Bug 442981 - Too many clicks required to run a recent application
Summary: Too many clicks required to run a recent application
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: Application Launcher (Kickoff) widget (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: git-master
Platform: Neon Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: David Edmundson
URL:
Keywords: usability
: 498493 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-09-26 13:09 UTC by Alexander Potashev
Modified: 2025-01-21 19:38 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

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Description Alexander Potashev 2021-09-26 13:09:33 UTC
SUMMARY
Too many clicks required to run a recent application.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

 1. Click K-menu.
 2. Click "Places". (BTW it's also confusing because "Places" in Dolphin are only filesystem dir paths and remote dir paths, not applications.)
 3. Click "Recent"
 4. Click on an app to run.

OBSERVED RESULT
4 clicks are required.

EXPECTED RESULT
2 clicks:
 1. Click the K-menu.
 2. Click an application.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 
macOS: 
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.23.80
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.87
Qt Version: 5.15.3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2021-09-27 20:10:40 UTC
Indeed, I agree.

I might suggest removing the "Computer" category entirely, and then the second tab on the main view can be renamed to "History" and its first item will be "History". So clicking on that tab will instantly show recent apps. This workflow will involve the same number of clicks as the Plasma 5.19 Kickoff and be about as fast.

FWIW the old Plasma 5.19 kickoff still required 3 clicks:
1. Open menu
2. Click on (or hover over) History tab
3. Click on desired app
Comment 2 gudvinr+kde 2021-10-19 15:00:43 UTC
I don't really use Recent applications but in #444007 I raised similar concern about accessibility of "Places" tab after Plasma update.

It is now biased in terms of usability towards users with bottom panels.
If you have launcher button in top left corner, for example (as in environments mimicking GNOME or Ubuntu), this switcher now becomes too far to reach.

So it'd be honestly very appreciated if it would either be swapped with account widget automatically or at least be allowed to switch within configuration menu.

Unless whole layout would change I find these solution good enough.

Search bar location doesn't matter much since it's easy to use without clicking.
Action buttons also hard to reach but these aren't commonly used buttons so it doesn't matter too.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2025-01-13 22:10:37 UTC
*** Bug 498493 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 Marco Martin 2025-01-16 14:35:47 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> I might suggest removing the "Computer" category entirely, and then the
> second tab on the main view can be renamed to "History" and its first item
> will be "History". So clicking on that tab will instantly show recent apps.

I do see a usefulness of the computer menu for the places list, which i would like it probably to be a separate applet with only that menu

as i see as well as a potential solution having also what's contained in history and frequently used accessible as standalone applets which would just have a single menu showing that and nothing else
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2025-01-16 17:42:41 UTC
Making additional standalone applets for these sounds fine, but I think at the minimum we need to keep recent apps and files in Kickoff and make them easier to access (as they are in Kicker).
Comment 6 Marco Martin 2025-01-20 15:07:03 UTC
they could also be categories in the normal menu instead of a separate tab
Comment 7 Nate Graham 2025-01-21 19:35:37 UTC
Yeah, I think that's a good idea.
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2025-01-21 19:38:17 UTC
VDG folks have even been debating the need for app categories at all, so we would have a sidebar with the following items in it:

Favorites
Recent Files
Recent Applications
All Applications
Recent Places
All Places