It may sound like a judgement, but i think , adding a +1 or bump to this thread without any reason given why something should work differently than by default is simply rude, if we consider developers’ time and effort put in their meticulously studied app. You can vote up the post that most accurately describe your opinion
I will start off by saying I absolutely 100% agree with you on this point. I returned to this page today because I was shocked that this feature still hasn’t been implemented. When I got here though, like you I was immediately struck by what a noisy useless racket this thread has become.
I think the problem is that most users of Obsidian are not themselves developers, so they just don’t know better yet. They’re not accustomed to the etiquettes and conventions (and the reasons for those etiquettes and conventions) that we take for granted in ecosystems like Github.
Anyways - that is about the extent of what I agree with in your reply, and so I thought I’d offer a constructive response to the rest of your points so that maybe you and I can set an example of what dialogue in development forums like this ought to look like.
First:
I like how links behave in obsidian, let me explain why:
Each of these points are totally valid, and I can completely see why this feature request is totally irrelevant to you!
However, you seem to be assuming that if this feature request were implemented that this added functionality would somehow take away your ability to use Obsidian as you prefer. But that’s not the case. The chorus of opinion here is that this should be a simple toggle in the Obsidian settings panel - i.e. the ability to make this behavior the “default” for the users who would prefer it. Again, a lot of non-devs in here, so I’m just overlooking the incorrect use of “default” being thrown around.
Bottom line is were asking for a Toggle - the simple ability to choose. Not to take away the functionality you like and are accustomed to.
Second:
the middle mouse button does exactly what everyone in this thread wants.
This is valid for every normal mouse with a wheel.
You’re making a couple of assumptions here that shouldn’t be assumptions. Yes, middle click to open new tab is a common convention popularized by browsers.
But, not everyone is using a mouse, and even those who do (like myself) don’t necessarily use their mouse that way. Theres any number of examples of situations where people can’t / don’t use a mouse with a wheel button as you assume:
-
Laptop Track Pads - I personally encounter this one sometimes when using my laptop. Trackpads across different manufacturers are so inconsistent in their behaviors, and even on my Macbook I feel unnecessary friction having to CMD+Click or right click a link.
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Magic Mouse - They’re notorious for their lack of a true middle click. I don’t know these to be an issue with Obsidian links, but they very often cause these types of issues.
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Unconventional Middle Click Bindings - Perhaps niche, but this is where I’m personally most annoyed. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve had Middle Click bound to Mission Control. I couldn’t rewire that conditioning at this point even if I wanted to.
Third:
So I conclude that a plugin would be the best solution with a toggle to invert on demand 2 events:
This is where we come closer to agreement again, except I absolutely don’t think the toggle should be a plugin.
Personally, I’ve already come to resent the sheer number of plugins I deal with, because of all their different behaviors/settings/quirks and worst of all - conflicts. Granted, Obsidian is still a young product, and while the plugin ecosystem is far from mature, it’s yet to be known which direction it will go. It can either become more cohesive and compatible with time, or it can grow more and more disparate. We just don’t know yet.
Which leads to a tidy summarization of why this feature request ought to be part of the core product, and not a plugin:
- The functionality we’re talking about is far too fundamental an aspect of the UI. We’re talking about the most basic types of interactions with Obsidian - a core click behavior. And core UI behaviors belong in the core of a product. Furthermore:
- It’s something that effects way too many users to brush aside as trivial (this thread is self-evident proof). Especially considering:
- We don’t know what the plugin ecosystem will ultimately turn into. Not even the devs know. That’s the nature of extensible products. The only way to get this basic functionality in a way that protects its users from being limited by plugin conflicts later is to force plugin developers to respect it by making it part of the core product.
- And, a final point to conclude with - this is dead simple code we’re talking about here. There’s no stinkin way this requires a substantial refactoring of the code base, or anything even remotely burdensome. Which begs the question - why not?