Bug 478940

Summary:	Add optional "Dodge Active Window" panel mode that only dodges active window with focus, not all windows
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	dominik.klementowski
Component:	Panel	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	AndyKluger, contact+bugs.kde.org, dominik.klementowski, fanzhuyifan, nate, niccolo.venerandi, niccolo, s1994928
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	5.91.0
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description dominik.klementowski 2023-12-23 14:19:51 UTC

SUMMARY
Currently when in "Dodge windows" mode, the panel avoids all windows that happens to be in a position of the panel. This might be debatable/expected behavior, but really what's handy about inteli-hide in other panels/docks (Dash-to-dock, Latte, ...) is the ability to only avoid focused windows.

In fact, this is the current Plasma 5 behavior of the panel in "windows can cover" mode that "dodge windows" is about to replace, so functionally this is sort-of regression.


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open panel settings, in behavior choose "Dodge windows"
2.  Open a window and maximize it
3.  Open and focus another window that's floating outside of the panel area (same workspace 

OBSERVED RESULT
Panel is hidden

EXPECTED RESULT
Panel is shown, unless the focus goes back to the maximized window

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 
macOS: 
Linux/KDE Plasma:  Arch, kde-unstable, beta2
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 6 beta 2
KDE Frameworks Version: 
Qt Version: 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
After writing all of above I saw the issue was raised before here https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=477145
I can totally understand how this feature is what some people would want, but I also believe the "dodge focused" has some good use + it was possible before with "windows can cover". So if that's up to preference, why not having both:
  1. Dodge all windows (current option)
  2. Dodge focused window

Comment 1 fanzhuyifan 2023-12-25 20:21:11 UTC

Marking this as a feature request.

Comment 2 Nate Graham 2024-01-09 23:19:42 UTC

This was already requested in Bug 477145. It was considered, someone implemented it, and we decided it didn't make sense so we decided not to do it.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 477145 ***

Comment 3 fanzhuyifan 2024-01-09 23:41:54 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> This was already requested in Bug 477145. It was considered, someone
> implemented it, and we decided it didn't make sense so we decided not to do
> it.
> 
> *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 477145 ***

I think that 477145 requests *changing* the behavior to only dodge active windows, and in the MR we decided against that. This requests *adding* another mode of only dodging active windows, which is somewhat different. I don't think introducing a separate option of only dodging the active window was much discussed in the MR.

Comment 4 Nate Graham 2024-01-10 21:43:42 UTC

We could make it configurable, yeah. We tried it out and the results were fairly awkward with a floating panel, due to other windows going under it. But maybe it's not so bad with an attached panel. All right, re-opening this for potential consideration.

Comment 5 Justin S 2024-01-16 07:37:23 UTC

Could we revisit reviewing of Bharadwaj Rajus MR https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/merge_requests/3550 and potentially consider adding it as an additional configurable option? Having this feature separate from the default dodge behavior would be highly beneficial. Speaking from my own perspective and workflow, the Intellihide-like functionality in Latte is the primary reason I continue to use Latte, and I believe it would benefit many user workflows to have this option available for Plasma panels as well. Discovering this bug took me some time, so I'm not sure if many people are aware of its existence to provide feedback, but I've noticed others on social platforms expressing a desire for the same feature.

Comment 6 Niccolò Venerandi 2024-08-28 09:27:08 UTC

I would strongly prefer not to implement this. Along the issues with this behavior described above, the panel is already getting quite complex both code-wise and in its settings UI. Adding one further visibility option might not seem much, but it's one more option to test, and one more option that might have some bugs when used together with another edge case. Since what we have is really similar, I believe this outweighs the potential benefits.