Laptop Forums and Notebook Computer Discussion - View Single Post - *HP ENVY 14 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge, Part 1*

JJB · 07-14-2010, 04:41 PM

Basic Touchpad Setup Tips

EDIT: 7/16 -- Forgot to include that There is a control for sensitivity under the 'pointing' options for both touch sensitivity (how hard to press before the cursor activates) and 'palm check' which controls what happens when you accidentaly slide your hand over the pad, it helps prevent the cursor from jumping around by accident. Set both to your personal preference, I use about 60% for both.

First on the 'Wheel' tab (synaptics mouse properties panel) set the vertical scrolling to '1' line at a time. This makes the scrolled text look the smoothest on screen. Anything higher and it jumps around.

To start scrolling make sure both fingers are slightly seperated and start your initial motion parrallel with the pads edges. vertical or horizontal. The pressure setting make a big difference in 'starting' the scrolling on the first try.

Once the scroll symbol appears (or the page moves) you no longer need to have both fingers on the touchpad, just leave one in contact and it remains in scroll mode and just the one finger will move the page(s) up and down (or L/R). You can also 'walk' long pages by alternating fingers in a walking motion as long as one finger remains in contact. Like the old yellow pages ads 'let your fingers do the walking'

Now you need to set the 'edge motion' control, by activating this you can just scroll to the egde of the pad and hold your finger(s) there and the page will keep going until you slide away from the edge or lift off the pad

The settings for the edge motion speed can be touchy and requires trial and error. You can also set the edge motion 'zones' or how close to the edge you need to be before the motion starts, this also is a touchy setting and the best way to describe it is you want it as close as possible to the edge so that it activates right as your finger hits the outer edge of the pad. Any further away and it will scroll to soon. The zone settings will graphically let you see when your finger hits the zone area which helps in the setup.

Edge motion should also be activated in the 'tap and drag' options, this will allow you to do the same as a left mouse click to hold on to and drag an item around the screen, with edge motion you can tap and hold a finger on an object and simply move your finger to drag it around the screen, place it where you want, and lift your finger to let go of it. Edge motion allows you to continue dragging items when you hit the edge of the pad, just like scrolling above ( but with 1 finger).

Also 2 and 3 finger swipe and pinch to zoom work well. Tap zones is another useful feature, you can set the corners to be dedicated button areas with assigned functions, I have the upper corners as page forward and back for my browser and the lower right is the refresh button. Note: by 'buttons' I me areas that you just 'tap' the pad to activate, not actual butons and ths will not interfere with normal touchpad use, you also have other choices availabe or assignable functions..

You can aslo look into using the 'gesture motions' by Scrybe... But that's a whole other novel.....

Whew... It's harder to put into words than actually use the pad, hope this helps you guys to get things working smoothly. As I said above, a lot of it is personal preferences, but don't shy away from some of these features just because they sound odd or complicated. There is a few day learning curve but then you'll wonder how your ever lived without this touchpad

One final note, the only time I ever actually click the physical buttons on the touch pad is when I need to 'right click' to open a menu option....

07-14-2010, 04:41 PM	#6307 (permalink)
JJB Notebook Virtuoso Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Kona, Hawaii Posts: 2,346 Rep Power: 16	re: HP ENVY 14 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge, Part 1 Basic Touchpad Setup Tips EDIT: 7/16 -- Forgot to include that There is a control for sensitivity under the 'pointing' options for both touch sensitivity (how hard to press before the cursor activates) and 'palm check' which controls what happens when you accidentaly slide your hand over the pad, it helps prevent the cursor from jumping around by accident. Set both to your personal preference, I use about 60% for both. First on the 'Wheel' tab (synaptics mouse properties panel) set the vertical scrolling to '1' line at a time. This makes the scrolled text look the smoothest on screen. Anything higher and it jumps around. To start scrolling make sure both fingers are slightly seperated and start your initial motion parrallel with the pads edges. vertical or horizontal. The pressure setting make a big difference in 'starting' the scrolling on the first try. Once the scroll symbol appears (or the page moves) you no longer need to have both fingers on the touchpad, just leave one in contact and it remains in scroll mode and just the one finger will move the page(s) up and down (or L/R). You can also 'walk' long pages by alternating fingers in a walking motion as long as one finger remains in contact. Like the old yellow pages ads 'let your fingers do the walking' Now you need to set the 'edge motion' control, by activating this you can just scroll to the egde of the pad and hold your finger(s) there and the page will keep going until you slide away from the edge or lift off the pad The settings for the edge motion speed can be touchy and requires trial and error. You can also set the edge motion 'zones' or how close to the edge you need to be before the motion starts, this also is a touchy setting and the best way to describe it is you want it as close as possible to the edge so that it activates right as your finger hits the outer edge of the pad. Any further away and it will scroll to soon. The zone settings will graphically let you see when your finger hits the zone area which helps in the setup. Edge motion should also be activated in the 'tap and drag' options, this will allow you to do the same as a left mouse click to hold on to and drag an item around the screen, with edge motion you can tap and hold a finger on an object and simply move your finger to drag it around the screen, place it where you want, and lift your finger to let go of it. Edge motion allows you to continue dragging items when you hit the edge of the pad, just like scrolling above ( but with 1 finger). Also 2 and 3 finger swipe and pinch to zoom work well. Tap zones is another useful feature, you can set the corners to be dedicated button areas with assigned functions, I have the upper corners as page forward and back for my browser and the lower right is the refresh button. Note: by 'buttons' I me areas that you just 'tap' the pad to activate, not actual butons and ths will not interfere with normal touchpad use, you also have other choices availabe or assignable functions.. You can aslo look into using the 'gesture motions' by Scrybe... But that's a whole other novel..... Whew... It's harder to put into words than actually use the pad, hope this helps you guys to get things working smoothly. As I said above, a lot of it is personal preferences, but don't shy away from some of these features just because they sound odd or complicated. There is a few day learning curve but then you'll wonder how your ever lived without this touchpad One final note, the only time I ever actually click the physical buttons on the touch pad is when I need to 'right click' to open a menu option.... __________________ ENVY 15 l i5 540M l ATI 5830 GPU l 8GB DDR3 1333 l 2 x 160 GB SSD l 1920x1080 glossy l Win7 Pro l 10,273 3Dmark06 Last edited by JJB : 07-16-2010 at 02:43 PM.