Use of mouse for selection in LXterminal and in Ubiquity (was: Re: My one wish for 12.10 - improve copy/highlight )

[Jonathan Marsden]

Henry,

On 04/28/2012 01:13 PM, Henry Gebhardt wrote:

> Triple-click to select the entire line, and use the middle mouse
> button to insert a copy. Does that work?


That "works", but if the text being copied is a shell command, it has
the side-effect of copying the shell prompt at the start of the line to.
 This is not usually desired if the command will be pasted into a
different command shell window for execution there, or into text editor
when creating or editing a shell script, for example.

>> This even has some effect during installation with the live CD. I
>> typically change the computer name/host-name and rather than just
>> being able to highlight the entire host-name and then entering the new
>> name I must backspace to nothing and then enter the new host-name.
 
> I am not quite sure what you are describing here. Can you elaborate?


Using the Ubiquity GUI installer on the Lubuntu 12.04 desktop ISO, the
"Who are you?" screen dialogue asks for "Your name:" and then "Your
computer's name:".  I think Lance was referring to the second of these
two fields.

However, for myself, I do not see a need to use the mouse here at all.
If I type my name, and then TAB to move to the next field, I find the
supplied default hostname is already highlighted.  So if I want to use
it, I can TAB again to the "Pick a username:" field, but if I want to
type in a hostname, I simply type it, and the previously supplied
default hostname vanishes immediately.  No mouse clicks whatsoever are
needed.

I don't really see why a user (with a conventional keyboard and mouse)
would particularly want to use the mouse at this point in the
installation process, because their hands will already be on the
keyboard from having just typed their name, and they are about to type a
hostname.  So moving a hand from keyboard to mouse and back to keyboard
seems unnecessary and inefficient to me.  Maybe it is helpful when the
keyboard has a broken or missing TAB key?  :)

Anyway, apparently Lance *does* use the mouse there, and when he does,
he finds something about copy/highlight that is not working the way he
expects or prefers.

I just tested, and for me, triple-clicking the default hostname
correctly selects it, if I first manage to accidentally de-select it,
and then need to select it again.  For me, TAB Shift-TAB is much faster
and more convenient as a way to (re-)select the hostname, though,
because it leaves both of my hands on the primary input device, the
keyboard.  So at this point, the triple-clicking approach is only
relevant for someone who really really wants to move their hand from
keyboard to mouse and back, as far as I can tell.

Lance: does triple-clicking the supplied default hostname work for you
as a way of selecting it, in that Ubiquity "Who are you?" screen?  What
other copy/highlight capability are you hoping for at that point?

Jonathan