Re: [Usability] Copy/double click feedback

[lorenzo <l bolzani gmail com>]

2007/9/28, Calum Benson <Calum Benson sun com>:
>
> On Fri, 2007-09-28 at 14:17 +0200, lorenzo wrote:
>
> > 2. double click does not provide feedback. Double click is a standard
> > feature and is "broken".
>
> Perhaps a more accurate description of this problem is that objects
> don't convey to the user whether they should be clicked or double
> clicked... i.e. their affordances aren't obvious.

I think this is yet another issue of the double click that should be
fixed on its own.

The problem I'm focusing on is "do I actually did a double click or not?"

As also Raphael reported, I often noticed how new users do 2 slow
clicks or move the mouse between clicks or do a little drag and 1
click and then wait for something to happen.
Usually they are also not sure if double click is the right procedure,
the affordance problem you described, so they also try single click,
wait a little, then again double and suddenly something happens but
often they remain unsure about which one of the several strategies
they tried succeded.

About affordances, I think that often the double click can be
considered as a shortcut, an expert command, so it's "ok" not to be
immediate. I'm thinking about double click for selecting a whole word.
Instead with desktop icon it is the standard way to use the object and
this should be very clear.

I try to describe some examples where double click is used.

App startup:
Feedback: yes but only if you actually do a double click. Otherwise
you have to consider the absence of the feedback as your feedback...
Affordance visibility: zero. Sometimes (i.e. windows) the default
action (activated with enter or dbl-clk) is written as bold in the
context menu so you can discover it from there if you are an
experienced user.

Text selection:
Feedback: great (if you do it right...)
Affordance visibility: zero, but it's an "expert" trick.

Image maximize (in image viewers)
Feedback: great (if you do it right...)
Affordance visibility: zero, but usually you have a corresponding
button so dbl-clk could be considered a shortcut.

Open mail in new window (thunderbird)
Feedback: yes (if you do it right...)
Affordance visibility: zero

Chart edit (in openoffice)
Feedback: yes, a little confusing (if you do it right...)
Affordance visibility: zero

The mix of uncertainty about double click and affordace problem
creates a lot of confusion in new users.


Bye

Lorenzo