[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Single- vs double-click: A better compromise
From:       Thomas Zander <zander () kde ! org>
Date:       2005-07-26 22:03:11
Message-ID: 200507270003.12716.zander () kde ! org
[Download RAW message or body]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Tuesday 26 July 2005 21:00, Gábor Lehel wrote:
> > Your suggestion ignores [that selecting is not a part of the normal
> > workflow]. 
>
> Not ignores, rather, disagrees. The user will, if not sooner then
> later, eventually want to do the other action, at which point much
> confusion would ensue.

I actually have observed many people try my KDE installation.  Mostly 
sales people that used my PC while I worked on my laptop since they did 
not have any laptops.  Excellent group for windows-only experience and 
certainly no techies.
I also observed many windows using people, many of which came from the Mac 
world.

- From this experience I came to the conclusion that selecting icons was 
rarely, if ever, done.
The ex-mac people even made a point of clicking on a blank piece to make 
sure no selections were left before doing things like dragging or 
activating file-icons.
"The other action" as you put it were either done via the menu (copy 
paste) or through dragging the icon from the browser to another browser 
or to the application for opening the item.

I do note that almost all of those people double clicked on everything; 
icons, buttons and urls.  Only menu entries were spared.

In short; your worries above are probably just worries and without a good 
usability research that counters my former findings I see absolutely no 
reason to change the (default) behavior in KDE.

I do note that we should fix the problem that double clicking on an icon 
in konqueror currently opens the document twice.  I'm pretty sure that 
thats a bug and not intended.

> So, I think single click mode is a good idea only if the need for
> selecting could be eliminated not 98, but 100%. It may already be that
> way (being someone who first learned the windows double clicking way
> and hasn't stopped, I can't judge this), I don't know

Ok; I always hate speaking of my own experiences since my own experiences 
say almost nothing of the general public.  As Jan would say "You are not 
your user".
That said;  I have not touched a Windows machine in years and have been 
using single click for as long as I can remember (Windows can do it to, 
you know!).  The amount of times that I actually select something per, 
say, week can be counted on one hand.  I do believe thats only when I 
choose to not use the mouse for things like renames and stuff.

- -- 
Thomas Zander
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFC5rMgCojCW6H2z/QRAkXdAKCqaSkJTB/K5aZstuH1BwtuREEtbQCfSWGG
KF4gzmmrOzHuky/WiJADubI=
=CgRc
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
_______________________________________________
kde-usability mailing list
kde-usability@kde.org
https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]