Bug 499297

Summary: “Integrated right-click” option for touchpad is confusing
Product: [Applications] systemsettings Reporter: ariasuni <aria>
Component: kcm_touchpadAssignee: Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: normal CC: duha.bugs, natalie_clarius, nate
Priority: NOR Keywords: usability
Version First Reported In: 6.2.5   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Other   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: The part of the KCM that’s confusing

Description ariasuni 2025-01-30 02:00:20 UTC 
Created attachment 177812 [details]
The part of the KCM that’s confusing

SUMMARY
(I know there are a lot of issues that were open on that topic but it seems they’ve all been about a different version of this KCM, and moved to the RESOLVED status at some point, like bug 468231 which was closed in favor of bug 466166 but in my opinion the situation wasn’t really improved, it’s just a different flavor of confusing, with more text)

When choosing “Press touchpad with two fingers” with the subtext “Middle-click by pressing with three fingers”, instead of doing what it says, it disable the integrated buttons hidden behind the bottom on the touchpad (which already wasn’t clear, I totally forgot it was a thing) and has no effect on whether or not the two- and three-finger taps are enabled and what actions they’re affected to (since it’s the job of the option just above).

This wording makes it seems like the two options are overlapping and/or conflicting with each other, and I had to test the options to understand that they indeed control two different things. I was *extremely* confused at first and couldn’t make sense of the options and how they worked (or not) together.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open touchpad KCM

OBSERVED RESULT
> Integrated right-click:
> ( ) Press bottom-right corner
>    Middle-click by pressing bottom center.
> ( ) Press touchpad with two fingers
>    Middle-click by pressing with three fingers

EXPECTED RESULT
Text is somewhere along the lines of:
> Integrated right- and middle-click
> ( ) Enabled
>    Press bottom-right corner to right-click
>    Press bottom center to middle-click
> ( ) Disabled
>    Pressing bottom-right corner or bottom center will do nothing

I think not mentioning tapping is the easiest way to make it clear that it isn’t related to tapping *at all*.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.10.0
Qt Version: 6.8.1
Kernel Version: 6.12.10-zen1-1-zen (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2025-01-30 18:59:40 UTC 
IMO this is impossible to communicate adequately with words alone, and it needs a graphical visualization. I posted one in Bug 466166:

https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=156967
Comment 2 ariasuni 2025-01-30 22:59:45 UTC 
Ah yeah so specifically, it means that “Press touchpad with two fingers, Middle-click by pressing with three fingers” only applies to the bottom zone of the touchpad.

Even though a visual representation would be great, an alternative wording could work in the meantime:
> Bottom bar with built-in clicks
> ( ) Enable built-in clicks
>    Press bottom-right corner to right-click
>    Press bottom center to middle-click
> ( ) Use taps (disable built-in clicks)
>    Right-click by tapping with two fingers
>    Middle-click by tapping with three fingers

I know it may be more complicated in practice, so I’ll leave that as a suggestion to improve upon.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2025-01-31 16:45:30 UTC 
Yeah that won't work, sorry: tap-to-click is independent of the "areas" and "clickfinger" options, which are mutually exclusive.