Almost everybody I know (that isn't in IT) double-clicks on links. Even my ex-boss (who was a programmer back in the day) double-clicks on links. And no matter how many times you try to explain the concept of "single-click" to them, they don't seem to get it.

You were supposed to double-click to follow hypertext links. This meant you could single-click them to select them and perform other actions.

Apparently Mosaic messed up this system and everyone else followed.

At least I think I recall reading that somewhere. Googling for web, double-click, link etc. gives you nothing of any use.

Or don't care and don't want to build in a special case.

Perhaps we should get the browser makers to make double-clicking links do something else, then; as it is, no amount of IT whinging will teach people to stop doing something that works anyway, just because it's technically non-optimal.

Does it bother you that it's not optimal? It doesn't bother the people who do it. I think breaking things on purpose just to stop a behavior that's not harmful is unwise.

Doesn't bother me, but it does seem to bother the people who come up with these lists. (I am slightly bothered, though, by people who click on a a link, and then click it again when it's "loading too slowly," thinking that they're hurrying it along instead of going back to the start of a new request.) The best solution in both cases would be for the browser to simply ignore any attempts to load a GET of URL X in a given frame/window/tab when it's already attempting to load the same GET of URL X in that frame/window/tab.

I click links again if it's been more than a few seconds. I know full well it starts a new request, but often that works faster than letting the old request time out and be re-sent.

> a behavior that's not harmful

. . . until someone double-orders something that costs $600.

Granted, but that would be a pretty awfully designed website, no?

Unfortunately, double-clicking a link when submitting a form (for instance) can double-submit it, which can be especially problematic when confirming an order and ending up getting charged twice.

If this is a real problem, perhaps browser makers should just ignore the second click?

That would be a wise "something else." :)

Just last week I had an issue with a user who was not just double-clicking, but quadruple-clicking. Maybe she had too much coffee...

The reason the Mac mouse has only one button... so that users never need to think about which one to click.

What is the user action for opening a program or document on the desktop?

Are you kidding? Mac users don't actually use their software! It's just there to look pretty.

Click once to highlight, then press ctrl+down ;)

(Well, I'm joking in general, but I do this myself often enough.)