Re: mouse actions

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Fri, 2005-12-09 at 20:58 +0000, Joachim Noreiko wrote:
> Looking at gosbasic.xml...
> 
> What's the difference between 'grab' and 'click and
> hold'? I don't see any. Either one should be removed,
> or if doc writers use both, one should be picked as
> the entry in the table, with the other mentioned as a
> synonym.
> 
> Other than moving windows, are there ANY other actions
> that use Drag (with no drop)?

http://developer.gnome.org/documents/style-guide/gnome-glossary-user-actions.html

Both "grab" and "click and hold" are mentioned in the
Style Guide, and neither is given preference.  I agree
that we should pick one term and use it.  Personally,
I generally prefer more terse terms when there's no
ambiguity.  I believe people will quickly learn some
simple terminology, at which point the more belabored
terminology will just feel stilted.

The Style Guide also recommends against the idiomatic
phrase "drag and drop".  Unfortunately, it doesn't
really elaborate on usage (we should address this).
I strongly recommend against using "drag and drop"
as a single verb, such as "Drag and drop the icon
to the trash."

Every drag operation inevitably leads to a release,
or a "drop".  The difference with moving windows is
that it's a real-time movement.  We don't view it
as picking up the window and dropping it somewhere.
>From that perspective, there are many drag operations
that aren't "drag and drop", just perhaps not many
in the basic desktop.  One example is moving around
a clipped region in the GIMP.  When recommending
terminology, we want to provide guidelines for all
the applications people actually use, not just for
the small set we provide.

--
Shaun