Re: gnome-gui-list digest, Vol 1 #264 - 2 msgs

[Ilan Volow <raskinite yahoo com>]

> John Kodis wrote:
>
> On Sat, May 26, 2001 at 09:18:55AM -0400, Kevin
> Vandersloot wrote:
> 
> > For Nautilus in single click mode you can hold
> down CTRL and select any
> > number of icons with a button press.
> 
> I understand that MS and Mac desktops have a similar
> feature. 


True, but the mac used the shift key for discontinuous
selection. I'll need to change ctrl to shift when I'm
get around to forking Nautilus. Just one more M$ism to
hunt down and kill (sigh)

 To
> select a set of 15 items, the user clicks to select
> the first item,
> and then control-clicks to select the subsequent 14.
>  So the only
> difference between single and double click
> activations is whether the
> first item is selected using click, or
> control-click.  To my mind, the
> "click to activate, control-click to select"
> approach seems more
> consistant and easier to use for the common case of
> object activation.

One problem with single click activation is that it
breaks consistency with things like lists and columned
lists (CLists). You often have cases where single
clicking on those things selects stuff, and double
clicking activates the item and does something like
bring up a dialog or play an mp3. Also when dealing
with text, single clicking performs a selection-type
role. Finally, single-clicking on icon file names is
often used turn the file name into a text field that
can be edited. So you 

But apparently some idiot in Redmond Washington
decided to squander the Enter key on 

One of the advantages of double clicking is that it
performs sort of a activation confirmation role. It's
harder to accidently double-click than to single
click.


An interesting feature that might suit people who
absolutely have to single click (for some reason I
don't quite understand) would be the button view in
MacOS. You can view icons as buttons that you can
single s

A final drawback

The advantage of double clic
> > So single-click mode is not really a problem for
> me, but I do agree
> > that double-click is the better default for
> inexperienced users.
> 
> Yes, as John Sullivan has pointed out, Eazel has
> done actual user
> testing that shows that double-click activation is
> easier for people
> who are new to Gnome to use, and so would be the
> correct default,
> especially for novice users.  I suspect though that
> they find the
> double-click activation more natural because it's
> what they are used
> to on MS and Mac platforms, rather than due to any
> innate superiority.
> 
> I think that there's room for improvement here, at
> least for people
> willing to try something different than what MS
> provides.  Something
> like what was described for Acorn-OS seems like a
> good start: clicking
> with mouse button 1 activates, clicking with mouse
> button 2 selects,
> and clicking with mouse button 3 brings up a menu of
> preferences or
> actions.  
> 
> This could be used to provide a set of actions that
> would be similar
> under a wide range of situations.  For example:
> 
> - On a desktop icon:
>     . Button1 activates the program or document;
>     . Button2 toggles between selecting and
> deselecting the icon;
>     . Button3 activates an object settings or
> preferences menu.
> 
> - On a menu item:
>     . Button1 activates the program or submenu;
>     . Button2 toggles between selecting and
> deselecting the menu item,
>       allowing one or more menu items to be copied
> to the desktop or to
>       the favorites menu;
>     . Button3 activates an object settings or
> preferences menu for the
>       program or menu item.
> 
> - On a hyperlink or underlined URL in a terminal:
>     . Button1 activates the link as usual;
>     . Button2 selects or deselects the link, so the
> URL can be copied
>       into a document or placed on the desktop;
>     . Button3 brings up a menu of things that you
> might want to do
>       with a web page -- edit it, render it, print
> it, mail it to a
>       friend, or whatever.
> 
> This pattern is easy to use, easy to learn, and easy
> to extrapolate
> into new usages.  It also avoids the RSI-inducing
> need to double click
> to perform the most common action of activating a
> desktop object.
> 
> -- John Kodis.
> 
> PS: Since this thread seems to have evolved into a
> usability issue,
> I'd recommend following up to
> gnome-gui-list gnome org to minimise
> cross-posting.
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 00:05:02 +0100
> From: Glynn Foster <glynn foster ireland sun com>
> To: John Kodis <kodis jagunet com>
> Cc: nautilus-list eazel com, gnome-love gnome org,
> 	gnome-2-0-list gnome org, gnome-gui-list gnome org,
> 	usability gnome org
> Subject: Re: GNOME user environment brainstorming
> 
> > PS: Since this thread seems to have evolved into a
> usability issue,
> > I'd recommend following up to
> gnome-gui-list gnome org to minimise
> > cross-posting.
> 
> Or increase them by posting to usability gnome org
> where perhaps 
> these problems are more at home? 
> Jeeze, now we've got 5 lists up there ;)
> 
> 			Glynn :)
> 
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> gnome-gui-list gnome org
>
http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-gui-list
> 
> 
> End of gnome-gui-list Digest


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