1

Presently, KDE has two click schemes available:

Single Click (default)

• Clicking an icon opens it.
  
• Double clicking an icon also opens it - once.
  
• To select and unselect icons, you have to use either Ctrl+Click, Shift+Click, rubberband selection, or Dolphin's fancy +/- icons you get when you hover things.

Double Click (default on Windows, Mac, and GNOME)

• Clicking an icon selects it, and unselects the previously selected icons unless Ctrl or Shift is held.
  
• Double clicking an icon opens it and unselects it.

I propose a new scheme (presumably in addition to these) after the following fashion:

Click To Select, Click Again To Open

• Clicking an unselected icon selects it, and unselects the previously selected icons unless Ctrl or Shift is held.
  
• Clicking a selected icon opens it (unless Ctrl or Shift is held) and unselects it.
  
• There is no double click -- there is only two single clicks in rapid succession.

EDIT --

Just to add the even clearer explanation from one of my replies to the main post, this is how the new scheme would work:

illissius wrote:You click on an item that is not selected. Once. Single click. Not double click. As a result, it becomes selected. It is not opened. Then, later -- five seconds later, five minutes later, five nanoseconds later, or any amount of time later, you click on it again. Once, single click, not double click. As a result, this time, because it was already selected, the item is opened.

This way, you get what I think are the biggest advantages of both the standard single click scheme (not having to use double clicks) and the double click scheme (being able to easily select things by just clicking on them). Again, see the original post.

I think it would make sense to offer this scheme as a third option in addition to the normal single- and double click schemes.[1]

Advantages

• Selecting icons is easy.
  
• Users never have to perform a double click, which has both physical dexterity and discoverability issues.
  
• Users accustomed to a double click scheme will find that it works basically as they expect: single clicking selects things, and double clicking opens them (via first selecting and then opening, or first opening and then reselecting).
  
• Users accustomed to a single click scheme can easily learn it: the natural reaction after clicking an icon to open it, and the icon not opening, is to try again. As the icon would now be selected, it would then open.

Potential Disadvantages

• Clicks are context sensitive: they do different things depending on whether or not the icon is selected.

Disadvantages Relative To Existing Single Click Scheme

• Two clicks are necessary to open an (unselected) icon rather than one, which is less efficient.

[1] Obviously, I think this scheme is actually superior to either of them, but given that people have been using the existing schemes for years and have become familiar with them, changing it out from under them would be, I think, unadvisable.

It feels strabge when I'm using Windows and I click once nad wait and nothing happens, and then I have to remember t double click.
Same thing would happen if this was enforced.
But I wouldn't mind for this to be an option. Like in KDE3 where you could set a windows-like click (double click), so this way could be added as well.

Primoz wrote:Like in KDE3 where you could set a windows-like click (double click)

That's still, thankfully, available in KDE4.

I think this scheme has a major disadvantage: to deselect a item, you must hold the Ctrl or Shift key which if you don't teach a new user many times to get them adopt to it, they will complain over and over again about "Why can't I deselect an item?"

maybe

• Clicking an unselected icon selects it (to select many), Clicking an selected icon unselects it.
• Clicking on whitespace unselects all.
• Double click - open file(files)

?

Lukas wrote:maybe

• Clicking an unselected icon selects it (to select many), Clicking an selected icon unselects it.
• Clicking on whitespace unselects all.
• Double click - open file(files)

?

NO.... Double click appear again.... I hate it....

This feature is implemented. "Personal Settings" -> "Keyboard and Mouse" -> "Mouse". There you can specify the behaviour.
You do not have to hold ctrl to select/deselect, there are two other possibilities:
-The small +- or --symbol
-Enabling selection by hover (personal settings)

grissiom wrote:I think this scheme has a major disadvantage: to deselect a item, you must hold the Ctrl or Shift key which if you don't teach a new user many times to get them adopt to it, they will complain over and over again about "Why can't I deselect an item?"

This is not a unique disadvantage. You can't click to deselect with the double click scheme either. Go ahead and try it: you click on a selected item, nothing happens. You have to click on something else, click on empty space, or ctrl-click. (And especially not with the single click scheme.)

That said, I'm not sure how common a use case this is, anyways. Why would you want to specifically make sure nothing is selected?

illissius wrote:That said, I'm not sure how common a use case this is, anyways. Why would you want to specifically make sure nothing is selected?

I'm not making nothing is selected, I'm saying "I want to deselect ONE item".

grissiom wrote:

illissius wrote:That said, I'm not sure how common a use case this is, anyways. Why would you want to specifically make sure nothing is selected?

I'm not making nothing is selected, I'm saying "I want to deselect ONE item".

I don't understand then. The two cases are distinct only if more than one item is selected. In that case, here's what happens in the various schemes when you single click one of the selected items:

- single click scheme: item is opened
- double click scheme: item remains selected, all others are deselected
- newfangled scheme: item is opened

If you want to deselect a specific item out of many, you'd have to use Ctrl+Click (or the +/- overlays in Dolphin and such) no matter which scheme you use.

illissius, I think it's a really good idea. I find it intuitive. First select, then use. Like the real world. Like.... pick up beer, drink it.

bratwurst wrote:illissius, I think it's a really good idea. I find it intuitive. First select, then use. Like the real world. Like.... pick up beer, drink it.

Thanks. Welcome to the club. Population: 2.

No, I like KDE way, specially now, since they added those gorgeous amazingly intuitive plus hover icon (and minus), the best approach on any desktop.

However, what you want, is currently available, so there's no problem.

Sorry, but this is not an idea. It's simple normal KDE3, Gnome, Mac and M$ behaviour.
It's implemented.
When you think that it's intuitive: okay, choose the option in system setting. Maybe it's intuitive but not innovative.
But KDE4 also offers a way which is faster for many people. And this way is the default...

augustofretes wrote:However, what you want, is currently available, so there's no problem.

The User wrote:Sorry, but this is not an idea. It's simple normal KDE3, Gnome, Mac and M$ behaviour.
It's implemented.

What?

I just checked. No, it's not. It is not equivalent to either the single click nor the double click schemes provided by KDE (and/or other desktop environments). I specifically listed the ways in which it is different to each of them. Did you guys read it?

Let's try again. I'll try to make it extremely clear this time.

You click on an item that is not selected. Once. Single click. Not double click. As a result, it becomes selected. It is not opened. Then, later -- five seconds later, five minutes later, five nanoseconds later, or any amount of time later, you click on it again. Once, single click, not double click. As a result, this time, because it was already selected, the item is opened.

This way, you get what I think are the biggest advantages of both the standard single click scheme (not having to use double clicks) and the double click scheme (being able to easily select things by just clicking on them). Again, see the original post.

I think it would make sense to offer this scheme as a third option in addition to the normal single- and double click schemes.