RE: mouse-1-click-follows-link

[Nick Roberts]

Drew Adams writes:
 >     In the compilation buffer mouse-face (and therefore mouse-1) only works
 >     on the file and line number while mouse-2 and RET work for the
 >     whole line.
 > 
 >     It would help if grep also worked this way.
 > 
 > I disagree. My opinion:
 > 
 > 1) mouse-1, RET, and mouse-2 should all behave similarly. What's good for
 > mouse-2 is good for mouse-1 too. The challenge is to find the right default
 > behavior (trade-off/compromise).
 >
 > 2) The entire line should be the hot zone (no "button"). Makes it very easy
 > to scan lines and align text anywhere on the line with the proper hot zone.
 > No need for your eye to move between the text (anywhere on the line) and the
 > hot zone.

Thats not much of a compromise!  Jason's point about the touchpad makes it
even more important that the entire line should be *not* be the hot zone.

 > 3) The grep behavior (full-line hot zone) should hold also for the
 > compilation buffer (compilation and grep should behave similarly).

I think it should be the other way round i.e grep should behave like the
compilation buffer.

 > 4) mouse-1 should follow links by default, for the reasons others have given
 > (even though I, myself, might choose to turn this off).

I think the default has been agreed.  What we are discussing now is the extent
of coverage.

 > 5) The delay for mouse-1 to set point should be short, by default, so it is
 > not inconvenient to set point with mouse-1. The current default delay is too
 > long. Users will naturally click very quickly to follow a link, and if they
 > click too slowly, they will quickly learn to click quicker (or consult the
 > doc to change the delay value). Clicking a little too slowly unintentionally
 > (i.e. when intending to follow a link) will just set point, which is benign.

Whatever the period, its hard to estimate in your head while clicking.  How
long should a piece of string be?

Nick