Bug 35203 - moving desktop icons usability issues
Summary: moving desktop icons usability issues
Status: CLOSED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kdesktop
Classification: Unmaintained
Component: icons (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Compiled Sources Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Clarence Dang
URL:
Keywords:
: 43430 53090 62046 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2001-11-22 08:33 UTC by Chris Howells
Modified: 2009-01-02 20:18 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
patch from trolltech (732 bytes, patch)
2005-01-10 20:17 UTC, David Faure
Details

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Description Chris Howells 2001-11-22 08:28:41 UTC
(*** This bug was imported into bugs.kde.org ***)

Package:           kdesktop
Version:           KDE 2.9.0 CVS/CVSup/Snapshot
Severity:          normal
Installed from:    Compiled sources
Compiler:          GCC 2.95.3
OS:                Linux
OS/Compiler notes: Not Specified

Moving desktop icons is not as pleasently handled as it could be. For example if I have a row of icons and lassoo them to select them I can now move them. However when I move them they must be moved by quite a large distance (e.g. side by side) -- if I move them only fractionally and the edges are still overlapping then nothing will happen and they spring back to their original location.

I would like to see this fixed as it's very invonvenient.

(Submitted via bugs.kde.org)
Comment 1 elonen 2002-01-25 11:30:54 UTC
The same applies with single icons as well: you can't move an icon just a few 
pixels. This probably isn't KDesktop issue but rather some lower level 
library though?
Comment 2 Jordi Polo 2003-02-18 12:44:18 UTC
*** Bug 43430 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 Jordi Polo 2003-02-18 17:21:15 UTC
*** Bug 53090 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 Matthew A. Nicholson 2003-06-10 06:23:30 UTC
You can only move the icons if you move it so the mouse pointer is out of the 
original space the icon held.  It is quite annoying.
Comment 5 Jesse 2003-06-30 23:13:23 UTC
The big issue for many I would presume is that if you string a row of icons 
together and then try to move them left or right horizontally you _best_ not 
land on other icons.  It seems like kdesktop actually wants to drag and then 
drop these icons instead of it being just a move.  There have been countless 
number of times where I want to take 5 or 6 icons and move them to the right 
by exactly 1 icon grid space.  While it's possible i've seen random (very 
rare) crashes even if my aim was off and I didn't move the icons enough.
Comment 6 David Faure 2003-09-15 19:53:24 UTC
This has been addressed in the qt-copy patch 0021-qiconview-dragalittle.patch, 
by Clarence Dang (thanks!). Qt issue number 26009. 
 
Clarence: thanks for closing this bug once TT has applied the patch. 
Comment 7 Clarence Dang 2003-11-27 07:41:23 UTC
Subject: Re: [Issue N26009] Unable to drag icons a small distance in QIconView (Re: Several suggestions to make KDE desktop look/behave nicer)

On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 12:14 am, qt-bugs@trolltech.com wrote:
> On Thursday, 03. Jul 2003 23:09 Clarence Dang wrote:
> > > > > 4) Icon dragging often fails if the icons are dragged a short
> > > > > distance, even if the auto-allign options are turned off -- this
> > > > > is quite annoying. Users should be able to move icons however
> > > > > and wherever they prefer, without fighting the UI.
> > > >
> > > > Yeah, I get that too even with "Drag Start Distance" set to 1. So
> > > > to move an icon just a little bit, I have to move it far away and
> > > > then back to where I want it. I'll have a look into this.
> > >
> > > As far as I can tell, the icon does not move unless the pointer
> > > finishes outside the bounds of the icon's original position.
> >
> > That was it, thanks. AFAICS, QIconView tries to prevent you from
> > moving an icon on top of another icon. But, in this case, when you're
> > moving an icon just a little bit, the icon it "lands on top of" is the
> > icon being dragged.
> >
> > So, here's a patch. There are still some slight bugs to do with
> > really, really tiny drags but I don't have time to investigate them
> > right now.
>
> I have to agree, it should be possible for the user to move the icon for
> as small an amount as he likes. Thanks for the patch I'll have a look
> at it and get back to you.
>
Hi,

It's been a few months...
Could I please have an update on situation?

