Need to find an application that moves all scroll bars to the left side of the screen.

May 24, 2006 5:41 PM

Need to find an application that moves all scroll bars to the left side of the screen.

My friend is left-handed, and has started using a tablet pc instead of his usual desktop. With the scrollbar on the right and his right hand very hard to use, it's awkward to scroll down pages. Is there an application (or even browser plugin) that will move scrollbars to the left side of the screen for him? Is there any way he can change it in his system settings?

posted by Glitter Ninja to Technology (4 answers total)

I can't provide an application example, but it must be possible to trigger somehow since that's what happens if you run Windows in a country mode where RTL (right to left) text is the norm. Sometimes with a Web browser on an Arabic or Hebrew Web site, you'll see the scrollbar jump to the left.

That said, I'm wondering if it might be a lot easier to find some 'mouse gestures' software that does the scrolling. With a mouse you'd use the scroll wheel, and perhaps an alternative to that is better than using scrollbars.
posted by wackybrit at 7:23 PM on May 24, 2006

The geckotip extension for Firefox lets you move the scrollbar to the left side of the browser window.

btw. I also recommend the SuperDragAndGo extension. Nothing beats it for opening links into new tabs.
posted by bruceyeah at 7:51 PM on May 24, 2006

I wonder if this is something that Windowblinds could do?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 8:51 PM on May 24, 2006

What kind of tablet is it? At least on mine (Toshiba Tecra M4) one of the buttons on the front of the display can be used to scroll up/down or left/right, based on the computer's current orientation. That button should be useful even on a non-dominant right hand (like mine), or the direction the tablet is held could be changed easily so the button is left-hand positioned...
posted by whatzit at 10:57 AM on May 25, 2006