Touchpad scrolling from off page in Firefox
April 4, 2010 8:08 AM Subscribe
I can't seem to scroll a firefox page with my synaptics touchpad, when the cursor is outside of the window (e.g. sitting on the tab). Anyone have ideas?
I'm using an ASUS UL20A and I have tried both the "scroll item under pointer" and "scroll selected item" in the touchpad settings. In Adobe Reader, it seems possible to scroll without putting the cursor on the document. I've read about earlier issues (few years ago) where firefox wouldn't scroll at all with a touchpad. This problem is less severe, but still pretty annoying! Thanks everyone.
I'm using an ASUS UL20A and I have tried both the "scroll item under pointer" and "scroll selected item" in the touchpad settings. In Adobe Reader, it seems possible to scroll without putting the cursor on the document. I've read about earlier issues (few years ago) where firefox wouldn't scroll at all with a touchpad. This problem is less severe, but still pretty annoying! Thanks everyone.
Yes, that's standard behavior in all browsers that I can think of.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:28 AM on April 4, 2010
posted by chrisamiller at 8:28 AM on April 4, 2010
Best answer: Nthing. The scroll events go to the window (or widget) you are hovering over, not the front window. Tabs don't recognize the scroll events so they get dumped.
posted by chairface at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2010
posted by chairface at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2010
For what it's worth, this is the same behavior for me in Chrome on OS X with my mouse... I think that's the standard behavior. The benefit is that you can scroll a page by pointing at it, even when it doesn't have focus. (e.g. You're using a webpage as a source to take notes into Word, you can keep Word with the primary focus, with the web page hanging out in the background, and just point and scroll as you need to see more, without switching back and forth between the applications.)
At least, that's the way it works for me on my Mac. It frustrates me to know end that I can't do this at work with Excel.
posted by losvedir at 9:03 AM on April 4, 2010
At least, that's the way it works for me on my Mac. It frustrates me to know end that I can't do this at work with Excel.
posted by losvedir at 9:03 AM on April 4, 2010
Response by poster: Ok, well thanks everyone... good to know that I'm not alone/crazy. I'm trying to re-construct my computer life after 5 years with a thinkpad. Nothing seems to measure up.
posted by pjenks at 9:22 AM on April 4, 2010
posted by pjenks at 9:22 AM on April 4, 2010
If you have lots of tabs open in Firefox (more than can be displayed on the screen at once), when you put your cursor on the tab bar, scrolling will roll back and forth across your list of tabs. I'm pretty sure this is a feature, not a bug. If you don't have enough tabs open to require the scrolling behavior, you probably won't notice this, though. Also, I don't think this is specific touchpad behavior. If you had a mouse, you would notice the same behavior. Sorry.
posted by wondercow at 12:15 PM on April 4, 2010
posted by wondercow at 12:15 PM on April 4, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by FusiveResonance at 8:14 AM on April 4, 2010