1y ago

KDE Goes and Does It (Double-Click By Default, That Is) - OMG! Linux

www.omglinux.com

KDE Plasma 6 will require users to double-click on files and folders to open them by default.
This change is controversial for those familiar with single-click behavior in KDE Plasma.
Click behavior in KDE Plasma 6 is configurable, allowing users to choose between single-click and double-click.

https://archive.ph/BseL3

This is one of the first things I always tweak in KDE, so I love this change, but I'm curious how others feel.

155 comments

Single click is for web page links, not my computer.
- Way too easy to accidentally run a program with single click
  
  not really, just set to "always ask" or when opening an executable.
  
  I'd be okay with a compromise like single click for folders, double click for files
  
  It should throw up a prompt to ask, if you really want to run it. You might have disabled that...
  
  Joke's on you, I run Nix, the program won't even start unless I steam-run it
- Exactly. I never need to select a link on the web to do things like rename or move them, while I do that with files all the time
  
  Maybe the KDE devs were expecting you to do file management using the keyboard only. Or maybe they thought that linux users aren’t technical enough that they would ever consider organizing their files. Just dumb it all on the desktop and call it a day, amarite?
- It makes file system navigation much faster and more pleasant imo, I'm definitely reverting this.
  
  How do you select without executing?
  
  Doubt you'll have to revert this. I don't think they switch you back to defaults when updating.
- If it wasn't default, I likely would have never tried single click, which I prefer now.
Single click was always the first setting I changed.
I’m actually kinda suspicious any Linux user would actually want a single click default.
- I don't know how requiring clocking twice instead of once is good
  
  Avoids misclicks from opening stuff by mistake just for that alone is worth it to me.
  
  How do you select files? Probably double click?
  
  It's more wear and tear on mouse buttons! It's wasteful!
- It would only really make sense as a tablet behaviour.
- Why would you be suspicious of that?
I honestly forgot that single-click is the default behavior in Plasma. I set up new desktop environments so rarely, and this is such an infuriating default behavior that I change it immediately. Glad to hear this is changing.
- Main reason is Distros reverting that anyways. It was always doubleclick on Kubuntu and Fedora KDE afaik
- See... I'm the opposite... I change and hip around and reinstall across various machine so often, changing the setting has just become second nature... I don't even think about it anymore! Hahahaha
My parents found single-click much more intuitive, because everything else (web browser, phone) uses single-click.
- My parents still double click everything on their mobile...
  
  That’s hilarious lol
- Oh that makes so much sense. I was wondering why single-click would ever be default.
For all those single-click fans:
how do you quickly rename a file?
how do you even drag-drop instead of opening stuff?
how do you select files?
how do you live?
Saying "well kids use web stuff and Android and dont know what a single click is" is basically neglecting the use of a mouse. I love at least 3 buttons, hovering and fast clicks.
- I don't use KDE but I suppose the click is detected on button release, not during the press. It should adress all these questions.
  
  The click is detected immediately, see @Jomosoto@discuss.tchncs.de's comment.
  
  This is the only way that makes sense.
- Q1: Select (see Q3) + F2
  Q2: Same way as double-click people. A file only opens if I click, not when I press the mouse button and drag the file around.
  Q3: I draw a small selection frame over it, or press the control key when clicking (I have the hand there any, especially if my next input will be Ctrl+C/X and Ctrl+V
  Q4: I just do. Sometimes I relax by playing shooters with the "invert mouse" option turned on :D
  I have never had a cell phone or smart phone in my life, single-click was the default when I switched to Linux, I gave it a try and I liked it.
- Ctrl + Click, F2
  Just drag and drop the file
  Ctrl + Click
  I prefer single click, but I agree that there are situations where double click is more convenient
  
  That sounds way worse than double click haha. I have set F2 to Volume (the rest is the normal F keys)
- Same, but I use double click. Send like single click is a lot of mouse dragging.
  
  Okay okay I give it a try
- Select: click on the + sign.
- F2
  Click and hold
  Many ways, usually I just drag a box around the files. If there's many in different places, ctrl + click
  More convenient without having to double click everything lol
The Year of Linux on the Desktop has finally come guys.
When I first switched to KDE, this issue took up roughly 15 seconds of my time as I saw what was happening and went exploring for the setting to change the behavior. Apart from having to change the setting again from time to time, I have spent exactly zero seconds thinking about it and exactly zero seconds wondering which approach was the "best" since then. I wonder how honest it is for this site to refer to a "debate"; it's hard for me to imagine anyone giving a shit beyond setting their own system up the way they like it.
- I mean, this is the Internet
  
  Yes; my post is obliquely suggesting that people are ridiculous.
- I used kubuntu for an year on an old ProBook and I just assumed that the trackpad buttons were broken and sent a double click.
  I discovered this issue only today lol
- It's not a holy war issue for me, but it is the first thing I change when I'm on a fresh KDE system. While I haven't had any angst about it, I'm selfishly happy for the change. I realize there's just a different group of people who will now have to make the opposite adjustment, but dem's da brakes.
  And, I have to admit it might be less likely to throw off someone coming from Windows defaults.
- KDE is an open source desktop environment. If we didn't debate how to make the UI/UX as intuitive as possible, the project would be dead in the water. The entire Libre movement is built on debating how software should work, and then making it work that way.
  You don't have to contribute, but don't throw shade at the people who do.
  
