A proposal to un-hide the right-click menu
March 30, 2004 7:47 PM
While right-click menus are often full of great shortcuts, their nature of being completely hidden from the user until a user clicks the secondary mouse button means that beginner and advance users alike have trouble discovering the existence of these helpful menus.
When a use moves their mouse pointer over an object or area that has a right-click opportunity, I propose altering the mouse pointer to show the existence of the hidden functionality.
Think about how helpful mouseover highlighting is in Windows XP in preventing miss-clicks. Take the feature a step further (and a button over), and suddenly Windows is helping beginners and advance users learn about the availability of these hidden, but useful, menus.
I also think there should be a standard user interaction method that triggers Windows to highlight all available right-click targets, such as right-clicking an area where right-click is not supported.
Anybody from the Longhorn team reading?
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http://www.forgetfoo.com/
Posted March 30, 2004 8:37 PM
suddenly makes me wonder if they [longhorn team] have thought or created some new mouse pointers/interactions. be kewl to have the cursor glow or have a subtle pulse when an optional action might be available for that [mousedover] item, for example.
just typing out loud, dont mind me ;)
http://www.timmacrina.com
Posted March 30, 2004 8:53 PM
What about when the mouse pointer is positioned on your empty desktop? Wouldn't that make the pointer glow continuously?
http://diegov.blogspot.com
Posted March 31, 2004 1:00 AM
You have convinced me it is a great idea.
http://www.DylanGreene.com
Posted March 31, 2004 2:29 AM
The pointer on the desktop would glow continuously and that shows a problem with the current design - right-click abuse.
What does the desktop have to do with color depth, resolution, and UI features? Why do we have to minimize programs just to get to the desktop to change the resolution? I know this can be done other ways, such as the control panel, but since this right-click menu is there, it should be done right.
Another example of right-click abuse is the taskbar and tray notification area (where the clock is). When you want to bring up the Task Manager you need to right-click in the space between running programs - otherwise that option isn't there. Task Manager should never have been given this arbitrary right-click menu rules - there should be a place for it that is referenceable, consistent, and discoverable.
http://www.forgetfoo.com/
Posted March 31, 2004 7:57 AM
it was just an example off the top of my head... i wouldnt want it 'continuously' glowing (or pulsing, or whatever) - that'd be almost as annoying as the bouncing icons in the OS X dockbar. *blink*
it could just glow/pulse in some subtle fashion a few times to give you a visual que that there's something available here, perhaps other than the 'normal' options... "there's something really cool here you might find interesting if you right-click, buddy" then maybe it could be personalized more on your behavior... if you always right-click on something in Windows, why not make it easier or more available?
just some ramblings...
Posted July 7, 2004 1:36 AM
The right click behavior talked about here has been done by the MAC for years, may be since the beginning. That is why MACs only have 1 mouse button.