The Track Mouse effect is very useful on large screens, but also hard to discover (https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/k7clw1/concentric_rotating_circles_appear_when_you_press/ges6ae9/). How about triggering the effect when the mouse is moved rapidly in an "agitated" back and forth (or figure 8/infinity) pattern, without the user having to hold any modifier keys? macOS does this. Not sure what false positives might look like (games?), but if none, the effect could be enabled by default. I know I've been missing it for years too (and would right click to see what popper up) until I discovered the setting.
This macOS accessibility feature is called "shake to find" and was introduced in OS X El Capitan. Windows has it too - https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/131#issuecomment-497291827 Source code for an alternative implementation - https://spinalcode.co.uk/2018/11/06/windows-shake-to-find-cursor/
Heh yeah, I think GNOME does too at this point.
*** Bug 448634 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 468968 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
In progress with https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/4713!
Git commit 831064f351e310afe50dc7cdf11b9aac3ce9cfc7 by Vlad Zahorodnii. Committed on 28/11/2023 at 17:36. Pushed by vladz into branch 'master'. plugins: Add shakecursor plugin This plugin helps you locate the cursor by enlarging it when the pointer is quickly moved back and forth. M +1 -0 src/plugins/CMakeLists.txt A +17 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/CMakeLists.txt A +18 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/main.cpp [License: GPL(v2.0+)] A +9 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/metadata.json A +195 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/shakecursor.cpp [License: GPL(v2.0+)] A +65 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/shakecursor.h [License: GPL(v2.0+)] A +18 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/shakecursorconfig.kcfg A +8 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/shakecursorconfig.kcfgc A +85 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/shakedetector.cpp [License: GPL(v2.0+)] A +43 -0 src/plugins/shakecursor/shakedetector.h [License: GPL(v2.0+)] https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/831064f351e310afe50dc7cdf11b9aac3ce9cfc7
Note that for now the feature is off by default and must be manually enabled in System Settings' Desktop Effects page if you'd like to test it out.
Just wanted to say I just tested this in 6.0 Beta 2 in a VirtualBox VM. It works beautifully on a 4K screen. Thank you KDE people!
I tried this in Wayland. When the cursor gets bigger its being pixelated. Also when you move cursor while holding left click the cursor doesn't moves *but somehow moves when the cursor is back to original size again*.
Please submit new bug reports to report additional issues. This one is only to track the implementation of the feature, not everything about it.