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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Drag and drop indicator
From:       Rik Hemsley <rik () kde ! org>
Date:       2001-03-09 7:31:26
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#if Wilco Greven
> Hello,
> 
> While reading about the XDND protocol I came across the following
> comment from John Lindal:
> 
>     "In my opinion, programs should not change the cursor during the drag
>     because this provides the user with the most consistent picture. The
>     user is always dragging the same data, regardless of whether or not
>     the current target will accept it. It is the target that should
>     change to show whether or not it will accept the drop.
> 
>     However, if you want to be Microsoft compliant, you have to
>     change the cursor. As usual, Microsoft got it backwards...
> 
>     The single exception that I endorse is adding a small symbol to the
>     cursor to show that the requested action will be performed, instead of
>     XdndActionPrivate. For an example, refer to the page on dragging
>     files."
> 
> I have always found that changing the mouse cursor was very distracting, so I
> wholeheartly agree with this comment. What do you guys think about this?

I _definitely_ agree with that. Doing DnD nicely is a pain in the arse.
If I let the user drag something out of a window, but they shouldn't
be allowed to drop it on the window, then the icon they see is '(/)'
WTF is that supposed to tell them ?

Yes, at least having the same icon all the time but with a symbol
next to it showing whether dropping is OK would be a better solution.
Not perfect, but better.

Rik

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