GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 702861
Delete key not working
Last modified: 2013-09-05 18:06:56 UTC
Delete was changed to <ctl>+<delete> to prevent users from accidentally erasing files. Why didn't Gnome go with the obvious choice to prompt the user on a keyboard delete? A lot of users have to use non-Gnome desktops on a daily basis. The thing about desktops is that people develop a muscle memory. When something works on *every* desktop except for Gnome and isn't obvious, users can become frustrated pushing them away from Gnome (and likely Linux in general) While transitioning non-Linux users to Gnome, I swear I hear "why doesn't delete work" at least once from every user that I switch. *Please* fix this silly bug and make the delete key work, or at least prompt the user in some meaningful way that they need to use <ctl>+<delete>
I probably shouldn't use the word silly at the end of this bug report... it just is my initial reaction. I'm sure some discussion occurred around this, however every random person I share this with comes across with the same reaction. This may appear bikeshed, however as it is a core feature with a common complaint... I suggest otherwise.
Thanks for the bug report. Prompt the user is not a solution. There is evidence that people get used to ignore the warning and press "Yes" without a second though when those confirmation dialogs are oversused for trivial actions. They should be reserved for non-trivial/irreversible actioins. Also, a confirmation dialog would a major annoyance if delete was not used on accident. It is better to offer to undo a mistake than to ask a user if they are "sure." This particular bug has already been reported into our bug tracking system, but please feel free to report any further bugs you find. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 648658 ***
" There is evidence that people get used to ignore the warning and press "Yes" without a second though when those confirmation dialogs are oversused for trivial actions. " So the Gnome developers are assuming all of their users are *complete* idiots... That's comforting. I'd actually like to see the "evidence" in which you speak.
Please don't reopen duplicate bugs. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 648658 ***
(In reply to comment #3) > So the Gnome developers are assuming all of their users are *complete* > idiots... That's comforting. I'm not a developer myself, but I confident that this is not the case. It is, however, assumed that users are humans. Humans have a limited capacity for paying attention, and so the human brains develop habituation to repeated stimuli. > I'd actually like to see the "evidence" in which you speak. This is a widely acknowledged human interface challenge, as searching for "confirmation dialog" on a popular web search engine can confirm. A number of studies is mentioned here http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/24339/are-there-any-studies-of-users-getting-jaded-of-dialog-requests And there is no need for a confirmation dialog, because the action can be undone. What is needed is for the user to get notified of files being moved to Trash, and given the option to undo if it was not their intention. It will be much better if the [delete] key works straight away, without any interruption by a dialog. And that's what bug 648658 is all about.