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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Interacting/creating actions and mouse buttons (Re: The KDE status "gear")
From:       Laurent MOUSSAULT <laurent.moussault () onecert ! fr>
Date:       2000-04-11 11:14:47
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Le Tue, 11 Apr 2000, Federico Cozzi a écrit :
> And, most importantly: why you double-click icons, but single-click menu
> entry and buttons? I never understood the reason of the "double-click" on
> icons - perhaps this is a Mac heritage, but Mac's mice have a single
> button. PC's mice have two or more buttons, and the left one is for
> ACTIONS.

I agree with this.  And maybe Magnus Ihse's "interacting/creating paradigm"
could be useful here.  Having one button for interacting with the documents,
and another (or the same button with a key combination) for more creating
actions.  Of course, the "interacting" button could trigger creating actions
through menus and toolbar :  I'm just speaking of clicks inside documents.

Well, this is mostly what is done today:
- interacting: left click to select or to browse
- creating: middle click to paste and right-click for other actions

But this can't be true for all applications (I don't think that a drawing app
that would ask you to always click with middle or right button to draw
something would be friendly :).  Obviously, this is easy to enforce for viewing
apps (read: konqy modules).

Now, I have some comments on the interacting/creating paradigm. (Magnus, if
you'd like a better name for it, you'd rather post it quickly, before we get
used with other's designation! :)

What about creating meta-information while interacting ?  A simple
example of this is bookmark management (either as it is done today or more
advanced concept like WebSquirrel http://www.eastgate.com/squirrel/ ).  I agree
that ordering your bookmarks can be considered as a creating activity, but I
think that collecting them while you are browsing is part of an interacting
activity (i.e. browsing), and that users (well, me at least) won't want to
think of it as a distinct task.  I mean that the _same_ task can be
interaction or creation, depending only on the intent of the user (bookmarks
are most of the time only a browsing tool, but they can sometime be seen as a
useful standalone document).

-- 
Laurent MOUSSAULT (ICQ# 66656146)
Rocwkell Collins, Eurisco

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