Snugon MO1 Chapter 2: An idea born from dissatisfaction with traditional multi-button mice
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In the previous Chapter 1, we introduced the basic features and appeal of the Snugon MO1.
Now, over the next few posts, we will tell you the development story of how Snugon MO1 was born.
In this second chapter, we will talk about the origins of the development: the idea that was born out of dissatisfaction with conventional multi-button mice .
My experience as a long-time multi-button mouse user
I'll be honest, I'm a developer and a heavy user of multi-button mice for many years. I've tried a variety of different products.
In particular, until just before developing the Snugon MO1, I had been using a multi-button mouse with 12 buttons on the thumb side for over four years.
*The image does not refer to a mouse from a specific manufacturer.
To be honest, at first I was confused by the number of buttons, and it took me a while to get used to using it. However, once I got used to its convenience, I found it so attractive that I could never go back to a normal mouse. By assigning shortcut keys to mouse buttons, the frequency of reaching for the keyboard is dramatically reduced, and work efficiency is greatly improved.
Issues with conventional multi-button mice
Having fallen in love with the appeal of multi-button mice, I began to wonder, " Is it possible to create a mouse that is easier to use and offers more functions that can be operated intuitively? "
At the same time, I felt it was a shame that this wonderful device was seen as a product mainly for MMO (massively multiplayer online) gamers and was not widely used by general desk workers . I felt that a multi-button mouse would be a revolutionary tool not only for gamers who use complex commands, but for everyone who works on a PC on a daily basis.
There are certainly factors that make it difficult to popularize, and these are things that I myself have long felt are dissatisfying.
There are several common problems with conventional multi-button mice, such as difficulty in pressing different buttons, tendency to press the wrong button, and difficulty in pressing certain buttons in the first place .
I think there are two main root causes of these problems.
1. The buttons are concentrated in one place (mainly on the side of the thumb).
Many full-fledged multi-button mice have many small buttons densely arranged on the side where the thumb is located. In order to increase the number of buttons while maintaining the basic shape of the mouse, it is rational to consolidate them on the side where there is more space for the thumb, and it also makes sense to keep the internal structure simple and reduce costs. However, because many buttons are gathered in one place, it takes time to identify the button you want to press, and it is easy to press the wrong button.
2. Some buttons are placed far away from your fingers
When buttons are concentrated under your thumb, your thumb will not be able to touch all of the buttons, so you will need to use your finger to search for the desired button, thinking, "This button serves this function..."
Some mice have an additional button to the left of the left click, which requires you to move or twist your finger away from the home position of the left click.
Buttons that are hard to press often end up not being used.
Limitations of the "simultaneous press" function
Furthermore, these issues also limit the use of the "simultaneous press" function that further expands the possibilities of multi-button mice.
Multi-button mice often have a convenient feature called a shift button (the name varies depending on the manufacturer), which allows you to perform a different function from the usual one by pressing another button while holding down the shift button. This is also called layer function or simultaneous pressing function. This allows the number of functions that can be installed on the mouse to far exceed the number of physical buttons.
However, it is extremely difficult to press the buttons closely spaced on the side of the thumb simultaneously with precision due to the structure of the hand. As a result, the main combination was the "shift button (often assigned to the ring finger or right click) + thumb button," and the number of functions that could be assigned was effectively limited to around 30.
If the button layout were completely redesigned, more simultaneous presses would be possible, and the number of functions a mouse could perform would increase dramatically. Simple math shows that with 12 buttons, there are 78 possible simultaneous press combinations.
The idea behind Snugon MO1: "A button on every finger"
The basic idea behind Snugon MO1 was created to solve these issues, namely "button crowding" and "buttons being far away from your fingers."
"Why not try assigning a button to each of your five fingers?"
Specifically, there are two buttons on each finger .
- One for pressing with your fingertips
- The other is for pressing near the second joint (the first joint for the thumb).
This layout ensures that at least 10 buttons are always touched by specific fingers.
- Because buttons are not crowded in any one area, each button can be given an appropriate size and spacing.
- There's no need to search for buttons on the mouse; you can intuitively press the desired button.
- Since the buttons are pressed with five fingers, the number of simultaneous press combinations is theoretically greatly increased.
We saw a way to solve the traditional problems.
Development hurdles to overcome before realizing an idea
The idea was sparked, but we foresaw major hurdles in bringing it to fruition.
Hurdle 1. Risk of incorrect operation when lifting
Because buttons are placed on the thumb, ring finger, and little finger, which are normally used to hold the mouse, there was a risk of unintentionally pressing a button when lifting the mouse.
We needed to design a shape that would allow all buttons to be lifted naturally without accidentally being pressed.
Hurdle 2: Possibility of creating a three-dimensional button layout
Providing a button for each of the five fingers requires that the buttons be arranged three-dimensionally on the sides as well as on the top of the mouse. This is different from the conventional two-dimensional button arrangement, and it was expected that the difficulty of designing and manufacturing would increase dramatically.
Fortunately, I had experience building my own keyboard (building keyboards from circuit board design and firmware development) as a hobby. In that field, there were attempts to incorporate mouse functions (pointing devices) into keyboards, so I expected that it would not be technically impossible to do so by using the power of open source such as QMK firmware (although it was by no means an easy road).
Thus began the development project for the Snugon MO1, which aims to be the ultimate multi-button mouse.
In this article, we talked about the issues we were aware of with conventional multi-button mice, which led to the creation of the Snugon MO1, and the basic ideas we used to solve these issues.
Chapter 3 provides a detailed look at the prototyping and trial and error process.