Re: [usability] mouse-1 for performing actions?

["Robert J. Chassell" <bob@rattlesnake.com>]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> asked:

   Why does emacs use mouse-2 for activating hyperlinks, buttons etc?

Just now I clicked on a URL using my middle mouse button to activate
the Galeon Web browser.  The site did not appear.  So I marked a
portion of the URL, the site name, using the first mouse button, and
copied that name so I could run ping.  I could not do that if mouse-1
were to activate the browser.

    ... emacs is able to separate the two cases where mouse-1 is
    simply clicked and when it is used to mark text.

I do not understand:  I click mouse-1 to mark the beginning of a
region, move the mouse cursor, and then click mouse-3 to mark the end
of the region.  If the two commands are on the same button, and used
in the same context, how can Emacs distinguish between a click to mark
the beginning of a region and a click to follow a hyperlink?

    Proposal: Make mouse-1 do the same as mouse-2 in Info (section links),

When telling people where to find documentation, I often copy Info
links.  I write text such as, `go to File: emacs,  Node: Mouse Commands'

Incidentally, you cannot copy Info links in a plain vanilla Emacs 21
any more.  The new default makes the links be a part of Emacs that you
cannot copy.  For me this is a mistake, and I always set the value of
`Info-use-header-line' to nil so I can copy the links.  

It looks to me that the proposal, if adopted, would be like this new
default; it would make it harder to copy text, which is to say, the
proposal would lead to more typing, when copying would be easier,
quicker, and more accurate.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                  bob@rattlesnake.com
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com