Thursday, July 26, 2012

Make the Apple Magic Trackpad Ergonomic

I've been using the Apple Magic Trackpad and found that it is not terribly ergonomic because it slants up to match the keyboard angle which forces the wrist to slant upwards. The Magic Trackpad can be made much more ergonomic by simply turning it around (I got my directions from here). In order to turn it around the coordinate system must be reoriented. To do that, type this into the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.trackpad.orientation TrackpadOrientationMode 1

sudo defaults write com.apple.MultitouchSupport ForceAutoOrientation YES
NOTE: Both commands might not be required but I couldn't get it to work otherwise on Lion or Mountain Lion. Then disconnect the Magic Trackpad, shut it off, reboot the Mac, reorient the Magic Trackpad and until the system is booted. Then turn on the Magic Trackpad and rest 5 finger tips spread out (like you are playing piano) on the Magic Trackpad and move them away from you. Viola! I have also found the settings tap-to-click and 3-finger drag to be useful and can be enabled in the trackpad control panel. To Remove the settings type:
defaults remove com.apple.trackpad.orientation TrackpadOrientationMode
sudo defaults write com.apple.MultitouchSupport ForceAutoOrientation NO