KDE Plasma 6 Changes Its Most Controversial Feature

KDE Plasma for a very long has defaulted to single click to open a file but that is coming to an end with Plasma 6 now it's going to be in line with everybody else double click to open.

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[Megalomaniakaal]

5:02 that's because menus in games and links on websites are not normally movable elements. Also a file or folder is an object not a button. For a file manager selecting the objects in a folder browsed is/are primary actions. In the far past doing secondary actions like executing a file or opening a further folder would have been secondary actions done via a button or address bar on the toolbar or via menu option.

[TrowGundam]

Changing to Double Click is ALWAYS the first thing I change in Plasma/Dolphin. I can't count the number of times I've accidentally opened something when I wanted to select a file. It was really annoying.

[guyblack]

Single click works in game menus, hyperlinks and the other examples you mentioned because in those contexts you are performing an action: going to a different page, checking a box, etc. It feels weird in file managers because they're file /managers/ first that you can also action (launch/open) from secondarily. Most of what you do in file managers is around files to manage them, so it makes more sense that a single click should only select the file you want to manage, and double click should be for if you just want to open it.

[DylanMatthewTurner]

I think people tend to talk over each other in this discussion. I think there's an objective part and a subjective part to both sides. I feel like you accurately described the single click side, so I'll put more explanation in the double click side, and I'll show a compromise that I think addresses some issues single clickers have brought up about double click.

First of all, it's not really single-click vs double-click. Really it's click-to-open vs click-to-select. The single-click and double-click gestures follow from that idea.

And while someone can gripe about the ergonomics of the double click gesture itself, selecting first is actually somewhat useful. Personally, I often select files and never open them. It's intuitive to select something and then open, although it may not be the most efficient. It does open lots of features up though like clicking and having a side panel show more details or even a preview if it's something like an image. Another feature is that if you click to select and then click again (i.e. slow 2 clicks not double click), you get a rename prompt; something very intuitive that I make use of all the time. Many times I've found myself in a single-click environment, and while using it, I often open the wrong thing, not because I'm double clicking and opening multiple folders down or something like that, but because I'm trying to just select, and you have to do extra stuff to select in most single-click environments like always Ctrl+Click which is not intuitive.

From that perspective, when you look at the purpose of having the two gestures rather than the gestures themselves, you have a simple and fast navigation, but just one option which isn't that intuitive, whereas you may lose a couple milliseconds with click-to-select navigation, but you're open to a lot more options without having to resort to additional gestures or keys. This part of the discussion a subjective choice. Do you want simple and fast or intuitive with options?

But there is an objective aspect. The ergonomics, and I think single click is correct here. However, you can fix click-to-select's gestures pretty easily imo: click and release to select and click and hold to open. Not a problem for accessibility, still intuitive, and still have the click-to-select options. I think that's the the objectively better option to click-to-select's double-click, instead of switching to a whole new click philosophy like click-to-open.

[ChimeraX]

For me, double click is kinda like a protection for accidentally opening files. It's like "are you sure you want to open this file?", and clicking it again is you saying yes....

[lunix]

Installed KDE on Arch, which uses the single click default. I was extremely confused by it until I found the option. As previously said, in the market it makes more sense to have double click as the default since pretty much every body is used to it.

[mckendrick]

Frankly, single click is better in miller column layout file managers like the one in MacOS's Finder (which does actually use single click for directory navigation in miller column layout). But when using normal file managers it is extremely frustrating for me as someone who often accidentally clicks things as it causes me to have to navigate backwards.

[mikhail-glinka]

thank god its only 'contoversial'

[Sephin]

The point of a file manager is not to run programs, it's to manage files, hence the name. Being able to select files is central to the functionality of file managers which is why the primary action, the single click, is to select files. This is so that you can then manage those selected files to do stuff like copy them, or move them, rename them, delete them, etc. The double click thing is a shortcut, it's an extra feature the file manager kindly added as a bonus, not the main focus. But if you want to run things using a single click, then good news! Windows has the Start menu, MacOS has the Launchpad, Gnome has the Dash thing, and pretty every other Linux DE has the Applications button. All those are single click to run.

And on the subject of touch. Touch devices shouldn't be simulating mouse input. Touch input should be treated as it's own separate class of input because it is it's own separate class of input. Double click on the mouse, single tap on the touch screen.

