I have my Energy Saving settings set to: [x] Button events handling When laptop lid closed [Suspend] [ ] Even when an external monitor is connected When power button pressed [Prompt log out dialogue] What does this mean? What does the external monitor checkbox apply to? The widget before it or after it? It's unclear, and the handbook doesn't say anything about that checkbox (because it isn't present on all systems, only laptops). The alignment of the widgets doesn't help understand it either. It's also unclear that the meaning of the "When laptop lid is closed" control is actually affected by the following checkbox. It says "When laptop lid is closed: do something" but actually depending on the checkbox it means one of: "When laptop lid is closed and no external monitor is connected: do something" or "When laptop lid is closed: do something" The problem is that the "and no external monitor is connected" is implied, not stated explicitly. The checkbox label talks about the opposite case, when it *is* connected. This requires you to keep in mind an implicit, unstated condition, then negate it for the checkbox. That's unnecessarily complicated. I would find it easier to understand if you inverted the sense of the checkbox and labelled it "Ignore laptop lid being closed when external monitor is connected". Maybe you could even move the checkbox first and make the label for the "When laptop lid closed" control depend on the checkbox, i.e. when unchecked: [ ] Ignore laptop lid closing when an external monitor is connected When laptop lid closed [Suspend] and when checked: [x] Ignore laptop lid closing when an external monitor is connected When laptop lid closed and no external monitor [Suspend] This would make it unambiguous that "When laptop lid is closed: Suspend" means exactly that, closing the lid always suspends, unconditionally. And likewise "When laptop lid is closed and no external monitor: Suspend" is also entirely clear that the behaviour is conditional on an external monitor being present. There's no need to combine two conditions in your head. It's also unclear (and undocumented) what the "Wireless" settings do. The handbook says "Activate this option to set individual actions for Wi-Fi, Mobile broadband or Bluetooth connections." but it's not clear what those actions are in response to. Is it when dimming the screen? Pressing the power button? Or switching from one power source to another? (Presumably the latter, but it isn't clear).
I originally had it as you described like "don't if external monitor is connected" but Usability told me not to use negation in checkbooks so we ended up with this. Adding usability.
(In reply to Jonathan Wakely from comment #0) > [ ] Ignore laptop lid closing when an external monitor is connected > When laptop lid closed [Suspend] > > and when checked: > > [x] Ignore laptop lid closing when an external monitor is connected > When laptop lid closed and no external monitor [Suspend] Not sure that this (verbose) caption improves the situation as the dependency is not solved. Even in a shorter version like "[x] Prevent suspension with external monitor" the two scenarios are not separated. Ideally, the energy management is bind to activities where a default entry "external display" has its own settings.
I think it's pretty clear. Just read the whole thing as a sentence: "When Laptop lid closed, <perform specified action>, [ ] Even when an external monitor is connected." So when that setting is checked, then the action you configure for what happens when you close your laptop lid is also carried out when an external display is plugged in. If that setting is unchecked, then the action is not carried out. This is useful to, for example, dock your laptop to an external screen or docking station and close its screen, but not put it to sleep.
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3) > I think it's pretty clear. Just read the whole thing as a sentence: > > "When Laptop lid closed, <perform specified action>, [ ] Even when an > external monitor is connected." But it's not a sentence, it has three capital letters and no punctuation. That's not a sentence. > So when that setting is checked, then the action you configure for what > happens when you close your laptop lid is also carried out when an external > display is plugged in. If that setting is unchecked, then the action is not > carried out. This is useful to, for example, dock your laptop to an external > screen or docking station and close its screen, but not put it to sleep. Yes I know what it's useful for, that's not the problem. The problem is that the effect of the settings is unclear and undocumented. Simply saying "it is clear" does not solve the usability problem, nor add documentation.