259283 - autoscroll fails with links

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[William]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040803 Firefox/0.9.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040803 Firefox/0.9.3

When you click on a link or image linking to another page with the middle mouse
button, it fails to bring up the autoscroll arrow circle and allow autoscrolling.

This problem causes difficulty navigating pages with lots of thumbnail images
with links.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. middle click link
2. does not allow autoscroll 
3.

Actual Results:  
does not allow autoscroll 

Expected Results:  
allowed autoscroll

Comment 1

[Jesse Ruderman]

Invalid.  Middle-clicking a link opens the link in a new tab.

Comment 2

[William]

Yes, but middle clicking and dragging does nothing, it would greatly increase
usability on some websites to allow the autoscroll when middle clicking and
dragging...you have to hunt around for a spot that does not have a link

Comment 3

[Jesse Ruderman]

There are two ways to autoscroll with the middle mouse button:
A) Mouse down, move cursor, mouse up to stop
B) Click, move cursor, click again to stop

It would be strange for (A) to work on links because (B) still wouldn't work there.

Comment 4

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

While I can respect the concept, the solution is unworkable.

User clicks and holds the middle mouse button, in order for autoscrolling to be
correctly available, the autoscroll image should appear, but what if the user is
holding for a second, then releasing (a click) and the autoscroll icon has
appeared?  Its vague and undefined, and I don't think it adds that much.

Some users with disabilities use stuff like StickyKeys on Windows to ensure that
actions are deliberate (keystrokes/mouse clicks/etc).  This would be a barrier
to them as well.