Re: Where is the desktop

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Re: Where is the desktop
by Janne on Monday 05/May/2008, @08:59

"The single button interface died with the single tasking pre OS X Mac"

IIRC, one of the design-guidelines of OS X and related apps is that they should not rely on context-menus. After all, all macs still ship with single-button mouse. Yes, Mighty Mouse and trackpads can act as a multi-button mouse, but at their core they are still single-button devices.

"Without right clicks how do you have a context menu?"

How about thinking of ways to NOT rely on context-menus? Context-menus seem to be a trash-heap of functionality that the developers could not fit elsewhere. The app should be perfectly usable without any context-menus at all.

IMO, it might do some good to remove the right mouse-button from the developers mouse, that way he would be forced to think of alternative means of doing things, instead of relying on context-menus.

You mention that context-menus allow you to design interfaces with less clutter? Does that mean that the context-menu is the only way to access certain functionality in your app?

Related Links

·   Articles on KDE in the News
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Re: Where is the desktop
by xddule on Thursday 08/May/2008, @01:20

Dude, typing is away faster than any mouse positioning, so the context menu is the essential for any constructor, engineer, doctor, programmer, and many more professions. This way i could choose what i need, in the right application i could even configure my context menu, which suits my needs. And i don't even bother to use mouse for it. Because there is meta-key which pops context menu, and intuitive is associated with the right mouse button, even if I'm left hander, because my meta key is on the right side of the keyboard. The mac users also have they 'apple' keys, even old amiga has the context menu button.

The plasma is killing environment for every usable desktop. The first poster has very right to point it.

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