Comment by NotYourLawyer
13 days ago
I’ve tried to explain it many times too, but I can’t really articulate a good, comprehensive rule for when to single and when to double click.
13 days ago
I’ve tried to explain it many times too, but I can’t really articulate a good, comprehensive rule for when to single and when to double click.
Another complicating factor that many less-tech-literate don't have a good internal model for is window focus. I've seen several people try and single-click on a not focused web button, only for nothing to happen. When they click again, the button is activated. They then learn to always double click that button.
Having a mental model of "this button needs to be double clicked" gets them the result they want, even if that's not a very accurate reflection of the computer.
In theory: if you’re clicking on a UI element that has some notion of being selected, then a single-click selects it, and you need a double-click to take an action on it. If there’s no notion of selection, then a single click takes an action.
In practice: adherence to this ranges from perfect to abysmal. And users who don’t understand the computer well may not know how to think about whether a given UI element is selectable or not.
When you're on windows and not in the browser, you double-click to launch a file or program in the Explorer (which also is what runs the desktop). Single-click is select.
So, the rule:
List of files on your computer or desktop? Double-click. Otherwise? Don't.
> When you're on windows and not in the browser
So many people have absolutely no concept of different windows let alone a browser. They run Chrome or IE maximized and that is "the Internet". They'll have tons of tabs open because they don't understand tabs and how to navigate them or that they can be closed.
A problem with billions of people using computers is that only a tiny fraction have working knowledge of them, an even smaller fraction understand them. Most people only understand operations by rote.
What if I’m opening an email in Outlook? What if I’m looking at something in Control Panel? (That one’s a trick question, since the answer has changed in modern Windows versions.)
I'd say don't do that. Who reads emails?
Although seriously, I find I never break out of the preview in Outlook email. The only spot in Outlook where I really need to double-click is the calendar. Which is annoying.