Bug 347635

Summary:	Regression compared to Plasma 4: Autohidden window list stays in foreground until clicked if a new window appears; just activating the new window is not sufficient
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Gunter Ohrner <kdebugs>
Component:	general	Assignee:	David Edmundson <kde>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	normal	CC:	bhush94, davidje13, plasma-bugs, vmatare+kdebug
Priority:	NOR	Keywords:	triaged
Version:	5.3.0
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Ubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Gunter Ohrner 2015-05-12 19:29:29 UTC

Compared to Plasma 4 / KDE 4, the window list plasmoid / applet shows an annoying behaviour:

Since the days of KDE 1 beta, I always have my window list applet in an autohidden panel in the screens top-right corner.

While this worked really well until KDE 3.x, it ever only worked "so-so" in KDE 4 / Plasma, mainly due to strange autosizing issues concerning the corner panel and the contained window list. Still it worked without being too annoying.

In both Plasma 4 and 5, this auto-hidden window list and panel has the feature (or shows the behaviour) that the panel auto-pops-out as soon as a new window appears. This behaviour is ok as I can select the new window in the window list if it does not get into foreground or does not activate itself due to focus stealing protection.

However, in KDE 4 / Plasma 4 the panel would also auto-hide again as soon as the new window got activated by other means, eg. by getting the focus automatically, by getting clicked into or by using the task switcher applet.

In Plasma 5, this is not longer the case and the popped-out window panel covers a significant area of my screen and will only get back into background if I click it explicitly. This means that for *every* new window that appears I need to move the mouse to the upper left corner of my screen and perform an additional click so I get rid of the panel again... This is pretty annoying... ;)

Comment 1 David 2015-05-17 20:46:40 UTC

Do you also see this behaviour when you change the currently focussed window (e.g. via Alt+Tab), or does this only apply to new windows? Also do you need to click to dismiss it or is mouse-over/out enough? (I'm thinking this may be the same issue as https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=346638)

Comment 2 Gunter Ohrner 2015-05-17 22:49:39 UTC

(In reply to David from comment #1)
> Do you also see this behaviour when you change the currently focussed window
> (e.g. via Alt+Tab), or does this only apply to new windows? Also do you need

New windows only, Alt-Tab does not bother my window list, just as it should. :)

> to click to dismiss it or is mouse-over/out enough?

I just checked and it's correct: hovering is sufficient in fact, so no click is needed.

> (I'm thinking this may be the same issue as https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=346638)

My issue only affects new windows, and also does not affect all autohidden panels, only the one with the window list in it. The main panel with (mostly unused) start menu, clock and the like does not make itself visible when new windows appear.

So maybe related, but does not sound like the same?

Comment 3 Victor Mataré 2015-12-17 15:43:23 UTC

Still broken with plasma 5.5.1.
I'd like to emphasize that this is not just a minor inconvenience, but really broken behaviour. After popping up spuriously, the panel also will not autohide again until I mouse over it. So it's not just a visual disturbance, but it actually requires the user to perform a meaningless action each time a window is opened.

Comment 4 David Edmundson 2015-12-24 01:20:56 UTC

>In both Plasma 4 and 5, this auto-hidden window list and panel has the feature (or shows the behaviour) that the panel auto-pops-out as soon as a new window appears. 

That isn't happening here.

Please can include  a screenshot of your window list in panel setup

Comment 5 Victor Mataré 2016-03-29 20:03:40 UTC

Just found out that the spurious popups are triggered by the "Show Informational Tips" checkbox under the "Desktop Behavior -> Workspace" settings. If I disable this checkbox, the problem goes away.

Comment 6 Andrew Crouthamel 2018-09-26 22:11:11 UTC

Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with no change in 30 days, the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the wiki located here: https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

If you have already provided the requested information, please set the bug status as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is ready to be confirmed.

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