Re: mouse-1-click-follows-link

[Daniel Brockman <daniel@brockman.se>]

"Robert J. Chassell" <bob@rattlesnake.com> writes:

> mouse-1                should not follow any links -- that action is too
>                        confusing.

On the contrary, _not_ following links and _not_ activating buttons as
a response to mouse-1 events is very confusing.

> mouse-1 double-click   should follow a link
>                         in every mode when point is over a marked link or
>                         in a mode where a whole line is a link.

I don't have anything againt the idea of double clicks for cases where
the link/button does not look like a link or a button, and the user is

   (a) likely not to expect mouse-1 to follow/activate the
       link/button, and

   (b) likely to want to use mouse-1 to set point on that particular
       piece of text, for example because most of the buffer is made
       up of links/buttons.

> mouse-1                should set point.

That should always be the normal case.  The case when the pointer is
over a link or a button should be exceptional.

> As far as I can see, this will be OK both for novices coming and
> for experts.

In what way is it ok to highlight a piece of text as a familiar web
browser link, and then _not_ bind the familiar mouse-1 to follow it?

The same holds (probably even more so) for buttons: the concept of
clicking mouse-1 to activate a button is so basic to GUI usage that
deviating from the standard is like having an elevator with buttons
that you need to lick to activate.

-- 
Daniel Brockman <daniel@brockman.se>