Re: [Usability] Single click directory navigation?

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

On Sun, Sep 14, 2003 at 05:19:45PM +0300, Tuomas Kuosmanen wrote:
> On Sun, 2003-09-14 at 19:03, Magnus Bergman wrote:
> > Has the idea of single click directory navigation (click once on a
> > directory to enter it) ever been considered for the FOSA dialog? This is
> > used in Deluxe Paint and GQView for example and I like it very much. (I'm
> > lazy and clicking once is half the job of click twice, right?)

Not really. Double-clicking comes so naturally to so many that web browsers
have to ignore the second click. Single-click activation becomes costly
where selection is desirable.

> > The only drawback I can think of in inconsistency with how lists
> > usually work. You can not have a directory in the list selected, but
> > that isn't useful anyway. And double clicking will still function the
> > same.
> 
> Selecting multiple files at once also becomes impossible or hard to do.

The smalltalk browser widget is a nice way to get single-click and multiple
selection. It's the widget seen in NeXT and MacOS X with multiple list
columns.

However, unlike a tree, multiple selection is limited to a single folder.
Yet, I think opening multiple files from multiple folders is an 
`occasionally by few' task.


Cheers,
Greg

P.S. - Magnus, please don't exceed 80 columns when mailing to the list.