| Summary: | Feature Request: Don't hide commonly used screenshot options under an extra "New screenshot" dropdown | ||
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| Product: | [Applications] Spectacle | Reporter: | Synthetic451 <bugs.kde.org.facelift226> |
| Component: | General | Assignee: | Noah Davis <noahadvs> |
| Status: | CONFIRMED --- | ||
| Severity: | wishlist | CC: | kde, kdedev, nate |
| Priority: | NOR | Keywords: | usability |
| Version First Reported In: | 6.4.2 | ||
| Target Milestone: | --- | ||
| Platform: | Arch Linux | ||
| OS: | Linux | ||
| Latest Commit: | Version Fixed/Implemented In: | ||
| Sentry Crash Report: | |||
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Description
Synthetic451
2025-07-08 06:49:38 UTC
This seems reasonable to consider Hmm, if we did this, we'd have to do the same for recording, which means 2 buttons on the toolbar would have to be replaced with 4. This would make the toolbar contents likely to overflow on most screens with most languages. That would require a redesign to prevent. I'll agree that the menu-based new screenshot workflow isn't ideal here, but so far nobody has been able to come up with anything that didn't come with worse drawbacks. > Hmm, if we did this, we'd have to do the same for recording
Is this necessarily the case though? Reason why I think they should be handled differently is because screen recording is usually clicking record and then spending 1 or 2 minutes before stopping, whereas screenshots frequently need to be done in rapid succession. The rapid repetitiveness of taking screenshots makes the hidden menu options significantly more cumbersome than the video recording situation. However, I do understand the need for consistency.
What if we went with an icons only approach? We're already doing that for the save and copy icons. It would be easy to represent "Select Window" and "Full screen" as icons only, and then we have the dropdown for the other options. The screen recording icons could just have a red recording dot next to them. We can even have a text label in front of them marking the two sections. So for example:
Screenshot: [Window Icon] [Monitor Icon] [Dropdown Arrow] | Recording: [Window Icon with red dot] [Monitor Icon with red dot] [Dropdown Arrow]
That way its consistent with both capture types. They're clearly labeled whether its screenshot or recording, and the two primary actions for each are revealed at the top layer. All excess options will still be available via the dropdowns.
That might actually give us space to add rectangle select as well, which I realize is also quite important. I don't expect this approach to be significantly larger than the current "[Icon] New screenshot" approach. Probably a merge request would be the best way to make your proposal. Sure, I could definitely take a stab at it! Could you point me at the right source code? Before I take a look at it, I am assuming the relevant code is here: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/spectacle Or is the capture interface a different thing entirely, like part of Plasma or something? (In reply to Synthetic451 from comment #6) > Sure, I could definitely take a stab at it! Could you point me at the right > source code? Before I take a look at it, I am assuming the relevant code is > here: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/spectacle If you want to discuss the development work, please reach out in our Matrix channel for new contributors. There isn't a specific room for Spectacle. https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved#New_Contributor?_Say_Hello_In_Matrix The next step is to create a merge request. In the MR, please add "Fixes: Bug 506745" so it gets linked to this report. https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Submitting_a_merge_request Thanks for offering to help make KDE better for everyone. :) Indeed! I'll give you a bit of a hint though; the code you're looking for is here: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/spectacle/-/blob/master/src/Gui/CaptureOverlay.qml?ref_type=heads#L434 |