#17 Make Double Click The Default for Desktop & Dolphin Interaction
Closed: Fixed 2 years ago by rdieter. Opened 3 years ago by michaeltunnell.

For those who aren't aware, KDE Plasma defaults to single click to execute files and folders on the desktop and in Dolphin. This should be changed to Double Click because that is the expected behavior of pretty much every desktop paradigm.

Whether the user is switching from Windows or from macOS, they are leaving a platform that is double click for this functionality. This is why Double Click is what it should be used.

KDE Plasma's paradigm is certainly inspired by Windows so breaking this expectation creates a barrier to entry with arguably no value to do so.

Single Click is a barrier to entry for people because it fundamentally changes the user experience that they are expecting and the ideal goal would be getting started as frictionless as possible. Single Click introduces friction where no one expects there to be, a fundamental user experience for how a mouse works.

This is not meant to be a battle between Single Click advocates or Double Click advocates its merely a suggestion for what would be best for the average user based on decades of computing paradigms.

If you like single click then I support your desire to use it and advocate for it. However, it should not be the default because millions of people are introduced to friction on something so core to computing that aversion to it is more likely than adoption.

Anecdotally, I have had people make fun of Linux due to this setting. For example, "why would I use Linux if you cant even get the mouse right?".

A non-tech savvy user is not going to be aware of this choice for single click vs double click so some might perceive it as confusing because they are accidentally launching apps and files and not know why it is happening.

KDE Plasma's slogan is "simple by default, powerful when needed" and that's a great slogan but simplicity in branding towards new users should mean ease of use. Single click makes these users have to deal with something alien to them and eve finding the way to change it is rather difficult.


Note: I have attempted to convince KDE in the past to make this change but with no success. This is why I am suggesting Fedora do it because I want to suggest Fedora KDE to people but every time I do, I have to inform them about this default so they aren't caught off guard.


Metadata Update from @ngompa:
- Issue tagged with: experience

3 years ago

So, an update on this...

I've been discussing with upstream how to make it safe to switch the default in Plasma itself upstream without breaking everything.

There's some progress on this with Plasma 5.21:

As the behaviors across the desktop are specified and refined, I expect we can make movement upstream on switching folder view actions to double-click by default. Right now, making that change causes too much inconsistency.

@ngraham: We discussed this at the KDE SIG meeting today, and most of us (@rdieter, @jgrulich, @siosm, and myself) wanted to figure out how we could potentially make movement on changing the default in KDE upstream. At this point, Kubuntu and Manjaro already do this change, and we'd like to as well. However, we think this change is something that should happen in upstream Plasma if at all possible. How can we work to make this happen?

Eventually we'll get to the point when all major Plasma distros except for Neon default to double-click, and then we'll probably bow to the pressure. :) If Fedora actually does it, I think the argument becomes a little bit more powerful.

I no longer have a super strong opinion on the subject myself and will go along with anything. My son was annoyed by having to double-click on Windows recently, and asked me, "why do I need to click twice!?" The smartphone generation in action...

My son was annoyed by having to double-click on Windows recently, and asked me, "why do I need to click twice!?" The smartphone generation in action...

Funny thing, that. I think that has to do with how touch works. For touch, we've been trained to tap to activate, and hold to select (essentially reversing what we do with a mouse). Out of curiosity, does it work this way when Plasma is used with a touchscreen?

Yes, Plasma and Dolphin both always do single-click activation +hold-to-show-context-menu with touch, regardless of what the mouse click setting is.

I just want to put my 2 cents in on this. I understand touch does react to a single touch but a mouse is a different interface paradigm so that shouldn't supersede double click.

I think touch functions of Plasma should absolutely behave how people expect touch to behave and along those same lines, a mouse should behave how people expect a mouse to behave.

Maybe someday down the line touch paradigm will overpower the Double Click paradigm and then sure it would make sense to do it but in my opinion, that's not today.

Note:
in the first post of this issue I mentioned how friction is the main reason why Double Click should be the default. I just wanted to clarify something along those lines.

By friction I mean, tech savvy users who like single click could easily change it to single because they recognize the difference to their preference. However, average users can be caught off guard by single click and not know why things are seemingly launching at random.

I think there will be a friction regardless of which is chosen but I think that the people who should have less friction is those who will be deterred by it.

We discussed this today, and the SIG has agreed that we will be switching to double-click by default when we update to Plasma 5.22.

Metadata Update from @ngompa:
- Issue set to the milestone: Fedora 34

3 years ago

Metadata Update from @ngompa:
- Issue assigned to ngompa

3 years ago

Metadata Update from @ngompa:
- Issue set to the milestone: Future Release (was: Fedora 34)

3 years ago

Metadata Update from @ngompa:
- Issue set to the milestone: Fedora 35 (was: Future Release)

2 years ago

Metadata Update from @ngompa:
- Issue set to the milestone: Plasma 5.22 (was: Fedora 35)

2 years ago

PR merged, kde-settings-34.6 tagged, packaged built.

Metadata Update from @rdieter:
- Issue close_status updated to: Fixed
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)

2 years ago

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