I'm not sure this is the right place to ask this but I was wondering about the logic behind the way selecting icons works on the desktop. For context I am approaching this using Windows 11.

On the desktop I have my shameful pile of icons sorted by name. As we expect they are sorted vertically, descending on the left in alphabetical order and creating more columns progressively to the right. I tend to think of this as basically equivalent to viewing a folder as a list in File Explorer.

But in at least one aspect it doesn't work like File Explorer at all. If you were to hold down shift in order to select multiple items between two selected files in File Explorer it will select everything between those files alphabetically. But on the desktop while it is sorting the files into columns alphabetically, if you hold down shift it selects in horizontal rows!

This just seems like absolutely bonkers behavior! I thought at first that it might be due to the ability to place icons in arbitrary locations and that shift-selecting is in essence dragging a selection box, but that isn't the case. You can select two items on the same column and Windows will select the files between them in horizontal rows, right to left, despite their being sorted into columns!

Can someone please explain the logic behind this or are the developers just insane?