Why does Squeak use Colors to identify Mouse Buttons?

Question

This is really annoying when you try to follow the documentation Squeak by Example.

Instead of calling the mouse buttons left, right, and middle, like in any other documentation, they give them colors. It's even suggested to label the mouse to help you learning.

It's 2009 and there are 3 dominant systems left: Windows, MacOS X, Linux

Why do they still stick to this naming scheme? How should I be able to sell this to co-workers, or even customers?

From Squeak by Example:

Squeak avoids terms like “left mouse click” because different computers, mice, keyboards and personal configurations mean that different users will need to press different physical buttons to achieve the same effect. Instead, the mouse buttons are labeled with colors. The mouse button that you pressed to get the “World” menu is called the red button; it is most often used for selecting items in lists, selecting text, and selecting menu items. When you start using Squeak, it can be surprisingly helpful to actually label your mouse, as shown in Figure 1.4.

Answer 1

The button colors probably date back to the experiments at Xerox (where the mouse was invented). So maybe the question should be “why do current computers have colorless mouse buttons?” :D

As for sticking with the colors in the book, I think the reason was that the colors are still mentioned in the code, and colors don't always get mapped to the same fingers depending on the platform. But I agree, the color system is not very practical; probably the best would be to use primary/secondary/tertiary buttons?