Re: Dired enhancements for possible inclusion

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>>     * The entire line is highlighted on mouse-over, regardless
>>       of where on the line the mouse is. Click `mouse-2'
>>       anywhere on the line to open its file or directory.
>>
>> I don't understand that one.
>
> Screenshot attached.
>
> I've mentioned this before, in the context also of grep (where I do the same
> thing). The idea is to apply the `mouse-face' highlight to the entire line,
> not just to the file name.
>
> I prefer this because:
>
> * You can scan lines by moving the mouse up and down, without needing to
> hold it in a narrow vertical band at the right. Think of this as the effect
> of holding a ruler horizontally when trying to scan a tabular list. It helps
> you visually align everything in the same row - there's no risk of reading
> the wrong file permissions for a given file, for instance. Similarly,
> there's no risk of clicking mouse-2 on the left somewhere and opening the
> wrong file.
>
> * Without this, you can of course still click mouse-2 anywhere on the line
> to open a file, but the visual feedback doesn't tell you that that is the
> case - nothing indicates that the entire line is a hot zone (link) for
> mouse-2.
>
> IIRC, some others didn't like the idea when I described it previously
> (perhaps in the context of grep; I don't remember).

The main disadvantage I see that it is completely impossible to avoid
the fireworks and distraction of a highlighted line as long as the
mouse cursor is anywhere within the window.

-- 
David Kastrup