Both widgets for launching applications (Application Launcher and Application Menu) are configured to be most usable when positioned at bottom left of the screen. There are no settings options to change the configuration so that it would be just as easy to use from any other corner of the screen. In particular, there is no way to put the favorites on the right, and for the Application Launcher widget, there's no way to put the search on top. if the launcher is on the right side of the screen, there's a lot of mouse travel required to get from clicking the widget to clicking the application icon. As the mouse travels, all sorts of stuff pops up if it's set to change on mouseover hover, making that setting impractical. Worse than that, in the Application Menu widget, the stuff that pops up blocks the favorites making it impossible to even click on the launcher. This happens because the widget is all the way to the right so has to put the pop-ups on the left side where the favorites are. Searching from the Application Launcher is very difficult if it's on top of the screen both because it's a long travel from activating the window to clicking in the search box, and because the search box isn't even there all the time. Why does it alternate between a search box and showing the user@host? Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Put an Application Launcher or Application Menu widget in any location other than bottom left 2. Try to launch and application 3. Notice that the "Favorites" are located on the left. 4. Notice on Application Launcher that the search is located at the bottom. 5. Go into settings to try and put the search at top or the Favorites on the right. 6. Fail to find any such options in the settings. Actual Results: Can't get a satisfactory configuration of the launcher widgets for top-right of screen. Expected Results: I expected to have the ability to configure which side of the widget shows favorites and whether the search bar is at top or bottom. Being able to reverse those locations makes the menu properly usable in any corner of the screen. Currently, both widgets are optimized for the left side of the screen, and the Application Launcher widget for bottom left only. I am new to KDE after using Xfce4 for a couple of years. I expected to find a launcher that is just as configurable as Whiskermenu on Xfce. I'm actually considering running a small Xfce panel just to be able to use the Whiskermenu even though it's uglier just because it's so much more functional.
Another related issue concerning the usability of Application Launcher in positions other then bottom or top of the screen is the keyboard-navigation getting odd: When at the bottom of the screen, tabs and menus can intuitively be navigated using the arrow keys. When put to the (left) side of the screen, you have to use the left/right-keys to go up or down and the up/down-keys to get left or right.
> Searching from the Application Launcher is very difficult if it's on top of the screen both because it's a long travel from activating the window to clicking in the search box You can start typing right after activating the launcher, there is no need to click in the search box. The mouse path to the search box is equally as long when the menu is at the bottom, and it doesn't really matter since you don't have to click in it. > Why does it alternate between a search box and showing the user@host? This seems like a very weird design choice, or a bug. If you open the launcher it shows "type to search", if you start typing, then delete all characters, it shows user@host. When you move around with the mouse hovering over different entries it randomly switches between both texts. It would be better to always show user@host in its own line, or next to the username, or don't show it at all. But don't randomly change the field, it's distracting. (In reply to Martin Weinz from comment #1) > Another related issue concerning the usability of Application Launcher in > positions other then bottom or top of the screen is the keyboard-navigation > getting odd: > When at the bottom of the screen, tabs and menus can intuitively be > navigated using the arrow keys. > When put to the (left) side of the screen, you have to use the > left/right-keys to go up or down and the up/down-keys to get left or right. I'm of this opinion, too, the keyboard shortcuts are not intuitive, since left/right goes up/down, but i see no better way of setting the keyboard shortcuts, since both the tabs and the lists are vertical. The issue could be avoided by not showing the tabs vertically, instead showing the tabs horizontally in the same way that the as the normal launcher does when placed on the bottom.
This bug can be transformed into two wishes - like Ability to change search bar and Favorites, Applications... menu buttons position.
Can you see if this is better for you with the new Kickoff UI in Plasma 5.21 (currently in git master)? The layout was re-done which means there's a chance it got fixed in the process. Mine appears in the top-left corner and it feels fairly ergonomic to me. Thanks!
Dear Bug Submitter, This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME due to lack of needed information. For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the wiki located here: https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging If you have already provided the requested information, please mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is ready to be confirmed. Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
I've been using it in the previously only usable way for so long that I'm no longer interested enough to test upcoming versions or even the current one. I'm just leaving the menu in the bottom left position.
This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 30 days. The bug is now closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME due to lack of needed information. For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the wiki located here: https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!