While I understand why this bug was Won’t-Fix’ed, the reasons for the bug remain:
(1) Using the middle mouse button either for dragging or to show a menu is not particularly discoverable. Dragging is usually done with the left mouse button, and menus are shown either via the right mouse button or via some visual affordance. Using the middle button for either is something almost no one will guess, due to the button not being used in such a manner in any other context (at least none that an average user would be aware of). (2) Even if one discovers this functionality, it will still feel unnatural. Since the middle mouse button is never used in this way anywhere else, this behaviour will continue violating the user’s mental model of how this button is used, and will be difficult to get used to. (3) You have to remember before starting the drag operation if you might want to use the menu. If you remember afterwards, you have to use the Alt key. Having two methods of doing the same thing makes an interface less habit-forming. (4) Most crucially, anyone using a non–multi-touch touchpad (that is, the vast majority of notebook users), will be unable to user this feature as is (but will have to use the Alt key). This is worse for anyone that uses both a desktop and a notebook, as one will have to use two slightly different methods in each environment, rather than getting into the habit of using one single method. My proposal: When dragging a file, if the right mouse button is click, the drag operation ends and a context menu appears. At this point, the user may stop holding down the left mouse button. Letting go of the right mouse button while hovering over a command in the menu activates it, just like with standard context menus. This alternate solution is less affected by the above issues. It can even replace both the middle-drag and the Alt-drag methods entirely. Thoughts? (Should I bring this up in the upstream bug?) -- It is not possible to right-click and drag the files https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/387835 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
