Bug 428096 - Confusion regarding how to truly change the system timezone (in System settings vs in the clock applet)
Summary: Confusion regarding how to truly change the system timezone (in System settin...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: Digital Clock (show other bugs)
Version: 5.20.1
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords: usability
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2020-10-22 10:08 UTC by Gauthier
Modified: 2020-11-11 00:04 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In: 5.21


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Description Gauthier 2020-10-22 10:08:07 UTC
When you set the clock to another time zone (say when you're travelling), the clock on the lock and login screen remains on the default time zone. I beleive this is not the intended behaviour.

Linux/KDE Plasma: KDE Neon User based on 20.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.21
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.75
Qt Version: 5.15
Kernel 5.4

Sorry if I didn't file this bug in the right place, I couldn't find something specific to SDDM or lock / login screen.
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2020-10-26 17:19:48 UTC
How have you set your clock to another time zone?
Comment 2 Gauthier 2020-10-28 22:49:05 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> How have you set your clock to another time zone?

I opened the digital clock widget on the panel > settings > Time zones > ticked the Paris time (and left my default London time also ticked).

I switched the time on the widget (say using the mouse wheel), when I go to France (I was just there for 4 months). The time on the widget does adjust to Paris time (even showing CET). How on lock / login screen the time is still on London time.
Comment 3 Gauthier 2020-10-28 22:50:08 UTC
(In reply to Gauthier from comment #2)
> (In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> > How have you set your clock to another time zone?
> 
> I opened the digital clock widget on the panel > settings > Time zones >
> ticked the Paris time (and left my default London time also ticked).
> 
> I switched the time on the widget (say using the mouse wheel), when I go to
> France (I was just there for 4 months). The time on the widget does adjust
> to Paris time (even showing CET). How on lock / login screen the time is
> still on London time.

However*
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2020-10-29 13:57:44 UTC
Aha!

That's not actually how you change the system timezone. That feature is intended to be a quick peek at another timezone just in the clock applet; to truly change the timezone systemwide, you need to go to System Settings > Regional Settings > Date & Time and do it there. When you do that, does the time zone in the lock and login screens change appropriately?
Comment 5 Gauthier 2020-10-30 13:19:27 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #4)
> Aha!
> 
> That's not actually how you change the system timezone. That feature is
> intended to be a quick peek at another timezone just in the clock applet; to
> truly change the timezone systemwide, you need to go to System Settings >
> Regional Settings > Date & Time and do it there. When you do that, does the
> time zone in the lock and login screens change appropriately?

Ok now I feel rather stupid for not having thought of that as when changing time zone with system settings it works well as intended! Thanks for looking into this.

I would say that for people who only have one clock widget (many I imagine), it isn't a very intuitive behaviour that when setting another time zone on the clock itself (say by using the mouse wheel) it does not propagate elsewhere (to login screen etc.). The clock on the panel is the obvious place to go if you want to...well...change the time! I know you can also change the system time from the clock widget by opening clock settings and clicking on "change regional settings" but this is under the "appearance" section and the eyes get drown towards the Time Zone button on the left when you want to change the time.
So for those with only one clock I'd say the feature you describe (quick pick) is best implemented when you click on the clock, the calendar drops down and we can see several time zones on the right hand side (as it currently does). But when the user actual set a particular time zone as the time showing on the clock, "I think" it should propagate as the system time, etc.

Now of course that doesn't work if you have several clock widget present to display different time zones all the time. So clock widget would need a button that says "set the time showing on this clock as the default system time" so the time shown on that clock propagate as system time.

Or maybe just as a small improvement I'd move the "Change Regional Settings..." button from the Appearance to the Time Zone section so it's clearer that Time Zone on here do not relate to the system time (and even rename the "Change Regional Settings..." button to "Change System Time Zone..." and make it direct by default to the "Date & Time" section of the setting instead of "Formats").

Anyway these are just observations to inform possible UX improvements, they're not request.
Comment 6 Nate Graham 2020-10-30 14:34:39 UTC
Yes I agree, it's a bit confusing.

Changing the system timezone requires the root/admin password, so we can't just automatically keep it in sync with what you set it to in the clock applet, or else you'd have to enter your password a zillion times when you scrolled over the applet. That would be horrible lol.
Comment 7 Gauthier 2020-10-30 14:43:31 UTC
Haha yes, we certainly don't want that!

So maybe moving (and rename) the "Change Regional Settings..." button to the Time Zone section of the clock widget would make it a little clearer for someone who wants to actually change Time Zone and trying to do it via the clock...
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2020-11-02 21:39:51 UTC
Yeah it kind of makes me feel like we should remove the ability to change the timezone in just the clock entirely, and then make it super duper duper clear how you change the system timezone. If you've already set up multiple timezones, you can open the popup or hover over it and look at the tooltip to see them; no need to actually switch the timezone that it's showing.
Comment 9 Bug Janitor Service 2020-11-02 22:27:04 UTC
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/merge_requests/414
Comment 10 Gauthier 2020-11-02 22:37:19 UTC
This new design looks great and intuitive.

The use case where I think it might be annoying is if people have several clock widgets on their desktop/panel to be able to see several time zones at once (not my case at all but I imagine people who work in teams across countries might have need for that).

Would you still be able to set a time that a given clock display?

