Right mouse click in web applications: good or bad

Question

I'm currently working on a web application and the powers above have decided that overriding the browser's right-click menu with our own application-specific one is the way to go.

I totally disagree. I feel that when someone is using a web browser they have certain expectations about what should happen when they use the right-click functionality of a pointing device, and violating these expectations by purposefully supplanting this functionality is very disconcerting (annoying?) to the user.

What do you think? Have you ever seen right-click done well in a web app? I mean in a way that you actually thought, "Yes, this right-click functionality was a great decision."?

Answer 1

Google Docs is the only web-app where I appreciate any attempt at all to use right-click functionality; and they have it implemented spot-on.

Update: To clarify a bit, I think the implementation is great because Google Docs (the whole site/app) is very good at making you forget that you're in a web-browser.

One more thought: DON'T! Between IE6/7/8, Firefox 2/3, Chrome, Safari and the other lesser known browsers and versions it sounds like an nightmare to support across the board. Unless your user's number in the millions the testing alone is probably a good enough reason to avoid it.

Answer 2

If it's a web site, it's a bad idea. Users quickly get irritated with web sites that break their favourite browser's functionality. Don't do that :)

If it's a web application, it's not necessarily a bad idea, but you should still be cautious.

Consider whether:

the user is going to feel sufficiently immersed within your application that they're going to feel naturally inclined to want a context menu;

you're not just compensating for otherwise-poor UI design;

the browser's existing functionality makes sense within the context of your application.

Answer 3

Since right click is used so rarely on websites I would say it's a bad idea and would not be considered "Best Practice".

If you do something different than almost all the sites on the internet then you are requiring your users to spend time learning your app/site.

Also, Mac users traditionally do not have 2 mouse buttons and not all mac users know how to "right click" by using the option click combo or whatever it is these days.

So I wouldn't do it unless you really have a valid case to do so.

Answer 4

I am not taking a position over this, but...

If you decide do go on the right-click aproach, check out the YUI! framework.

They already have a context-menu implementation that is cross-browser compatible.

Answer 5

It is not a good idea for normal web applications. I have seen it done in flash/silverlight "web" applications where the user has an expectation of being more like a "desktop" application.