Hi, Hugh. It's called a 'drag handle' and lots of things have them (toolbars in Windows for example).
You need somewhere to click in order to drag something, and since in many cases clicking on the text does something else (opening the email in gmail) a drag handle is handy (as it were<g>), although not essential. However, it does have the added benefit of providing a visual cue. Changing the cursor to a drag hand is the coup de grace (but that could be done without the handle if other aspects of the design allowed for it). Regards, William Hudson Syntagm Ltd Design for Usability UK 01235-522859 World +44-1235-522859 US Toll Free 1-866-SYNTAGM mailto:[email protected] http://www.syntagm.co.uk skype:williamhudsonskype Syntagm is a limited company registered in England and Wales (1985). Registered number: 1895345. Registered office: 10 Oxford Road, Abingdon OX14 2DS. Confused about dates in interaction design? See our new study (free): http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/datesstudy.htm 12 UK mobile phone e-commerce sites compared! Buy the report: http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/uxbench.shtml Courses in card sorting and Ajax interaction design. London, Las Vegas and Berlin: http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/csadvances.shtml http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/ajaxdesign.shtml > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Hugh Griffith > Sent: 24 July 2009 08:59 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Gmail drag and drop > ... ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