Thanks,
Clarence

Comment 8 Clarence Dang 2003-12-03 11:02:19 UTC
Subject: Fwd: Re: [Issue N26009] Unable to drag icons a small distance in QIconView (Re: Several suggestions to make KDE desktop look/behave nicer)

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: [Issue N26009] Unable to drag icons a small distance in QIconView 
(Re: Several suggestions to make KDE desktop look/behave nicer)
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 19:37:01 +0100
From: qt-bugs@trolltech.com
To: Clarence Dang <dang@kde.org>
Cc: qt-bugs@trolltech.com

On Thursday, 27. Nov 2003 17:42 Clarence Dang wrote:
> > > > > > 4) Icon dragging often fails if the icons are dragged a
> > > > > > short distance, even if the auto-allign options are turned
> > > > > > off -- this is quite annoying. Users should be able to move
> > > > > > icons however and wherever they prefer, without fighting the
> > > > > > UI.
>
> It's been a few months...
> Could I please have an update on situation?

Hi Clarence

Have not applied it to 3.3. It's annoying but not critical - I have
marked it up as a usecase for the reimplementations of itemviews so it
will be fixed there.

espen
--
Trolltech AS, Waldemar Thranes gate 98, NO-0175 Oslo, Norway

-------------------------------------------------------

Comment 9 Benoit Walter 2004-04-12 21:24:19 UTC
*** Bug 62046 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 Eduardo Robles Elvira 2004-05-25 15:22:48 UTC
Clarence Dang:

Do you know when it's expected to be resolved ? (kde version). I feel like this is big a usability issue :-).
Comment 11 tnagy 2004-05-25 16:04:00 UTC
It would be great to have a workaround in kde 3.3 for usable icon drag and drop. This problem plagues kde since at least kde 2.2 and it would be awful to have to to wait one more year for seeing this stupid bug off the kde desktop :-/
Comment 12 Clarence Dang 2004-05-27 06:09:37 UTC
On Tue, 25 May 2004 11:22 pm, Eduardo Robles Elvira wrote:
> Clarence Dang:
>
> Do you know when it's expected to be resolved ?
When Trolltech resolves it.

> (kde version). 
Which probably means Qt 4, therefore KDE 4.

> I feel like this is big a usability issue :-).
Yes :(

On Wed, 26 May 2004 12:04 am, tnagy wrote:
> It would be great to have a workaround in kde 3.3 for usable icon
> drag and drop.
You can use qt-copy/patches/0021-qiconview-dragalittle.patch in the meantime.

Comment 13 mhn 2004-11-06 17:50:51 UTC
You can move icons a small amount of space in kde 3.2.3, but you still cannot land with the mouse pointer on another icon -nothing will happen.
Comment 14 Axel 2004-11-07 19:59:29 UTC
When you "grab" an icon, it immediately moves a few pixels down-to the right. When you "release" it, it snaps back a few pixels up-to the left. Making it impossible to accurately position them on the desktop.
Comment 15 David Faure 2005-01-10 20:16:49 UTC
Comment #14: this has just been fixed, see bug #67140.

About the actual issue (moving by a few pixels) : Clarence and I just got this answer from qt-bugs:

"Would it be possible for you to check the applied patch. I am
considering adding this to 3.3.4 and it would be nice if you could
verify it fixed your problem and didn't introduce any bad regressions.

Basically we found the suggested patch from you:

-    if ( !i && e->source() == viewport() && d->currentItem
&& !d->cleared ) {
+    if ( (!i || (i && i == d->currentItem)) && e->source() ==
viewport() && d->currentItem && !d->cleared ) {

was to restrictive and not consistent, ie. it would only work for moving
items over the currentItem - we want to be able to move (inside the
same iconview) over any selected item. I cannot think of any sensible
usecase where one would QIconViewItem::dropped(...) to be called when
droping a selected item over itself so I can't see any bad sideeffects
with this change."

So please test this patch to see how it works for you all.
Comment 16 David Faure 2005-01-10 20:17:43 UTC
Created attachment 9027 [details]
patch from trolltech
Comment 17 Martin Koller 2005-01-29 23:13:42 UTC
Works now with Qt-3.3.4!
Comment 18 FiNeX 2009-01-02 20:18:35 UTC
Bug closed. Kdesktop is no more mantained.