Bug 497544

Summary:	Monochromatic icons for categories worsen accessibility
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Massimiliano L <m.lincetto>
Component:	Application Launcher (Kickoff) widget	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED MOVED
Severity:	normal	CC:	mikel5764, nate, noahadvs
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	6.2.4
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
URL:	https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/issues/142
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Massimiliano L 2024-12-16 09:44:35 UTC

SUMMARY
Quoting from a recent Reddit thread, some visually impaired people "rely on colour and depth/texture to differentiate" graphics elements, so the transition to monochromatic icons for Kickoff categories made it worse for them.

I take the liberty to open this bug on behalf of the people who first reported this issue, as I imagine people with accessibility issues may also have more difficulty navigating through KDE's bug reporting system.

Background info for users:
- KDE HIG guidelines: https://develop.kde.org/hig/icons/monochrome/
- Relevant MR: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/merge_requests/2415

Adding an option to simultaneously increase the category icon size and turn them to color would both increase accessibility and be consistent with the HIG guidelines (that prescribe monochrome for "small" icons).

While this is technically a feature request (wishlist?), it's about a regression in accessibility, so I'll let the devs triage it as they deem appropriate.

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2024-12-16 16:43:01 UTC

We have gotten complaints about this, yeah. It's being discussed at https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/merge_requests/2607.

Comment 2 Massimiliano L 2024-12-16 17:04:53 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> We have gotten complaints about this, yeah. It's being discussed at
> https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/merge_requests/2607.

Thank you Nate, this MR however seems unrelated. I think you meant the following:
- https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/merge_requests/2561

Lots of good discussion on the related issue:
- https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/issues/142

Thanks!

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2024-12-16 18:08:59 UTC

Oops! https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-desktop/-/issues/142 is what I meant, yeah. I must have had something else on the top of my clipboard, sorry.