Re: [Ayatana] Middle-click on indicators

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Remco wrote on 15/04/10 09:01:
>...
> There is precedent for this in Windows. Tray menus can have a
> bold-faced item, which is activated on double click or middle click.
> It's one of the few things that fairly consistent among Windows' tray
> icons. This is also consistent with desktop icons, which have one
> default action: open. Double clicking or middle clicking on the icon
> opens the file.
>...

Yes, as the Windows UX guidelines say: "Left single-click" should
"Display whatever users most likely want to see", while "Right-click"
should "Display the context menu, with the default command in bold."
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511448(v=MSDN.10).aspx#interaction>

But even though (a variation of) that guideline has been around since
Windows 95, it hasn't worked out well. Many users have given up on
left-clicking on notification area items -- probably, I think, because
the left-click action wasn't predictable or memorable enough. Instead,
they right-click to get the menu every time. "What? You can left-click
on that thing and it does something different from right clicking? Dude,
why didn't anybody tell me this? I've been doing it the hard way all
this time!"
<http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2009/05/01/9581563.aspx>

That tells me that implementing a middle-click default action wouldn't
be a good use of our time. It also suggests to me that to ease the
transition for Windows emigrants, we should find a way for
right-clicking on a status menu to open the menu exactly the same way as
left-clicking does -- just like it does in a standard GTK menu bar already.

- -- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
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