SUMMARY It is too easy to disable audio output by accidentally clicking on the loudspeaker part of the icon in the Icons-Only Task Manager, and there is no visual feedback that audio has been disabled. I have been hit by this already a few times during video conferences while giving presentations and switching between windows for sharing. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Click on loudspeaker symbol in the icon 2. Stop hearing audio output OBSERVED RESULT Silence without warning EXPECTED RESULT visual feedback like a OSD coaster telling me that application foobar has been silenced. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Linux/KDE Plasma: Debian/unstable with KDE 5.20.90 (available in About System) KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.90 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.78.0 Qt Version: 5.15.2
There is visual feedback: the icon you just clicked on changes to a "muted" icon, with a red slash through the audio icon. It's pretty subtle though, yeah. Showing an OSD in addition isn't a terrible idea. Stepping back, we've gotten other complaints about this feature too, from the same perspective (accidentally muting apps). Your proposal is reasonable, but we might want to go even further if the complaints don't stop. FWIW a workaround is remove the audio indicator entire by unchecking "Mark Applications playing audio" in the Task Manager settings.
Hi Nate, thanks for answering, and suggesting the work-around. For now I will deactivate the indicator - two times talking against a wall of silenced video partners was enough - Fortunately company internal, so not a problem it was ;-)