I hate drag-and-drop

[bollweevil]

Mac OS X, I love you in general, but I HATE drag-and-drop. I hate when I need to use drag-and-drop and there is no other option (e.g. importing a sound file into Garage Band, which should REALLY be a menu option that opens a browser window, but which is only possible by browsing in Finder and then dragging and dropping). I hate when I accidentally drag and drop something. I especially hate when I am trying to grab a window and move it across the screen, but I accidentally grab in the middle of the top of the window and so, instead of moving the window across the screen it moves the file that the window represents. I do this all the time in my text editor, especially when the name of the file is long. I wind up accidentally dragging and dropping things onto /Users/me/Desktop. Everything winds up on the Desktop, it is so stupid!

And on those rare occasions when I actually do want to drag and drop something, I often have to do this little dance with the mouse, with the button depressed, trying to get it to scroll up or down. Know what I mean? If I want to drag something farther up than the height of the window, so you have to hold the item right at the top of the window to coax it to scroll. This is particularly harrying when using the clickable multitouch trackpad, because I have to apply enough pressure to keep it depressed during the whole ordeal, or else the item will be "dropped" in the wrong place. And when you drop it in the wrong place, you might have to wait for it to finish copying before you can move it again.

Ah, that was cathartic. Much healthier than pulling my hair out.

 

[rdowns]

I think I can speak for the rest of the forums when I say, we'd rather see you pull your hair out.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Drag and drop with a trackpad is annoying, but otherwise I've never really had a problem with it.

I do remember an extension for Mac OS Classic that made the icons behave as if they reacted to gravity if you held down a certain key. That was lots of fun... if you let go of the icon it would fall to the bottom of the screen and you could toss it. When you let go of the key (say, command) the icon would "drop" wherever it was. It was the best trying to toss the icon into the desired folder from, say, 300 px away.

 

[bollweevil]

I do remember an extension for Mac OS Classic that made the icons behave as if they reacted to gravity if you held down a certain key. That was lots of fun... if you let go of the icon it would fall to the bottom of the screen and you could toss it.

I remember that too! That was so long ago...

 

[snberk103]

You can still get DOS you know? (just kidding!!) (I mean - you can still get DOS - just kidding about you finding it useful)

I find that moving files between folders is often faster if you open two Finder windows, or temporarily drag the destination folder to the Finder sidebar before navigating to the source folder. Or drag the file from the source folder to the HD folder or Documents folder on the sidebar and waiting for the spring-loaded thingy to go to work.

But I hear your pain. Hope you haven't pulled all your hair out....

 

[bollweevil]

Or drag the file from the source folder to the HD folder or Documents folder on the sidebar and waiting for the spring-loaded thingy to go to work.

Wow, I never knew that trick before. I actually learned something productive from this thread! And I thought I was just venting steam. I did know the first two tricks, but A) sometimes I forget that a trick will be necessary until I reach the top of the window and think "crap, now I have to wait for it to scroll because I didn't plan ahead", and B) unintentionally dragging-and-dropping is the more annoying problem, for me. The difficulty of dragging and dropping is a small nuisance by comparison.

Still, many thanks for ameliorating that nuisance slightly! I might actually use that trick more often, because it works even if you forgot to plan ahead.

 

[snberk103]

Wow, I never knew that trick before. I actually learned something productive from this thread! And I thought I was just venting steam. I did know the first two tricks, but A) sometimes I forget that a trick will be necessary until I reach the top of the window and think "crap, now I have to wait for it to scroll because I didn't plan ahead", and B) unintentionally dragging-and-dropping is the more annoying problem, for me. The difficulty of dragging and dropping is a small nuisance by comparison.

Still, many thanks for ameliorating that nuisance slightly! I might actually use that trick more often, because it works even if you forgot to plan ahead.

Glad I could help!! Go to the Finder Preferences, and you can alter the delay for the springy thingy to work. Also, you can use the space-bar to immediately open the folder, if you have long delay set.

Cheers

 

[dirt farmer]

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