An annoyance in Linux selection behavior

[Saito]

I'm not sure if this is a feature or not but,

When I click the url bar in Windows (any browser) one click selects the entire bar and you can just type your address.

In Linux (any distro I've tried with any browser I tried) it doesn't. A single click just puts your cursor where you clicked and a double click selects a single word.

Is it possible to change this? It's really annoying the hell out me. Especially because I'm using Linux on my Tablet so I either use the small touchpad or my pen for selection and having to select the entire url (especially very long ones) is a hassle.

[kaiseroskilo]

i think you could just use

system->preferences->mouse->accessibilty
and select the simulated secondary click option.that way you won't have to double click generally.

[coopstah13]

what browser are you using? in firefox double click selects the whole url for me

for the most part, in linux, single click puts cursor where you click, double click highlights word, triple click highlights line

[zenwalker]

File Manager => Edit => Preferences => "Behavior" or such
usually gives an option to open file with either a single- or double-click!

Browsers -- gee, dunno!

[Saito]

Well I just realized that firefox indeed does select the entire line on a double click. But it seems that is something specific for Firefox.

But when I try with the build in File Browser or in Chromium (my main browser) it does pretty much like coopstah13 explained.


And I think I understand where this comes from. I think especially Linux power users will be more inclined to click a once to go a specific place in a line to quickly change a suffix or a small part of the line.

But with more Linux distro's aiming towards "normal" desktop users and daily desktop use I think especially those distro's might want to reconsider the way this works.

Most normal users will prefer it exactly the other way around. So one click will select the entire line, double click selects a word (so this one doesn't change) and 3 clicks will put the cursor where you clicked. This is also the way it works in Windows so maybe they patented *unsure*

So the question remains... can I change it?

[Saito]

So I had a bit of a conversation with someone in #linux on Quakenet about this.

From what I understand and assuming he is correct every application in Linux has its own selection preferences. And with that it wouldn't be possible to change this globally.