Ask Lemmy: Traditional vs natural mouse scrolling; which do you use?

thayer@lemmy.ca to Linux@lemmy.ml – 181 points –

Despite being a heavy cell phone user for more than 25 years, it only recently occurred to me that vertical navigation on most phones is inverted when compared to traditional computers. You swipe down to navigate upward, and up to navigate downward. I recently spent time using a MacBook, which apparently defaults to this "natural" scrolling (mobile-style), and I was completely thrown off by it.

I've been using natural scrolling on a couple of my own desktops ever since, mostly as a mental exercise, and I wondered...how many of you folks prefer this method?

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I used to play games with both inverted X and Y. But lately (last 10-15 years) inverted X was often not an option so I had to force myself to play both axis non-inverted. It took a few months but it feels natural now.

Inverted Y I get, but inverted X?

Explain yourself, weirdo.

That's literally the same principle. And yes, before you ask, it's dumb for both axes.

Up is up, down is down.

It's not the same principle for both axes though. I invert just the Y-axis. For me, left is left, right is right, up is "back" and down is "forward".

It is, if you consider the motion about the bottom part of the stick, when you push forward, that part moves backward. The same can be said about pushing right, and having the bottom going left.

Why would you want that? No idea, since even on planes the x axes are not inverted like that...

I see what you are saying about the bottom of the stick, but that isn't the mental model of the people who invert the Y-axis. So that principle doesn't really apply.

Consider it like plane controls. With the stick in a neutral position as pointing "up". Left and right are still left and right. But forward and back tilt the nose, which is forward, down and up respectively.