Re: mouse-1-click-follows-link

[Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz>]

 > Most mice these days seem to come with two proper buttons and a
 > clickable scroll wheel.  On these devices, you usually need to _click_
 > the scroll wheel to generate a mouse-2 event.  This is often much more
 > difficult than clicking two ordinary buttons simultaneously.
 > 
 > I currently don't have a mouse, but when I do use one I generally
 > don't use it for moving around in the buffer a lot.  I do tend to use
 > it to follow links such as URLs and those in Customize buffers.

Perhaps this is an argument for using mouse-1 just in those situations
i.e generally where text is underlined, if possible (the Help buffer
is another example)

 > Besides, most buffers don't have a high link density, so you can
 > usually just click next to one and then move point into place using
 > the keyboard.  Dragging works as usual in any case.

Some like grep, seem to cover a lot of the buffer.  I'm not saying that
you can't get round it, just that it requires thought.

 > > I was constantly going places that I didn't want to go and I find
 > > the old behaviour a lot easier.
 > 
 > I suspect most people who feel like you will instantly realize that
 > they liked the old behavior better, type C-h n and search for `mouse'.
 > This will immediately give clues about how to switch back.
 >
 > On the other hand, many people new to Emacs will not even attempt to
 > click the scroll wheel to follow a link.  (Even given the tooltip.)
 > After seeing that nothing happens when you click links using mouse-1,
 > people will conclude that Emacs does not support clickable links.

If they are able to to find mouse-1-click-follows-link in the manual
then clicking on the scroll wheel shouldn't be too difficult.

 > I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really think the current
 > default is the most useful and reasonable, _especially_ to newcomers,
 > but also to lots of experienced people (myself included).

You have expressed your preference but I'm not sure that it generalises
to others.


Nick