Bug 454231

Summary: 3-fingers touchpad gesture (to navigate between virtual desktops) should follow touchpad scrolling direction preference
Product: [Plasma] kwin Reporter: Romain D. <rom1dep>
Component: GesturesAssignee: KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: wishlist CC: anubhavkini, bixilon, dexterdickinson, ericedlund2017, fede-106, m.kurz, miranda, mser8273, nate, postix
Priority: NOR    
Version: 5.24.90   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Other   
OS: Linux   
See Also: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=185710
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=455284
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Attachments: attachment-1681985-0.html

Description Romain D. 2022-05-22 18:38:30 UTC
SUMMARY
It would be my expectation that the new navigation mode across virtual desktops, using 3 fingers scrolling gestures, would follow the user-defined scrolling direction.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. My preferred scrolling direction is set (in systemsettings/input devices/touchpad/scrolling) to "non-inverted" (i.e. a two-finger scroll-down makes the items lower down visible.

OBSERVED RESULT
When I use the 3 fingers scrolling gesture introduced in 5.25, the scrolling direction is opposite to the one set (i.e. a three-fingers scroll-down makes the desktop on the top visible)

EXPECTED RESULT
I would expect scrolling direction to be consistent and to follow the one set by the user.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: Fedora 36
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.90
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.94.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
-
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2022-05-23 20:18:13 UTC
Not sure that makes sense as this isn't a scroll action. It's a swipe action, and those don't generally follow the touchpad scrolling preference.
Comment 2 Romain D. 2022-05-23 20:50:25 UTC
Hi Nate, thanks for the swift triaging of this item!
Would you be so kind as to consider re-opening this bug?

I get that from an implementer's perspective it does matter whether something is "scrolled" as opposed to "swiped", but for an "average user" I doubt there is does (in fact, it should probably a feature goal to blur the lines and make them both behave as closely as possible).

In my opinion, having the swipe gesture respect the user-defined preference for scrolling direction maximizes satisfaction (by not picking a side in the "natural" vs "traditional" ways) and expectation (of a consistent experience between 2/3 fingers).

In any case, thanks for the hard work!
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2022-05-23 21:13:09 UTC
Thanks for explaining it to me that way. That makes sense.
Comment 4 Eric Edlund 2022-05-23 22:46:59 UTC
I agree that swipe direction when changing desktop should be configurable. Gesture configurability is on the way and doing this will be very simple and idiomatic when it does. Until then, making it align with scroll direction could be a good stepping stone, but I'm going to stay focused on gesture configurability. I would expect this feature in 5.26 or 5.27.
Comment 5 Moritz 2022-09-30 09:12:17 UTC
Will there be an update in the next version?
Comment 6 Eric Edlund 2022-09-30 23:10:30 UTC
Probably not, things are taking longer than I expected. There is some disagreement about how best to implement contextual gestures. I've got a week off pretty soon so I will think about this issue and try to find a solution others are happier with.
Comment 7 Nate Graham 2023-05-31 13:39:33 UTC
*** Bug 470403 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 dexterdickinson 2023-07-06 11:36:18 UTC
I think it's worthwhile comparing with the behaviour of macbooks, for a bit of context. I have to (unwillingly) use a mac for work, but personally use Linux on my own machines.

By default, macbooks have "natural scrolling" enabled. This means that on the trackpad
- moving fingers from top-to-bottom scrolls up
- moving fingers from left-to-right moves to the left desktop

And disabling "natural scrolling" results in the inverse behaviour:
- moving fingers from top-to-bottom scrolls down
- moving fingers from left-to-right moves to the right desktop

The "natural scrolling" direction always felt wrong to me so I have it disabled. As far as I can remember, this "natural scrolling" is the default on Windows as well.

So, I have it disabled and so have also become accustomed to moving between desktops from LTR going to the right-hand desktop. However, by default KDE "naturally" is doing LTR going to the left-hand desktop. I agree with Romain that it makes sense to keep scrolling and swiping directions consistent by default, so that if I change it to "unnatural" on my macbook, it is easy to mirror that to my Linux machine.

I hope this comment can help push discussion and development forward. Thanks.
Comment 9 Eric Edlund 2023-07-07 19:50:38 UTC
Hey guys,
I'm sorry but I've been distracted and am not currently working on this, so don't let me stop progress here.
Comment 10 S 2023-12-17 19:09:20 UTC
Thank you all for your work on KDE! Any progress on gesture configurability or bringing consistency with the settings for this gesture? I'm on plasma 5.27.10 and the bug is still present.
Comment 11 Eric Edlund 2023-12-17 20:34:09 UTC
Created attachment 164259 [details]
attachment-1681985-0.html

I'm off the case. Someone else should work on this

On Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 2:09 PM S <bugzilla_noreply@kde.org> wrote:

> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=454231
>
> S <mser8273@gmail.com> changed:
>
>            What    |Removed                     |Added
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                  CC|                            |mser8273@gmail.com
>
> --- Comment #10 from S <mser8273@gmail.com> ---
> Thank you all for your work on KDE! Any progress on gesture
> configurability or
> bringing consistency with the settings for this gesture? I'm on plasma
> 5.27.10
> and the bug is still present.
>
> --
> You are receiving this mail because:
> You are on the CC list for the bug.
Comment 12 Nate Graham 2024-03-25 02:27:31 UTC
*** Bug 435078 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***