Bug 434837

Summary: Easier letter-based navigation between app lists
Product: [Plasma] plasmashell Reporter: kdeneon007
Component: Application Launcher (Kickoff) widgetAssignee: David Edmundson <kde>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED    
Severity: wishlist CC: mikel5764, nate, plasma-bugs-null, zrenfire
Priority: NOR Keywords: usability
Version First Reported In: 5.21.3   
Target Milestone: 1.0   
Platform: Neon   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In: 5.26
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: This video demostrates the feature as much as possible.

Description kdeneon007 2021-03-23 14:43:25 UTC
Created attachment 136986 [details]
This video demostrates the feature as much as possible.

SUMMARY
When user have a long list of apps getting to an app that is far down is difficult. A mechanism to jump between apps by selecting a letter of alphabet will be useful. The search feature is there for this task but this will improve app navigation while using mouse. Using the slider is not optimal for long list of apps also since the user has to actively look out for the beginning letter of the app.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. NA
2. NA
3. NA

OBSERVED RESULT
NA

EXPECTED RESULT
NA

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: KDE neon 5.21
KDE Plasma Version: 5.21.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.80.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.4.0-67-generic
OS Type: 64-bit

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
NA
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2021-03-23 17:12:38 UTC
Looks interesting and fairly unobtrusive. Seems that you have already implemented this feature? Would you like to submit a merge request?
Comment 2 kdeneon007 2021-03-23 17:39:01 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> Looks interesting and fairly unobtrusive. Seems that you have already
> implemented this feature? Would you like to submit a merge request?

I wish I could but I can't code(technically I can but not in qml). The video is created by placing tiled menu on the kick off. Tiled menu is a plasmoid available on the kde store by Chris Holland. The feature is already implemented in the tiled menu so I think a simple copy paste may do the work. Should I open another feature request for resizing the menu by dragging the top right corner(a feature of tiled menu) ? I will do it if you think it is a good idea.
Comment 3 kdeneon007 2021-03-23 17:40:27 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> Looks interesting and fairly unobtrusive. Seems that you have already
> implemented this feature? Would you like to submit a merge request?

And here's the link to the tiled menu if needed:
https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-tiledmenu
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2021-03-23 18:37:42 UTC
What would be better is if you contacted the author and asked him to submit those features. Submitting bug reports is probably not going to get anything done on its own, but coordinating with a developer who can do it will be much more effective. :)
Comment 5 Chris Holland 2021-03-24 17:34:38 UTC
Tiled Menu (and the Windows start menu) doesn't have a separate column for Categories, which is why the headings have a Jump to Letter feature.

I assume you only want this for the "All Applications" view which lists all apps alphabetically?

An alternative is to make the scrollbar better, like the Android scrollbar:

* https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31261437/how-to-create-material-design-like-custom-scrollbar-with-numbers-and-alphabets-b/36550228

Or the full alphabet:

* https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/83857/is-the-small-alphabetical-index-on-mobile-phone-lists-usable

Or just the populated letters:

* https://i.redd.it/crqv2rh07y131.jpg
Comment 6 kdeneon007 2021-03-24 17:56:01 UTC
(In reply to Chris Holland from comment #5)
> Tiled Menu (and the Windows start menu) doesn't have a separate column for
> Categories, which is why the headings have a Jump to Letter feature.
> 
> I assume you only want this for the "All Applications" view which lists all
> apps alphabetically?
> 
> An alternative is to make the scrollbar better, like the Android scrollbar:
> 
> *
> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31261437/how-to-create-material-design-
> like-custom-scrollbar-with-numbers-and-alphabets-b/36550228
> 
> Or the full alphabet:
> 
> *
> https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/83857/is-the-small-alphabetical-index-
> on-mobile-phone-lists-usable
> 
> Or just the populated letters:
> 
> * https://i.redd.it/crqv2rh07y131.jpg

Yes I want it only for all application category.Full alphabet looks messy. Android Scrollbar works well with touch interface but I don't how user will use it with mouse. Populated letters look good.
Comment 7 Nate Graham 2021-03-25 17:54:52 UTC
I like that letter scrollbar idea!
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2022-07-05 16:39:31 UTC
This has more or less been implemented for Plasma 5.26!