  Equating a debate over the default behavior of mouse clicks—behavior that can be changed in ten seconds—with the very essence of the free software movement is so comically misguided as to be downright sad.
I think it's great. I think it's impossible to use dolphin with single click since it goes into folders or starts files when clicking on them once.
Anyone knows the historic reason for single click? Plasma was inspired by some older system?
- I think it was windows 98 that introduced "hovering on an item" = single click and single click = double click. Disabled by default of course
  
  Oh god, I'd forgotten the dark days of windows UI introduced with the active desktop update
  
  It was introduced by "Active Desktop", which came with IE4. So if you installed IE4, you also got this on Windows 95.
- Use the terminal mostly anyway, but navigating deeply nested folders when you have to double click is slightly annoying so I can see the appeal.
  
  I don't see why they can't just have the folders behave differently.
  \ Just make opening folders single click & executing/opening everything else double click.
  
  Bash is superior, but if I'm going to use the UI I just use tree view in Dolphin so I can expand folders with a single-click while seeing the directory structure.
- I could definitely be remembering wrong, but if I remember correctly there was a TechOverTea video by Brodie Robertson featuring Nicco Loves Linux aka Niccolo Venerandi where this topic came up in which there was the mention of I think something to do with carpal tunnel, and a weird drag-to-select bug or something.
  \ My memory is a little hazy here.
A day of sorrow indeed... No, joking aside. I gather most people use double click anyway, so this is a good change for that reason. I've never really understood it myself (the primary function of the left click being "select" when everywhere else it's "open" or "go to this thing"?? Alien stuff).
I'm just glad KDE listens to it's users and adapts to them. Looking forward to the release!
- At least, like everything else in KDE, you can set it the way you like it (unlike some other environments that will remain nameless).
- Its only open on things not meant for file management like web browsers, or when people use their monkey extensions as input device, instead of a mouse with 3 buttons and a scroll wheel ;D
I've been using my install script for so long, I've forgotten that single click was the default. I guess that's at least one extra line I can remove.
They can change the default settings as long as they leave the option to change it available.
This is wholesome in a strange way.
I'm also always changing this first, so i agree with the change.
I personally also welcome this change, as I have changed that setting anyway and of those people I know, they also changed that behaviour immediately. But as long as you can change it and it isn't forced on you to only use one method, it's great.
- Single-click and the little plus icons on everything in Dolphin are the first things I switch off after install for sure.
  
  That and the bouncing icons when an app is loading... always thought that looked tacky.
- Girlfriend went from KDE to Windows and switched File Explorer to single click hah
Ah yes... I remember when IE 4 came to Windows and introduced single clicking. What a terrible idea.
- Don't worry, apps are so slow that we don't risk repeating the same problem of double-clicking causing the first click to open the app and the second click to do something in the app that you didn't want to do.
So be it. I don't understand why there is so much debate around such simple setting.
- Same reason we debate how to pronounce GIF (it's pronounced gif, I'll have you know) or what toppings to put on pizza. Because it's entertaining for some, no matter how grating it may get for others.
- People will be damned if…
  They are forced to do something for an additional 10 seconds.
  Their opinion is wrong.
I could've sworn I already double click in Dolphin.
- Some distributions that ship with KDE have that option set out of the box for you already.
  
  That must be it then. I'm on Fedora 39 KDE Spin.
As someone who hasn't touched KDE in years, can someone fill me in: How did you previously select a folder without opening it?
- click it
  as it instantly opens you realise you didn't change that setting yet and go change it
  
  Snark aside, this is probably a more common solution than using Ctrl-click or clicking the tiny "+" icon as was intended.
- Drag a selection box around it, or use ctrl. Or right click.
- Control + Left click
- There's a symbol at the top left of the file or directory icon to select the item rather than open. It's stays there even if you have double click to open
Double click to open files/folders Single click to highlight file/folders Hover to focus on window
Perfection
I never thought I'd see the day
Is this a change I'm too "command line" to care about?
- Windows had it for ages
- It's great except when there's no "white space" to easily do a drag select. Or I'm just an idiot and do it wrong.
  
