GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 532543
scrolling with the scrollwheel should scroll the image not zoom
Last modified: 2009-10-24 19:01:24 UTC
Hi all, Right now, when you scroll using the scroll-wheel the image zooms in and out. I cannot think of any time I've needed that "feature". I think the scroll wheel should allow the user to scroll the image and not zoom. My usage of eog consists of this: Open a large image, and since it opens in fit-the-image-to-the-window mode I zoom in to 100% and then want to scroll the image around using the scroll wheel and then I get annoyed when it zooms in. Scrolling is something that is done repetitively by clicking on a tiny little arrow and if you want to reverse the direction you have to move the arrow all the way to the other edge of the window. This is painstaking. Zooming, on the other hand is something that you do once and then maybe undo that. The buttons for that are large and located right at the top in the toolbar and thus much easier to access. That's why the scroll-wheel's functionality should be to scroll. Thanks, -Gezim
Well, you're talking about a quite controversial feature. We changed the default to be that way at the beginning of the 2.20 cycle which caused quite some commotion. So, we returned to the old behavior (mousewheel zooms) two releases later. But you can still change it to scrolling by setting a GConf value to false: gconftool-2 -s -t bool /apps/eog/view/scroll_wheel_zoom false or simply unset the check mark using gconf-editor.
Btw, holding CTRL while scrolling will switch behavior "on demand". When, the mouse wheel zooms, CTRL+mouse wheel will scroll.
Pardon my commenting on a rather old issue. I can see how this setting could be rather controversial. Let's look at it this way: If eog was being released today and had exactly zero users, which binding for the scroll wheel would be appropriate? The answer is (nearly) unambiguously that it should scroll, not zoom. This is the behavior of least surprise to the user. I mean no offense to anyone with the next few paragraphs. The reason that this issue is still relevant is because it's still an issue. The UI is essentially broken. What we've got is two sides arguing over what should be done. One side yells, "Leave it alone, I'm used to it!" and the other responds, "That binding is friggin' ridiculous!" Neither statement is inaccurate. Unfortunately, one other factor to consider is that there is likely some pressure being exerted by whomever made the original design decision to leave things how they are. Again, I intend no offense. I've just seen this happen many times on hardware and software projects. Someone makes a decision, that decision is later scrutinized fairly, and the original implementor defends the decision, rather than participating in the scrutiny and analysis. The issue turns into a debate rather than a problem solving exercise and the product misses out on potential improvements. Now, I'm new to this project and I have no clue how the actual politics play out. I am disappointed that the bug was fixed and then reverted, but I'm absolutely *shocked* that there isn't a check box in the eog settings panel that allows the user to decide which behavior they prefer. There are obviously two large, rational groups of users with differing views on which default is reasonable. Making (potentially more than) half of all users modify a gconf setting smacks of hubris. For the third time, I hope no one is offended by my remarks. Let me be the first to scrutinize my own statements--I could be completely off the mark. If I am, let's just add the scroll option to the settings panel and be done with it. If I'm right, let's all check our biases and take advantage of every opportunity to improve.