Bug 488841

Summary:	Shake Cursor Effect is Too Hidden
Product:	[Plasma] kwin	Reporter:	Eamonn Rea <eamonnrea>
Component:	effects-various	Assignee:	KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	normal	CC:	cwo.kde
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	6.1.0
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
See Also:	https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=488902
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Eamonn Rea 2024-06-20 22:35:25 UTC

SUMMARY
I understand Plasma 6.1.0 has enabled the "Shake Cursor" effect by default, I am not here to voice my disagreement with that :-) However in Plasma 6.0 when I tried it out it was available in the general list of Desktop Effects. In Plasma 6.1 it was enabled and I tried to disable it. It took me a while to figure out this option was considered an "Internal Effect" and hidden under the filter, which excluded these effects by default.

I don't think "Shake Cursor" should be considered Internal in this way, it is new functionality on by default that is easy to activate with the shaking of a cursor (often accidentally), so a way to more easily disable it would be useful.

KDE Plasma is not macOS and rightly so, however it is the only comparison I have, and I believe you can turn off this cursor effect for macOS more easily under the mouse settings. Whether this setting could be moved to have more visibility there is perhaps an alternative approach.

Even if this feature were not enabled by default, keeping it under "Internal" effects would make it difficult for users who want to configure it. Further still, if a user disables it but later wants to enable it (say months later), the filter option for Desktop Effects is not preserved, so the effect becomes hidden again by default.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open Desktop Effects
2. "Shake Cursor" effect is hidden by default
3. Disable the "Exclude internal effects" option
4. Shake Cursor appears, but is not shown by default like it was in Plasma 6.0.5

OBSERVED RESULT
"Shake Cursor" effect is too hidden under "Internal effects" and not shown by default.

EXPECTED RESULT
"Shake Cursor" should be visible as it is an easily-activatable effect newly enabled by default that users may want to disable.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 6.9.5 Linux Zen
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.3.0
Qt Version: 6.7.1

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Comment 1 Eamonn Rea 2024-06-20 22:37:28 UTC

This may be a good candidate for the "Quick Settings" pane for System Settings.

Comment 2 cwo 2024-06-20 22:54:36 UTC

Thank you for your bug report.

Disabling Shake Cursor is possible in System Settings > Accessibility > Shake Cursor, and can also be found by searching for "shake" in System Settings.

Desktop Effects is not the intended place to configure this (as it is an implementation detail), so it is marked as internal.

Comment 3 Eamonn Rea 2024-06-20 23:00:57 UTC

Ah, thank you! Unfortunately the "Shake Cursor" effect does not come up when searching for "Shake" in System Settings, which is why I thought it was not visible. It simply displays "No items matching your search".

This should be reported separately I think?

Comment 4 cwo 2024-06-20 23:43:05 UTC

Shake Cursors does not come up directly for me, but Accessibility does as one of two results, and if the user clicks on that "Shake Cursor" appears on the next level down.

If Accessibility does not show up for you, please file a separate bug. That "Shake Cursor" does not show up directly is a technical limitation of how things are implemented. (I am not aware of a bug report regarding this)

Comment 5 Eamonn Rea 2024-06-21 16:06:06 UTC

Thanks, I reported this in a separate issue: Bug 488902.

> That "Shake Cursor" does not show up directly is a technical limitation of how things are implemented. 

No problem, I am aware of this part :-) But the "Accessibility" option not showing up when searching for "Shake Cursor" in System Settings sounds like a bug. Interestingly, as noted in that bug report, "Accessibility" does appear when searching in KRunner or the Application Launcher, so this bug is only for System Settings.

Comment 6 Eamonn Rea 2024-06-21 16:06:40 UTC

Thanks, I reported this in a separate issue: Bug 488902.

> That "Shake Cursor" does not show up directly is a technical limitation of how things are implemented. 

No problem, I am aware of this part :-) But the "Accessibility" option not showing up when searching for "Shake Cursor" in System Settings sounds like a bug. Interestingly, as noted in that bug report, "Accessibility" does appear when searching in KRunner or the Application Launcher, so this bug is only for System Settings.