Mouse Rocking

By Ricky C — Last update Apr 17, 2008 — Installed 221 times.

Script Summary:
Enables mouse rocking to go back/forward on all web pages. Mouse rocking is the act of "rocking" your fingers from one mouse button to the other, and this script reacts by going forward or backward in the direction of the "rock".

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All the Firefox extensions that enable mouse rocking are currently not updated for FF 3 Beta 5; so instead of making an extension (which is long and complicated), I just wrote a bit of JavaScript! (However, being a Greasemonkey script means it is compatible with all versions of Firefox)

News
For some reason... I can't get it to work! And then it turns out, the context menu is opened on mouse down and not on mouse up. So I have no idea why this script works on FF for Windows, because it shouldn't! It defies the laws of scriptiness. Anyway, I thought I had it working in Linux but I reformatted the partition that had the script on it - so I reinstalled Linux and tried to rewrite the script, but I simply can't get it working. And according to the timing of the context menu as noted, I don't see how there's any possible way to get it working. Firefox pops up the context menu too early! I'm still looking into it, but I have my doubts. Sorry.

What is mouse rocking?
Mouse rocking is the act of "rocking" your fingers from one mouse button to the other, as if drumming your fingers on a desk. On a laptop touchpad, it can usually be done with one finger, by sliding it across from one button to the other. On a regular mouse, you can learn by slowly depressing one button, depressing the other, releasing the first, and then releasing the second. Now perform that action faster and you'll get the hang of rocking.

Why not just use backspace or click the back button?
The majority of browsing is spent with your hand on the mouse, following links and scrolling. Sometimes your left hand is on the keyboard, and can reach over and press backspace, but why not just rely solely on your mouse for navigation? And instead of moving your mouse off the page, up to the forward/back button, and clicking it, it's much easier to just rock your mouse!

Enough questions...Features