From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Simon Josefsson Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: [usability] mouse-1 for performing actions? Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 19:43:24 +0200 Sender: emacs-devel-admin@gnu.org Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1022003134 22963 127.0.0.1 (21 May 2002 17:45:34 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 17:45:34 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1 (Debian)) id 17ADhW-0005yG-00 for ; Tue, 21 May 2002 19:45:34 +0200 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([199.232.76.164]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 17ADw2-0003S6-00 for ; Tue, 21 May 2002 20:00:35 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 17ADhN-0001X3-00; Tue, 21 May 2002 13:45:25 -0400 Original-Received: from 178.230.13.217.in-addr.dgcsystems.net ([217.13.230.178] helo=yxa.extundo.com) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 17ADfZ-0000ex-00 for ; Tue, 21 May 2002 13:43:33 -0400 Original-Received: from latte.josefsson.org (yxa.extundo.com [217.13.230.178]) (authenticated bits=0) by yxa.extundo.com (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id g4LHhNWa004993; Tue, 21 May 2002 19:43:24 +0200 Original-To: bob@rattlesnake.com In-Reply-To: ("Robert J. Chassell"'s message of "Tue, 21 May 2002 15:58:20 +0000 (UTC)") Mail-Copies-To: nobody Original-Lines: 60 User-Agent: Gnus/5.090007 (Oort Gnus v0.07) Emacs/21.2.50 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Errors-To: emacs-devel-admin@gnu.org X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.9 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:4247 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:4247 "Robert J. Chassell" writes: > Simon Josefsson 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. Marking text is (by me, at least) usually done by down-mouse-1 at the start point and up-mouse-1 at the end point. This would still work even if clicking on mouse-1 would 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? I didn't know about this feature. When I mark text, I do it by holding mouse-1 down until I reached the end of the marked text. Ok, so it is difficult to change the behaviour in a backwards compatible way. However, in some modes activating buttons is probably more common than marking text in this way, would it make sense to have the click-mouse1-to-activate-button in such buffers? Btw, do ANY other application have this mouse1 + mouse3 mark text feature? I haven't seen it before. IMHO dropping this feature in favor of activating buttons and links with mouse-1 is more user friendly (except for old time Emacs users) as it is consistent with how other applications behave. > 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. No -- you should still be able to mark text in a button by dragging mouse-1 over the area you want to mark. I agree that the Info header line should allow the user to mark text in it. It should be possible to mark text =everywhere= IMHO.