Sounds like a good compromise, although I have no Mac to try how it
feels. How does Apple teach this handling to its users, or do they
gladly find out by accident? How complex would an implementation of
such motion- and time-dependent drag handling be?


Am Fr., 7. Mai 2021 um 08:30 Uhr schrieb Tobias Pape <Das.Linux at gmx.de>:
>
> Hi
>
>
> > On 7. May 2021, at 07:51, Marcel Taeumel <marcel.taeumel at hpi.de> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Chris.
> >
> > > Hmm, no, I don't think so. Swipe select is very common -- like swiping characters in text, or cells of a spreadsheet
> >
> > Ah, that's right. In the Windows Explorer, there has always been a conflict between click-drag-out gestures and click-drag-select gestures. It is sometimes really hard to intentionally perform one or the other.
>
> Mac makes the distinction based on how long you wait between the click and the drag, at least for text.
> So if you
> - have a selection,
> - click,
> - wait for around a second, and
> - then drag,
> you will drag the selected text around.
>
> In all other cases for text, it changes the selection.
>
> I just found it is similar for files in the Finder (think explorer), but slightly different.
> Since files are always in a vertical fashion, _the same as for text_ is true for files as long as you drag _vertically_
> I if you click-drag horizontally, it directly drags the file/selection.
>
> I think this is a quite good tradeoff there.
>
> Best regards
>         -Tobias
>
> >
> > Many touch interfaces opted for having an extra drag handle nearby. Maybe this could work?
> >
> > Best,
> > Marcel
> >> Am 07.05.2021 02:02:44 schrieb Chris Muller <asqueaker at gmail.com>:
> >>
> >> Hi Marcel,
> >>
> >> > Hmm... it is unusual that a normal click can also select a range.
> >>
> >> Hmm, no, I don't think so. Swipe select is very common -- like
> >> swiping characters in text, or cells of a spreadsheet, and
> >> "MultiselectList" was (is?) the basis of many browsers in VisualAge Smalltalk.
> >> In Squeak it's called PluggableListMorphOfMany (used by changes
> >> browser) and it's [Alternate] incantation which doesn't lose
> >> selections simply because your framerate is too low..
> >>
> >> And, yes, Control was *supposed* to be a modifier key to toggle
> >> individuals, but as Jakob pointed out, it's intercepted by the halo.
> >>
> >> All the functions Tim mentioned are currently available via the menus.
> >>
> >>
> >> - Chris
> >>
> >
>
>
>