[Nautilus-list] Re: [gnome-love] Re: GNOME user environment brainstorming

["Luke Hutchison" <lukeh email com>]

> For Nautilus in single click mode you can hold down CTRL and select any
> number of icons with a button press. 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.
>
> Kevin

Actually I think that consistency is more important to new users than the
ability to distinguish between some of the slightly more powerful features
(e.g. selecting multiple icons with double-click versus using single-click
to open a single file in the same way that a program is run from the Panel).
Personally I hate single-click-everywhere.  But you only have to sit with a
new user (or even, in many cases, a not-so-new user of the older generation)
for a while to realize that ultimately consistency is the most important
thing: I was in a public library the other day and asked for some assistance
in locating a particular resource.  The helpdesk person began to navigate
around her browser-based interface to try and find the relevant information
for me.  She would single-click on one link and double-click on the next.
And whenever the page was a little slow in loading she'd click again with a
random number of clicks.  She even *triple-clicked* on some links.

So I believe that double-click should not go away--for us users who have no
problem switching context--but that if when GNOME is installed the initial
settings are set to "Beginner" or "New User" then the default should be
single-click everywhere with middle-click and/or ctrl-click for multiple
selection.

In fact, at setup time, two questions could be asked: "Are you new to
computers?" and then "Are you a new GNOME user?".  This would give some
flexibility to allow the initial settings to match the user.

Luke Hutchison.