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Mouse
This chapter of the style guide describes the behaviour of the mouse buttons. First the behaviour in conjunction with selectable objects is described. Then the behaviour in conjunction with buttons and links is described.
Some special attention is given to the RMB-menu, a popup menu that appears when the right mouse button is pressed.
The names Left Mouse Button and Right Mouse Button are based on a mouse for a right-handed person. A left-handed person can configure his mouse to have the right and left buttons reversed. In this case, the Left Mouse Button will be positioned at the right-side of the mouse and the Right Mouse Button will be positioned at the left-side of the mouse.
The following describes standard behaviour when clicking on an object in the content area:
Left Mouse Button
| Single Click (SC) | Action |
| SC | Mark the object (double-click mode) OR Mark the object and execute default action on the object (single-click mode) In both cases other objects will be unmarked. |
| Shift + SC | Mark all objects from the first selected object to the current object |
| Ctrl + SC | Mark the object (leave other marked objects marked) |
| mouse move + SC | Mark the object and move it (unmark other marked objects) |
| mouse move + Shift + SC | Mark all objects from the first selected object to the current object and move them |
| mouse move + Ctrl + SC | Mark the object (leave other marked objects marked) and move them |
| Double Click (DC) | Action |
| DC | Mark the object and execute default action on the object (double-click mode). Other objects will be unmarked. |
| Shift + DC | Mark all objects from the first selected object to the current object and execute the default action on all marked objects (double-click mode). |
| Ctrl + DC | Mark the object (leaving other marked objects marked) and execute the default action on all marked objects (double-click mode). |
KDE is designed to make use of either single-clicks or double-clicks, but the default is single-click mode. The reason for this is that double-clicks are hard to learn for new users and can cause RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury). To accommodate users who are already used to double-clicking and who don't want to change, as well as to accommodate users who work on a daily basis with systems that require double-clicks, KDE will allow the user switch to double-click mode on a system-wide basis. Otherwise, a double-click is treated as one single-click.
To be compliant with this styleguide, an application should support both single-click and double-click.
Right Mouse Button
| Click | Action |
| single click | If the clicked object is marked, it does not change any of the marks. If the clicked object is not marked, the object is marked and any other objects are unmarked. Then a popup menu (RMB-menu) appears where the user has clicked. The RMB-menu contains the most important actions available for the marked object(s). |
| double click | - |
The action that you get by clicking on an item with the Left Mouse Button (default action) should appear in the RMB-menu as the first option.
The standard behaviour for click on a button or a link is described below. Note: a link was originally an object, but because there was a defacto standard stipulating that a single-click on a link leads to an action, it was decided to treat links like buttons.
Left mouse button
| Click | Action |
| single click | Execute an action (e. g. Cut, Copy, follow a link, etc.) |
| double click | - |
Right mouse button
| Click | Action |
| single click | Opens a popup menu (RMB-menu) with the most important actions available for the button/link (e. g. Move, Properties, etc.) |
| double click | - |
A RMB-menu (right mouse button menu) appears when the right mouse button is pressed, not when it is released. The user can operate the RMB in two ways:
- The user can directly select an option and release the right mouse button to activate the option.
- The user can release the right mouse button directly (single click), select an option and click again (either with the right or the left mouse button) to activate the option.
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