A little advice: there might be useful to make ** scroll-wheel-pressed dragging of a mouse pointer ** assigned for ** smooth zooming ** a viewport in and out by default in Rhino ^_^.
This might greatly improve the visual experience of Rhino viewport zooming, and also solves a lot of problems with the viewport management undo-redo history.
My understanding is that scroll-wheel-pressed is generally used for panning. Something that isn’t all that useful for 3d.
Have you tried CTRL right-drag?
- Andy
Of coarse, I tried. Until present day I have been working with zoom exactly in this way.
But… involving keyboard in this case seems to be quite uncomfortable, because both hands are used in this case - while all the other viewport navigation operations need using only one hand that hangs a mouse.
I have worked with certain CAD software with completely different approach to the 3d viewport navigation (where scroll-wheel-pressed dragging was used for panning, just as you noticed) - and still only one hand and only mouse operations were needed to navigate a viewport there.
As I see, most people now are zooming Rhino viewport with scrollwheell rotating, and this is really comfortable - but this is not a smooth zooming. So, I just want the scroll-wheel to make smooth zooming instead of what it does now ^_^.
- Oleg
Sounds like you need a programmable mouse.
It is right, the programmable mouse is one of the user-side solutions… If Rhinoceros does not change the manipulation options set for viewport navigation, then this will stay an only solution =_=.
In addition to the story about undoing smooth zooming actions (in comparison with undoing a sequence of wheel turns), I can notice that single-hand navigation approach that I have experienced in many program products includes mouse pointer dragging with left and right mouse buttons pressed simultaneously. Unfortunately, since both left and right mouse buttons are important in Rhinoceros for Windows, then such two-button solution can be impossible in Rhino.
Nevertheless, I hope that idea about smooth drag-zooming vs consequent wheel-zooming is clear - and that was the most important aim of this discussion.
Pretty much all of the combinations of mouse clicks and drags are already used in Rhino. What you are asking for is not an additional feature. You are asking for a change (holding down the wheel button already does something in Rhino).
My guess is that if we changed it, there would be a lot of howling from people who already use the functionality of the wheel button the way it is.
Holding down the wheel button is now pop-upping some tiny tool palette, and it seems to ignore any mouse movements (which is maybe not completely OK for mouse dragging operation at all).
Anyway, I understand your prediction about the current wheel button function in Rhino 5.x and users who probably use it, and I even agree with it…
But wait, Andy…
I can suppose you a certain solution for this problem (it is still a problem, isn’t it?) which is exactly an additional feature (if I am not wrong) - please see the picture…
As you see, there could be added just one more switch option in the corresponding position of Rhinoceros options window - and this would perfectly solve the problem with smooth wheel-button zooming 
(NB: If such option is too difficult to make quite soon, then you can follow the “emergency path” first: you might consider to make Rhino smoothly zoom the viewport by dragging the pointer with simultaneously held right mouse button and wheel mouse buttons. ^_=)
- Oleg
I must notice that my question on getting rid of both turning scrollwheel and holding down Ctrl is much more important to me than any topics I have created here so far… In fact, I have no more Rhino questions by now but the smooth one-hand zooming, better experience on single-parameter and multiple-parameters shapes construction, and the story with non-NURBS pluggings.
I will not disturb you further for any fake purposes, so do not worry much about my annoying activity on Discourse.McNeel.com 
Hello again Andy. Today I just want to apologize for some irrelevant chat in one of your topics. I did not originally want to talk so much here.
Also, it would be very kind of you and Brian, who once invited me here, to remember about the possible smooth middle-button zoom option in the mouse manipulation preferences listed by me above. In some sense, that is an important point of honour for me to let you understand this wish… You see, there are some people among my colleagues who persistently do not make out why don’t I like scrollwheel zooming. It is important for me to explain them what a simple and easy manipulation I consider as “more correct” viewport zooming way, which almost everybody ignores at present.
yeah, i see what you’re saying with that screenshot… seems that a zoom option could be added there on mac as well without messing up anything… (like, when i first read your post, i was thinking “oh, that’s already possible to set up via a preference” but then went to the mouse panel and realized the setting was missing 
)
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