Summary: | Improve usability of dragging launchers to desktop | ||
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Product: | [Plasma] plasmashell | Reporter: | Jan Rathmann <jan.rathmann> |
Component: | Desktop Containment | Assignee: | David Edmundson <kde> |
Status: | CONFIRMED --- | ||
Severity: | wishlist | CC: | mikel5764, nate, notmart, plasma-bugs |
Priority: | NOR | Keywords: | usability |
Version: | 5.23.3 | ||
Target Milestone: | 1.0 | ||
Platform: | Other | ||
OS: | Linux | ||
See Also: |
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=389600 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=390817 |
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Latest Commit: | Version Fixed In: |
Description
Jan Rathmann
2021-11-24 13:04:09 UTC
This is one of the painful things that happens because of our flexibility. We don't offer only one way to do things, but rather multiple ones. But each one has non-obvious characteristics and traits and limitations and it just ends up being confusing for people. One thing we could maybe do is remove the "Copy" menu item when dragging a desktop file from a launcher to the desktop. Actually duplicating the desktop file is almost certainly not what the user wants. That's probably worth a separate bug report as hopefully it shouldn't be controversial. Of the remaining options, it's tricky. "Link" creates a Windows-style link that Windows users at least will be familiar with. Most of them have tons of links on the desktop. And this approach it has the advantage of being interactive as a normal filesystem item, because that's what it is. It's simple and familiar and comprehensible. "Add icon" creates a Plasma launcher widget, which does not behave as a filesystem item, because that's not what it is. It's an applet that responds to a click. Putting launchers on the desktop is a somewhat uncommon thing. For that matter these days it's somewhat uncommon to even put launchers on a panel, since panels typically have a Task Manager applet on them, and these let you pin apps to them. So this also relates to Bug 390817. Not sure there's a good solution there. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd universally remove the ability to create launcher applet via drag-and-drop and force people to manually add them. People who want them generally know what they want, whereas people who don't will often get them anyway by accident because they don't underatand the subste and unintuitive differences between these things. Nate, thanks for your exhaustive reply! If I read your comment right, then the way forward could be: * Remove "Copy here" item from menu when a launcher is dragged to the desktop * Keep "Link here", maybe rename it to "Add to desktop" Additional: * Evaluate whether it makes sense to _not_ add the chain-symbol ("this is a symbolic link") on .desktop files on desktop. Should I fill separate reports for the individual steps? Regarding "Add icon:" Still it doesn't seem that logical to me that applets/widgets that are actually launchers don't respect double-click settings when on deskop ;-) But maybe it would be hard to make that different than for all other widgets. All applets activate themselves and do something when single-clicked. It just so happens that when Icon launcher icons are activated, they open a file or folder. So it's mixing two different paradigms. All the more reason why I would like to minimize the contact that users have with Icon launcher applets. My preferred path forward would be: 1. Hide the "Move here " and "Copy" menu items for launchers dragged to the desktop. Those are just nonsensical and it never makes sense to use them. This should not be controversial IMO. 2. Hide the "Add icon" menu item for for launchers dragged to the desktop. This may be more controversial. Hance, it would ideally have a separate bug report to track it. I wouldn't change anything about the link behavior. Links always get rendered in italic text with a link symbol everywhere else; IMO that convention should be followed on the desktop too. |