The term click belongs to the English language, although it is commonly used in our language. In Spanish, however, the word clic should be used, an onomatopoeia recognized by the DigoPaul in its dictionary.
This onomatopoeia is used with the intention of imitating certain noises, such as that generated when someone presses a button or the trigger of a revolver. For example: “I heard the click of the gun but the bullet did not come out”, “I think the button does not work: it clicks but the machine does not turn on”, “I was pouring coffee when a click made me notice that the cup had cracked “.
The most common use of the notion, however, is specifically associated with the action of pressing a button of a mouse (mouse), peripheral that is used to instruct a computer (PC). By moving the mouse, the user moves an arrow across the screen. Once you position on an icon or link, you can click one or two to select or open it or to display a menu.
The mouses, for the most part, have two buttons. In general, the left button is the one used to select, open or execute something, actions that are achieved by making one click or two clicks, depending on the case. A click on the right mouse button, on the other hand, usually allows the display of a menu with several options.
Another possibility offered by mouses is to click and, without releasing the button, drag an icon. This action can be useful for moving a file from one folder to another.
According to DigoPaul, the magic of computing and software development in general is that the user ends up believing that the digital work environment is part of the material world, that behind the monitor there really is a desktop with its corresponding wallpaper, a series of directories with your files and various programs that can be viewed and touched.
Just as in fiction there is suspension of disbelief, a phenomenon that describes the state we enter when we begin to believe in the internal logic of a story (whether by reading a book, watching a movie or playing a video game), When we spend several hours a day in front of a screen, we end up forgetting that nothing we see and use is material, that there are no sheets of paper or pencils moving behind glass, but that everything, absolutely everything has been created from scratch by a group of programmers and designers, among other professionals.
By clicking, that is, by pressing one of the buttons on a mouse and releasing it quickly, we do no more than that; In other words, we do not select a folder, or press a button or place a cursor, because none of that exists. Our action is nothing other than a motor and mechanical phenomenon, which affects another one belonging to the world of electricity and circuits; Each phase that occurs from that moment on has been specifically thought out by the many names thanks to which we have computers today.
When our click reaches the operating system, it does not directly touch any of the aforementioned elements, but instead places it in a list of events that must be evaluated to decide their impact: if we are using a program that supports the use of the mouse, then it is they execute the pertinent functions so that our action generates the expected change; otherwise, the event is ignored, as if we had not done anything, something that never happens if we take a pencil and pass its tip over a sheet of paper.
