RE: mouse-1-click-follows-link

["Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

mouse-1-click-follows-link is nicely defined to satisfy everyone, I think.
You can turn off mouse-1 link sensitivity completely or activate it on: 1)
short (fast) click, 2) long (slow) click, or 3) double-click. Good job.

What we've *not* come to agreement on yet:

1) Whether the behavior should always be the same in each buffer or should
possibly vary by buffer. If the latter, should this be user-changeable (e.g.
local values) or not?

2) What the default value should be. If we allow local values, this means
both a) the default global value and b) the default local values for
different categories of standard buffers (e.g. those dense with links, like
Dired, vs those sparse with links, like Info).

Our options include `nil' (mouse-1 doesn't follow links at all), +integer
(fast click follows link), -integer (slow click follows link), and `double'
(double-click follows link).



My opinion:

1. Users should be able to have different behaviors in different buffers, in
this regard.

2. The global (default) value should be `nil': mouse-1 should be insensitive
to links by default.

3. The default value for buffers that are sparse with hot spots (e.g. Info,
Help, Customize) should be 100 ms (fast click follows link).

4. The default value for buffers that are dense with hot spots (e.g. Dired,
grep, compilation) and for which users will likely want to set point
occasionally should be `double' (double-click follows link).

5. The default value for buffers that are dense with hot spots, but for
which users don't need to set point at all (eg. Buffer List) should be 100
ms (fast click follows link). (There are probably few such standard
buffers.)

6. Any default values that are set to "fast click follows link" should use a
much faster click value than what is currently the default, so users can
more easily set point. Most users intending to follow a link will click
quite fast, naturally. A value such as 100 ms is better than the current
default of 450 ms, which is far too slow.

[Please try different values, even if you don't intend to have mouse-1
follow links on single clicks, so we can get a consensus wrt a good value to
recommend or use as default in appropriate buffers. Try negative values too,
and mention if you prefer slow click follows link to fast click follows
link.]

7. Whatever we agree upon, the design should be communicated to users as
recommendations for their own buffers of different kinds. If we decide to
allow different values in different buffers, we should include, in the
mouse-1-click-follows-link doc string, suggested guidelines for using
different values with different buffer types. This will encourage relatively
consistent use patterns.

8. Users should be able to have full-line hot zones for buffers that are
essentially lists of links. This includes grep, compilation, and Dired. RMS
has apparently decided to reduce the hot-zone size for grep. I prefer
full-line links. It would be good for users to be able to customize this,
regardless of the default behavior.

IOW, because of the recent move to mouse-1 following links (even
potentially), we are now losing full-line links in grep. People accidentally
followed links (me too), so the hot zones are now being reduced to alleviate
this problem.

I don't agree with that solution to the problem, but all I would ask for is
a way for users to get back the full-line link behavior. Mouse-1 is
extremely customizable now via mouse-1-click-follows-links, but the hot-zone
extent is not customizable at all, without rewriting the grep/compile code.