Re: Whatever happened to the Secondary Selection?

[Carlos Garnacho <carlosg gnome org>]

Hi!,

On Sun, Aug 21, 2016 at 1:28 PM, Paul Davis <paul linuxaudiosystems com> wrote:
> I think you should forget about the X Window definition of
> PRIMARY/SECONDARY, since this isn't really about that.
>
> It is about issues with the normal  selection model, that just *happen* to
> be addressed by some of the concepts in X's idea of SECONDARY selection,
> specifically what happens to the insertion point/cursor when making
> conventional selections. The suggestions really have nothing to do with the
> specifics of X's definition, but really distill down to two key differences
> with this "new" selection process:
>
>     1) selection itself does not move the insertion point/cursor
>     2) paste occurs immediately at the end of an uncancelled selection
> process
>
> I agree with you that portability issues make it hard to consider adopting
> this sort of model. I didn't find the video terribly compelling - I can see
> the issues raised with the way conventional selection works, but they don't
> seem substantive enough to justify introducing an entirely new (for almost
> all users) model.

I agree with this. IMHO it replaces one set of problems with an
entirely new set:

- Can't work cross windows
- Combined use of mouse and keyboard and intermitent use of modifiers
sounds dreadful for a11y, and just bad in terms of user interaction.
- Ctrl and/or Shift + button press may have already other implied
actions (eg. Ctrl+mouse drag is rectangular selection in
gnome-terminal, Ctrl+button press open links, etc), this seems a
counterpoint to the Ctrl-X/C/V issues

And generally, if secondary selection workings still need explaining
after these many years, when its flagship windowing system is at the
sunset of its life, then trying to gain traction at this point is
debatable. Primary selection still made *some* sense to carry on, even
if only because it's imbued in the subconcious of a large portion of
linux/unix users.

Cheers,
  Carlos