Bug 435684 - fullscreen overlay with access to plasma applets
Summary: fullscreen overlay with access to plasma applets
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: master
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: David Edmundson
URL:
Keywords:
: 436455 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-04-13 10:20 UTC by Tobias G.
Modified: 2025-10-26 15:48 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
gamebar on windows 10 (271.79 KB, image/jpeg)
2021-04-13 10:20 UTC, Tobias G.
Details

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Description Tobias G. 2021-04-13 10:20:16 UTC
Created attachment 137557 [details]
gamebar on windows 10

SUMMARY
Hey there,

on Windows I often use the Game bar to change the volume of the current fullscreen application or change the audio device without having to press the meta key, open the volume applet and change it there.

This functionality should also be available in Plasma.
A shortcut, e.g. meta+g should open an overlay over every open application (even fullscreen applications without minimizing it) to access Plasma applets. This overlay should be customizable, so that you can add the normal plasma applets to it and access them there easily.

Is there any technical reason why that wouldn't be possible?
Are there any additional thoughts about this?

I've added a picture of the overlay on Windows, something like that but with plasma applets is what I think about.
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2021-04-13 17:36:52 UTC
> without having to press the meta key, open the volume applet and change it there.
Can you explain why this is a problem? Is it just that it's different from what you're accustomed to, or is it slower, less functional, more disruptive, etc?
Comment 2 Tobias G. 2021-04-13 18:27:16 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> > without having to press the meta key, open the volume applet and change it there.
> Can you explain why this is a problem? Is it just that it's different from
> what you're accustomed to, or is it slower, less functional, more
> disruptive, etc?

When I remember correctly, I already experienced that full-screen applications minimize after pressing meta.

But even when not, I don't want all the plasma applets I'd like to access in the system tray / panel and the has to be moved pretty far, as some full-screen apps like games lock the mouse cursor in the center of the screen and on my 4K display it's a) costing a few second to reach the panel and open the correct applet
b) the applet and applet button to open it are quite small on that hidpi display, so such an overlay would be easier to use.

It'd also be pretty cool if you could add other programs to the overlay,so that you can e.g. have a WhatsApp, Discord and telegram chat window open (which isn't that uncommon in my case) and being able to interact with them without having to alt-tab through all open windows to see a new message.
Comment 3 Tobias G. 2021-04-13 18:28:47 UTC
So it's less functional, slower, more disruptive and different what I'm accustomed to all at the same time. :P
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2021-04-13 20:16:24 UTC
So basically you want the old macOS Dashboard feature that they actually killed off a few years ago. :)
Comment 5 Tobias G. 2021-04-13 20:25:13 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #4)
> So basically you want the old macOS Dashboard feature that they actually
> killed off a few years ago. :)

I don't know, I never used a Mac, so I can't talk about that.

But I do know that that's a thing I actually miss in KDE and if implemented, I'd love Plasma a bit more. :)

PS: Just because Apple kills something doesn't mean it's bad. :P
Comment 6 Nate Graham 2021-04-13 20:57:08 UTC
Yeah, I liked it myself. The ecosystem for it and the developer experience of writing an applet were pretty terrible. but that's not a problem we have since widgets are already first-class citizens in our ecosystem.
Comment 7 Tobias G. 2021-04-13 20:58:24 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #6)
> Yeah, I liked it myself. The ecosystem for it and the developer experience
> of writing an applet were pretty terrible. but that's not a problem we have
> since widgets are already first-class citizens in our ecosystem.

Of course, so let's show Apple that we can do better. :P
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2021-05-03 19:46:21 UTC
*** Bug 436455 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 9 Niccolò Venerandi 2025-10-26 15:48:27 UTC
> This functionality should also be available in Plasma.
> A shortcut, e.g. meta+g should open an overlay over every open application (even fullscreen applications without minimizing it) to access Plasma applets. This overlay should be customizable, so that you can add the normal plasma applets to it and access them there easily.

You can do that right now: create a auto-hide panel, add the widgets you need, make it *really* thick so that all widgets use their fullrepresentations, and assign a shortcut to the panel. That should do exactly what you're looking for.