[themisterchristie]

The single click has always been the first thing I would change with KDE. However, it was never clear on how the single click worked for selecting and the only way I knew to select was to CTRL+Click, never knew about the long click. Of course, I came from windows before touchscreen phones were as common as they are now. At the time the only big touch phone was the original iPhone, no others were as good at the time.

[NikoNemo]

Singleclicker here...Every OS should have a choice of single or double click during the OS installation process 😄

[klikkolee]

The single-click discussion feels like it's missing something important: what do they use for file selection instead of single-click? Selection is a basic function too, so when its traditional control is used for something else, there needs to be a decision on what to use for selection, and it had better be a good decision. Personally, I select files vastly more often than I open them, and I often select in rapid succession. Using double-click to select would be vastly more likely to give me RSI than double-click to open. Long-click to select becomes very irritating when selecting multiple files, and tends to result in me instinctively using a lot of force with my finger, which is tiring and probably isn't great for the mouse. Long-click is also pretty foreign on desktop. A lot of mobile apps use long-tap to start a selection mode, and then normal tap to select additional items, which is an okay experience, at least on mobile.

[TatharNuar]

I think this is a really good change. Plasma is generally my DE recommendation for long-time Windows users who want to try Linux for the first time, since it offers the most familiar experience to start from, and offers the best customization options out of all existing desktop experiences. Single click to open *as a default* really goes against that use case, but having it as a non-default option enhances it.

[cluesagi]

maybe there should be a popup the first time you open dolphin asking which method you prefer

[carminator]

I remember encountering a desktop with single-click but can't remember wich one or the distro. That was confusing and switching the option to double-click was a relief. Never happened again since then. Thoughts and prayers to people that doesn't know they can change it and get used to single-click. 🙏

[IbilisSLZ]

Fun fact: (at least) some editions ow Windows 98SE had signle click by default (mine OEM CD install does), probably as Micro$oft tried promoting Internet Explorer via Active Desktop functionality (replacing destktop wallpaper with cached website). Can't lie it was very confusing trying to find how to switch it to double click (especially if your system is not in english and... translation of some terms is not obvious for search engines) when I installed it on my retro PC (interestingly WinME defaulted to double-click).

[enemixius]

I use double-click, but more often I just navigate using the keyboard.

The default should be what most people expect, and then have an option to change it.
If single-click gains traction everywhere, it could end up becoming the new default, just like how the default scroll direction changed a decade ago (and I still change it back on every new install).

[kj_sh]

Today I realized, that I've always used keyboard shortcuts to navigate within my GUI file manager of choice (Thunar). I do typeahead pattern searching to get to a file/directory quickly, Alt+[↑, ←, →] for directory path navigation, Shift+F10 for a right-click, Ctrl+Shift+<space> for file selection, <Tab> for pane selection, and Shift+Delete for a permanent delete.

I never realized that I actually don't click within my GUI file manager anymore (or at least very rarely) until Brodie mentioned double-clicking and I actually tried to open a directory with my mouse—and it felt odd 😅. I guess that's just years of keyboard-driven muscle memory developing that I didn't think about 😆.

I do think that double-clicking makes more sense though, but maybe it's just what I've gotten used to. The case for single-click also makes logical sense with our modern interfaces.

[jvyden]

I've always hated single click because it felt wrong given my muscle memory, as you've described I've used a computer much earlier than I've ever used a smartphone (or really, anything with a touchscreen), but I just tried it and... not gonna lie I kind of see the point now. We're talking a quarter of a second here, but it feels faster to browse through my file manager now.
Gotta love Brodie for bringing up things you've never even thought about.

[HinaraT]

Well I think the choice to use double-click to open a file comes when you have to put drag & drop into account, because like a lot of gesture detecting them correctly is a mess so using the single click to use drag and drop (which would be some kind of akward with double click) and double click to confirm that you want to open that file (only detecting the delay between two clicks)

About to whether choose one or the other, I think it depends on your utilisation do you tend to use your interface more as a button pannel or to organize things out.
Because by choosing for example single click to open app you fall again into the problem of gesture recognition, and so most interface make you hold your item for a certain amount of time to be able to drag & drop, whether it is by:
- holding your finger/cursor for each item (moving app under Android) which can be quite bothering if you want to move a lot of things (like all apps from one screen to another)
- by putting you into a selecting mode and also selecting the item you were holding by default (most file explorer under android)


Also something stupid but which I should mention is what is a click ?
- When you press your mouse/screen
- Or when you press and release the cursor on about the same zone ?
Fun fact under windows a double click is considered when you press your primary mouse button for the second time not when you released it