Version: 3.5.5 (using KDE KDE 3.5.5) Installed from: SuSE RPMs OS: Linux Pardon my verbosity... With the availability of larger monitors and higher resolution video cards the use of Kmenu (and by extension all menus in KDE) becomes more difficult and requires more precision, and thus are slower. As you select any menu category (those with a > at the end of the line) the child menu pops up in a new window. This window is positioned horizontally at the end of the selected menu line, and vertically so that the first or last item is aligned with the selected line. This require PRECISE mouse movement along the length of the selected line, into the child menu and finally up or down to the desired item. Any deviation of the mouse pointer (up or down) triggers a different menu to pop up. This is hard enough to do with a real mouse, but it gets really tricky with a touchpad as on a laptop. I suggest two changes or options: 1) Position child menu pop-up immediately adjacent to the end of the selected menu text, OR immediately to the left of the mouse pointer, which ever is leftmost. (For menus located on the side of the screen, substitute appropriate offset direction for "left of". (In other words, do not show child menu at the END of the menu line but rather CLOSE TO the mouse pointer making it quicker and easier to traverse into the child menu.) 2) Position the child menu pop-up vertically such that you enter the child menu in the middle rather than the top of bottom. This makes for fewer misses.
I agree with this. It is much too "tricky" to get the mouse to the correct child menu without opening either the one above or below. It is very annoying, especially at higher res. There has to be a better way to handle the cursor.
Created attachment 24545 [details] Image showing current menu arangements This shows how KDE does image alignments now.
Created attachment 24546 [details] Menu changes as proposed Shows proposed arrangements of sub menus for ease of use with touchpads
Since this garners no attention I propose this challenge to KDE interface developers: For one week, use KDE ONLT with a touchpad. No mice.
Kicker is currently unmaintained, you can look to your distribution for help, however.