Thanks again for all the great work you're doing!
Comment 11 Gauthier 2020-11-02 22:42:45 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #8)
> Yeah it kind of makes me feel like we should remove the ability to change
> the timezone in just the clock entirely, and then make it super duper duper
> clear how you change the system timezone. If you've already set up multiple
> timezones, you can open the popup or hover over it and look at the tooltip
> to see them; no need to actually switch the timezone that it's showing.

Woa I hadn't realised you had actually created the commit already and implemented the change. Impressive!
Comment 12 Nate Graham 2020-11-02 22:45:22 UTC
(In reply to Gauthier from comment #10)

> This new design looks great and intuitive.
> 
> The use case where I think it might be annoying is if people have several
> clock widgets on their desktop/panel to be able to see several time zones at
> once (not my case at all but I imagine people who work in teams across
> countries might have need for that).
> 
> Would you still be able to set a time that a given clock display?
> 
> Thanks again for all the great work you're doing!
Yes, you'll still be able to add several clocks and set each one of them to show a different time zone. What I'm proposing to remove is the ability to quickly cycle through time zones in a single clock widget that has multiple time zones configured.


(In reply to Gauthier from comment #11)
> Woa I hadn't realised you had actually created the commit already and
> implemented the change. Impressive!

Thanks! :)
Comment 13 Gauthier 2020-11-02 22:50:17 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #12)
> (In reply to Gauthier from comment #10)
> 
> > This new design looks great and intuitive.
> > 
> > The use case where I think it might be annoying is if people have several
> > clock widgets on their desktop/panel to be able to see several time zones at
> > once (not my case at all but I imagine people who work in teams across
> > countries might have need for that).
> > 
> > Would you still be able to set a time that a given clock display?
> > 
> > Thanks again for all the great work you're doing!
> Yes, you'll still be able to add several clocks and set each one of them to
> show a different time zone. What I'm proposing to remove is the ability to
> quickly cycle through time zones in a single clock widget that has multiple
> time zones configured.
> 
> 
> (In reply to Gauthier from comment #11)
> > Woa I hadn't realised you had actually created the commit already and
> > implemented the change. Impressive!
> 
> Thanks! :)

Then that's what I'd call perfect design ;)
Comment 14 Gauthier 2020-11-03 09:06:14 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #12)
> (In reply to Gauthier from comment #10)
> 
> > This new design looks great and intuitive.
> > 
> > The use case where I think it might be annoying is if people have several
> > clock widgets on their desktop/panel to be able to see several time zones at
> > once (not my case at all but I imagine people who work in teams across
> > countries might have need for that).
> > 
> > Would you still be able to set a time that a given clock display?
> > 
> > Thanks again for all the great work you're doing!
> Yes, you'll still be able to add several clocks and set each one of them to
> show a different time zone. What I'm proposing to remove is the ability to
> quickly cycle through time zones in a single clock widget that has multiple
> time zones configured.
> 
> 
> (In reply to Gauthier from comment #11)
> > Woa I hadn't realised you had actually created the commit already and
> > implemented the change. Impressive!
> 
> Thanks! :)

Reading through the thread in the git repo, I'll just add my 2c here.

It's true that David's proposal adds even more clarity for the user of what the function is about. However I'd change the proposed wording on the top of the config page from "Home time zone" to "System time zone".

And then if the config page is now very clear, then I wonder if the new "switch" button on the calender applet should be a shortcut to the clock time zone config (i.e. a shortcut to configure Time Zones altogether) rather than to KCM Date & Time.

And last, I tend to agree with you that there might not be an actually use case for mouth scroll any more (and it is a user of this mouse scroll function that is talking ;))

Ok these are just some further ideas in case that helps you polishing the design process (no need for answering this if you're pressed for time). In any case these are excellent improvements (even your original proposal was)! Thanks again
Comment 15 Nate Graham 2020-11-03 19:28:41 UTC
Feel free to comment in the merge request itself. :)
Comment 16 Nate Graham 2020-11-11 00:04:58 UTC
Git commit 87f904721b1df7a9dfcb4d8a1be7d8063c736907 by Nate Graham.
Committed on 11/11/2020 at 00:04.
Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'.

[applets/digital-clock] Overhaul how to change between timezones

Right now we have a usability problem: the Digital Clock applet has two
ways to let you change the timezone displayed in the applet itself, but
has no easy link to the correct way to change the timezone systemwide. As
a result, users change the timezone in the clock and wonder why times are
wrong everywhere else throughout the OS.

This commit removes the feature of changing the timezone in just the
clock, and replaces it with an overhauled Time Zones page in the config
dialog and a new button in the popup that links you to the Date & Time
KCM where you can change the systemwide time zone in the correct way.

I anticipate that this may cause some grumbling from people who currently
use the "mouse wheel to cycle through timezones" behavior, but now that
all the timezones and their times are displayed prominently in the popup,
you can just click on the applet to show the popup instead of rolling the
mouse wheel over it to cycle through times; it's different, but no worse.
FIXED-IN: 5.21

M  +2    -6    applets/digital-clock/package/contents/config/main.xml
M  +23   -13   applets/digital-clock/package/contents/ui/CalendarView.qml
M  +0    -38   applets/digital-clock/package/contents/ui/DigitalClock.qml
M  +158  -45   applets/digital-clock/package/contents/ui/configTimeZones.qml
M  +1    -0    applets/digital-clock/plugin/timezonedata.h
M  +22   -3    applets/digital-clock/plugin/timezonemodel.cpp
M  +6    -1    applets/digital-clock/plugin/timezonemodel.h

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/commit/87f904721b1df7a9dfcb4d8a1be7d8063c736907