  In Dolphin, there is a "+" icon in the top right corner on hover for selection.
  
  I use ctrl-click to select
My problem with it: It was not consistent when using KDE:
In Dolpin, it's a single click.....
When downloading something in Firefox and choosing the location, it's a double click.
- Firefox doesn't use the KDE file picker by default. You can set widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker to 1 to use the desktop environment's native picker.
  https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#KDE_integration
- To be fair, even when both UI elements are both a part of Dolphin, the element shown when selecting files in a browser is different than a default Dolphin instance. In-browser you are selecting where to download a file, or what file to upload, and it is assumed that you don't intend to open a file locally, so turning off single click in this instance is actually pretty intuitive.
Ok but when do we get to change the drag and drop behavior so it just moves the folder instead of opening a menu
- Please do not change that, I love being able to copy via drag and drop instead of just moving because this way, my clipboard is not polluted unnecessarily
  
  I'm fine with a menu being there, just give me the option to make it go away by selecting a default or something.
  That single problem makes dolphin unusable for me because there isn't a basic setting to make it behave like basically every other graphical file manager on any operating system.
  (Edited grammar for clarity)
No one wins no matter what they choose. Those of us who have switched over to single click either now need to adapt or make the tweak.
I guess this a good default for bringing over Windows converts
- Unless they're overwriting our settings to defaults we really don't need to do anything. This is for new installs.
Um, I just switched from gnome to plasma about three or four months ago. I don't keep anything at all in my desktop I didn't realize that it was single click.
- It would apply to files and folders in Dolphin (file explorer) as well.
Honestly I just love that Plasma closely resembles the Windows 10/11 UI. Not that I like Windows, but because I have to deal with Windows from time to time.
Switching between Gnome UI and Windows 10/11 UI requires an effort to me. Switching betweek Plasma and Windows - almost no difference.
Plasma is fucking great!
- Windows resembles the Plasma UI, not the other way around.
  
  It's funny, because the original KDE was definitely inspired by Windows, but Plasma has introduced enough new features before Windows now that it isn't inaccurate to say that Windows was inspired by Plasma.
  
  And features 😅
- To be fair, windows development also included UI changes beneficial for users, so its not necessarily bad to copy those.
  Of course there are many which are.. questionable, we of course shouldnt copy those :D
- WindowsEnjoyer
  Not that I like Windows
  Hmm....
  Seriously tho, agreed!
This truely is the darkest timeline
This + some other quirks are what have kept me off KDE for a good while. I understand wanting to do things differently, possibly easier -- but it's hard to break old habits.
- It may mean the user doesn't think their use is similar enough to the people who make the distro/DE, or trust the distro makers' decision making ability.
  If a distros' makers think snaps are a good idea, or that the distro shouldn't by default show available security updates, or have a UI that hides how many open instances there are of a program unless you hover over an icon, or hides the titles of those open programs, or hides panels; then the way I use a PC is too different from the way they do - and there are likely more things in the background that we disagree with which can't as easily be changed like UI settings.
  
  It's not so crazy. Most people choose a DE for the defaults
- What DE do you use?
I really like single click but since this is just about the new default then I don't really care
Shame that they gave in to the haters, single click is great. Far more intuitive too, as you'd immediately tell if you ever had to guide your parents around a computer constantly reminding them in which arbitrary situation you're meant to double click and in which to single click.
- I really don't think it's a matter of "haters". It might be more logical and consistent if you have no other frames of reference, but most Plasma users come over from other OSs who all use double click (Windows, Mac, even Gnome). If a new user blindly tries KDE and keeps accidentally opening everything while trying to select it's just an immediate and big annoyance. It's not even clear that it isn't a bug because there is no clear explanation of how to select and how to open.
  Edit: we are of course all used to single clicking on touch screens, but there it is contrasted with the long press to see options and some "select mode" for file management. There is no system that works exactly like Plasma single-click, which makes it disorienting.
Normal people won
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW. In the the next issue of Linux Magazine Torvalds talks about the new default in the single click behavior of Plasma: "KDE, fuck you"
- It would be a much longer insult of course
Both plasma and gnome will get zero clicks from me. They are the two black holes sucking free open source software into their m{ac,s}-win core.
@AnActOfCreation
- What DE do you use?
  
  Emacs obviously.
  
  DE require tremendous overhead of serv/daemons just to be able to make shortcuts/menu items clickable, I would never use such contraptions on my system.
  I use a wm and have no use for polkit, dbus, logind, automount, obfuscated rights elevations and demotions, .... all this crap that unnecessarily must run for the sake of aesthetics and MS-win utility.
  If I needed icons on my background I would use just a light filemanager, like pcmanfm, but I don't.
  @AnActOfCreation

155 comments