Once users realise that a mouse click does not necessarily represent a button press they're on the way.
It *does* represent a button press. It just has more than one button. Big deal. Your phone has even more...
I failed to make myself clear.
I would suggest that, to a new user:
* a left-button click represents a "button press", where "button" is the picture thingy under the pointer thingy on the screen thingy. It uses, usually, the same action by the same finger as is commonly used to press a button in the real world.
* middle- and right-button clicks have no direct/exact equal in the real world -- for example, there is no action that I can perform on my physical desk that equates to right-clicking on the computer "desktop"
I would further suggest that someone accustomed to using a typewriter (remember those?) or telephone is used to a similar action (key press) producing a similar response (another letter appears on the page), regardless of which finger is on which button/key. The failure of most of us to understand this is one of the reasons that organisations like SeniorNet prohibit us from tutoring.
Cheers, Roy (getting off hobby-horse now).
-- Roy Britten, Lead Software Developer, Information Systems Team National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research P.O. Box 8602, Christchurch, New Zealand P:+64-3-343-7818 F:+64-3-348-5548 http://www.niwa.co.nz
