Created attachment 118049 [details] Video of pager disappearance SUMMARY This is an evolution of [ 404252 ]( https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=404252 ), now that I understand what's happening. The pager becomes invisible and inaccessible if the number of desktops dips to one. This is problematic if: 1) the user has one desktop, and tries to add the pager to a panel. Nothing will appear to happen. So the user may try again, and again, and again, unwittingly adding many pagers, only to be surprised by them if they eventually are able to add a desktop. 2) the user has multiple desktops, and uses the pager to add and remove them, and at any point has one desktop. The user will suddenly no longer be able to add/remove desktops. 3) the user has multiple desktops, and uses the pager's click-active-desktop feature, but then at any point has only one desktop, and that feature is suddenly gone. The original bug includes a video of attempting to add the pager, with only one desktop existing. This bug attaches a video of using the pager to add and remove desktops, until it becomes impossible. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Have exactly one desktop 2. Add pager to panel OR 1. Have 2+ desktops 2. Remove one desktop OBSERVED RESULT The interface for desktop operations appears to be deleted without reason or explanation. EXPECTED RESULT The pager remains visible and usable. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Linux/KDE Plasma: Arch Linux, plasma-desktop 5.15.0-1 (available in About System) KDE Plasma Version: 5.15.0 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.55.0 Qt Version: 5.12.1
It's deliberate. It stems from distros that wanted to have default to 1 desktop at which point showing a pager makes no sense - but at the same time we need it so that if you do set up multiple desktops you get a pager. I don't think there's any other neater solutions that won't just go back to the original bug reports
I think you have marked this as resolved too hastily. Isn't the problem case (1) that I listed objectively horrendous UX? If this default behavior is not to be challenged, why also not consider a toggle setting for it?
I agree with the reporter and am inclined to reopen. Just because it's difficult it doesn't mean it doesn't need solving. I've had some of the problems described here.
If a user uses the pager to reduce desktop count to one, assuming they don't have the show all desktops hotcorner set up, how are they expected to increase the desktop count? AFAIK Plasma offers no method to do so with the keyboard, which magnifies the frustration.
There's a whole page to manage virtual desktops in System Settings.
One option for how to address this: We could add a static to the Pager backend that tracks the number of Pager instances per-screen, and shows a warning dialog when trying to add another Pager while there's already a hidden one on the same screen.
(In reply to Eike Hein from comment #5) > There's a whole page to manage virtual desktops in System Settings. Yes, thanks, I know; I was wondering if I'd overlooked a convenient way to switch between having one and two desktops, since it seems impossible with the keyboard and impossible with the pager. Hotcorner and mouse-work seems to be the only convenient method, if it's enabled. Or "editing" the panel/dock, I guess. Browsing through the settings every time is not convenient.
Related: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=389499 While resolving this linked issue would mitigate the UX problems described here, it would not eliminate them, especially as current behavior makes access to click-current-desktop and right-click pager disappear. Please re-open this.
If it's not to be configurable, might it make sense to hide the pager only when there is exactly one desktop AND the currentDesktopSelected is absent ("Do nothing")? This combined with Eike Hein's idea in #c6 would be sufficient, IMO. If the user has chosen to make something happen re: the current desktop when they click on the current desktop in the pager, it should not become impossible to do so due to the number of non-current desktops. To be specific, having only one desktop doesn't make the show-desktop action less useful (in fact, the reverse is true).
I'm going to reopen this, I think it's good to acknowledge this isn't fully resolved atm and worth mulling like this.
Hi, just adding my little 2 cents here. I am in the same heavily frustrating situation, having only one desktop most of the time but wishing to be able to quickly add a new desktop by right-clicking on the Pager. Plus, I set my Pager to show the desktop if I click on the active desktop (so even if there's only 1 desktop, it make sense to keep it visible without the need to have the "show desktop" widget.) Isn't it possible to just add an option to "Hide when only one desktop" in the settings, that we can uncheck if we want to keep it always visible? That will make everyone happy, as we can then chose Pager's behavior.
*** Bug 488145 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***