to realize that mere humans operate their equipment, because they design the so-called features as if we never make a mistake. Yet we do constantly. And because our computers are so unforgiving of our little slip-ups, they malfunction a lot more often than they should (according to the designers). Two of the most common sources of computer problems that aren’t attributable to humans doing things they shouldn’t (see my safe computing guidelines) are the touchpad’s tap-to-click, and Microsoft Windows’ sleep mode. So my advice is to avoid using either.
I should say that the touchpads that are designed with no buttons (but have a physically clickable surface) are marginally better, but you should still turn off the tap-to-click – it’s just too sensitive. Having the physical sensation of a clicked button (or clicked touchpad) gives just the right amount of feedback necessary for computing without those pesky mis-click errors. I’ll be waiting to see as the new ‘force touch’ devices come into widespread use as to whether or not we can use them without making errors.
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Author: Chris Gardner
Your Tech Coach at PosiTek.net
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