Re: Theory question on desktop and gmc

[Tim Allen <timallen godzilla zeta org au>]

On Thu, 17 Jun 1999, Michael ROGERS wrote:

> >On the other hand, a special case like that ("Well, for normal directories
> >and gmc, click with the right mouse-button, but on the desktop you put the
> >mouse over the icon and control-alt-meta-click with the F17 key..." :)
> >just seems awkward.
> 
> True. This could be fixed by having menus, etc called up when the mouse
> button is released, not pressed... so you could have these mouse button
> bindings for the desktop and file manager windows:

<bindings snipt>

I'm wondering about the "middle = extend selection" bit.. Normally, this
kind of thing is done by shift-click and ctrl-click. In my mind, the
middle button seems to be a special "panel drag" button - all panel
dragging is done with the middle button, except you can drag some things
to the panel with the left. 

I really would like to have some kind of logical delimiter between
left-drag and middle-drag.. sometimes I spend a minute or so just trying
to figure out what kind of weird mouse events one widget listens to that
others don't.

Oh, and something I just thought of. I can make a Launcher on the
desktop, then drag it (left-drag) to the panel. Then I can't drag it back
*off* the panel - I have to remove it and create it again..

> This allows consistent behaviour between the desktop and FM windows, which
> kind of deflates my previous argument.  :)  Maybe an integrated desktop and
> file manager are good after all.  :)

 ;)

> >I'm thinking.. yes, all these links can be henious, but the ability to
> >type some random address into mini-commander and have Netscape open would
> >be very useful, if only netscape loaded in less than three minutes.
> 
> I like the suggestion of just typing on the desktop, instead of using
> mini-commander or a terminal.

Interesting thought - except that I have Window Maker set on sloppy focus,
so that I can just shunt the pointer off the window I'm interested in onto
the desktop without losing correct focus. The side effect is that the
desktop never gets the focus.

And if you mean "click on the desktop first", well your scheme above
passes left-desktop clicks to the windowmanager.. :)

Also, the desktop is often obscured, especially for those of us at lower
resolutions. What I really like about the panel is that I can easily
expand or contract it by shoving my mouse into a corner and clicking. I
don't know if you've ever read why the Mac menus (stuck at the top of the
screen) are so productive? The theory is that bigger targets are easier to
hit with the mouse. The cursor is clipped to the top of the screen, so
however much you roll the mouse, the cursor is on the menus - effectively,
they are infinitely high, so they're real easy to hit. The panel is the
same - the arrow-buttons are also effectively infinite, because of their
position. 

Having to find a small patch of desktop to click and type could be quite
tedious. I would much prefer being able to shunt my mouse to some corner
of the screen and type - that's one reason I like Mini-Commander, because
when I put my mouse over the panel, it usually gets the focus - and I can
type.

> Absolutely - the panel does the things the Windows desktop does, in a more
> sensible way, so why imitate the Windows desktop as well?

Hmm.. good question..

I must admit - the desktop does allow a more free-form organisation than
the panel. I usually wind up with the panel having a permanent
configuration of apps and tools (like my famous bc window-in-a-drawer),
and the desktop has my unsorted downloads and temporary stuff (exam notes
I got from Uni, that sort of thing).
 
> >> A desktop cluttered with random files is not useful
> >
> >So why does every app start with cwd=~/.gnome-desktop, and try to save all
> >its data files there? (including netscape downloads and the like...)
> 
> Because they are trying to drive me insane...

Good - I thought I might have escaped today without hearing a conspiracy
theory, but I see I was wrong. :)

Tim Allen