Scroll Wheel - Other Applications

Other Applications

In many applications (e.g. web browsers), holding down the control key while rolling the scroll wheel causes the text size to increase or decrease, or an image in an image-editing or map-viewing program to zoom in or out, if such a feature is available.

In many first-person shooter (FPS) games, the scroll wheel is usually set to change weapons. Because of this some gaming mice, such as Logitech G500, implement a locking feature that lets the mouse switch between scrolling in steps (needed for gaming) and continuous scrolling (good for web browsing). The scroll wheel is also sometimes used to control the zoom of scoped weapons and binoculars. FPS games with an emphasis on realism may choose to use the wheel for changing between stances. Since the introduction of tilting scroll-wheels, many FPS games use the left-right motion of the scroll wheel to cause the player to lean left and right. A less common use is to use the mouse wheel to adjust the player's speed of movement.

Real time strategy games use the mouse wheel to change the altitude of the camera. Many RTS games also allow control of the camera with the scroll wheel button held down causing the view to either tilt or pan with mouse movement.