Bug 491479

Summary:	UX/Usability: quick settings for external screen don't show up again when plugging it in the second time and there's no obvious way how to get them back
Product:	[Plasma] KScreen	Reporter:	Ellie <el>
Component:	OSD and Plasma applet	Assignee:	kscreen-bugs-null <kscreen-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED NOT A BUG
Severity:	normal	CC:	kde, nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	6.1.4
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Ellie 2024-08-09 11:49:38 UTC

SUMMARY

The quick settings overlay that allows quick presets like disable internal screen, disable external screen, mirror etc. with giant buttons only shows the first time when plugging in an external screen, I assume when no settings are known yet. This seems like a problem because e.g. when misclicking or simply when wanting to use one of the other presets, there is seemingly no way whatsoever to bring it back, and/or to wipe the old settings cleanly.  The popup should preferably show every time a screen connects even if it's a known connection, or there should be some "Quick settings" button in the "Display & Monitor" section of KDE System Settings, e.g. next to "Identify Screens", that provides an obvious way to bring it up again.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

1. Connect a new unknown screen
2. The quick settings popup will show with the 5'ish giant buttons for presets
3. Choose a preset
4. Disconnect screen
5. Reconnect screen to see popup again

OBSERVED RESULT

Popup doesn't show again for the easy presets, and there's no obvious button in "Display & Monitor" in KDE system settings to bring it back either

EXPECTED RESULT

There is some obvious way to bring the presets popup with the easy default configurations

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS

Windows: 
macOS: 
(available in the Info Center app, or by running `kinfo` in a terminal window)
Linux/KDE Plasma: postmarketOS Edge
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.4.0
Qt Version: 6.7.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2024-08-09 19:43:22 UTC

The intended UX is for this overlay to only appear the first time a screen is connected. If it appeared every time after that, it would be ridiculously annoying for people who connect an external screen to a portable device.

You can get it back manually using the Meta+P shortcut, or via the Display Configuration widget in the system tray.

Comment 2 Ellie 2024-08-09 21:39:26 UTC

What about a button in the "Display & Monitors" settings maybe?

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2024-08-13 18:33:02 UTC

If you're already there, you don't need the quick settings UI; you have the entire monitor configuration UI at your fingertips! :)

Comment 4 Ellie 2024-08-13 18:36:23 UTC

I think a button for the quick config should still be added, for the same reason that I assume it exists in the first place: not only is it quicker, but also users may not be sure what quick setting maps to which detailed one. I was in this situation specifically when a screen just wouldn't work at some later point, but I had it working via quick config before, and I couldn't figure out why. So I wanted to try out the quick config settings again to compare and see if my manual attempts had done anything wrong. Sadly, I failed to do so because I couldn't figure out how to access the quick config settings again, so that's why I ended up here on the bug tracker. I hope that helps relating to the use case.

Comment 5 Nate Graham 2024-08-13 18:37:35 UTC

No, sorry.

If the complete settings are hard to use, we should address that directly, not add a workaround for our own issue.

Comment 6 Ellie 2024-08-13 18:41:22 UTC

I don't think this is a question of difficulty, rather just an unavoidable result of the two being different. As long as they're different I feel like this can always happen: User uses quick settings somewhere, then later wants to do the same job but ends up in regular settings, does some detail wrong which may not necessarily be due to a misunderstanding but could also be a simple oversight, then wonders how to get to the quick settings again where it worked, then may end up confused why there's seemingly no way to get to them again. (I mean there's the system tray, but it frankly didn't occur to me to check there since I previously saw the display settings in the KDE system settings, so I didn't even realize that they could possibly be incomplete in this regard.)

My apologies for taking up your time, I hope some of that explanation was helpful.