Bug 459195 - Overview effect can have both keyboard and mouse hover highlight effects, and they look identical
Summary: Overview effect can have both keyboard and mouse hover highlight effects, and...
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: effects-overview (show other bugs)
Version: 5.25.90
Platform: Arch Linux Linux
: NOR minor
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords: usability
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2022-09-16 02:04 UTC by Jin Liu
Modified: 2024-09-08 20:52 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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


Attachments
screencast of the bug (2.66 MB, video/x-matroska)
2022-09-16 02:07 UTC, Jin Liu
Details

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Description Jin Liu 2022-09-16 02:04:25 UTC
SUMMARY
Sometimes more than one windows are highlighted in Overview effect.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Start Firefox and Dolphin.
2. Trigger Overview effect.
3. Move mouse cursor to highlight Firefox.
4. Type "dolphin" so the Dolphin thumbnail is maximized and highlighted.
5. Press backspace to delete "dolphin".

OBSERVED RESULT
Both windows are highlighted.

EXPECTED RESULT
Only Firefox is highlighted.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.25.90
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.98.0
Qt Version: 5.15.6
Comment 1 Jin Liu 2022-09-16 02:07:40 UTC
Created attachment 152089 [details]
screencast of the bug
Comment 2 Bacteria 2022-09-16 03:31:45 UTC
Unable to reproduce. For me the cursor does not highlight anything which might be a bug on its own I guess.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2022-09-16 19:39:01 UTC
This is intentional, and in fact it's what we do in multiple other places. It's so your keyboard selection doesn't get lost if you use the mouse. If we changed this, then you would lose your keyboard selection when you moved the mouse, even accidentally.
Comment 4 Jin Liu 2022-09-17 00:39:59 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> This is intentional, and in fact it's what we do in multiple other places.
> It's so your keyboard selection doesn't get lost if you use the mouse. If we
> changed this, then you would lose your keyboard selection when you moved the
> mouse, even accidentally.

But I don't see how the current behavior helps in that case:
1. If I use the keyboard arrow keys to highlight a window, then move the mouse in then out of that window, the selection is lost.
2. If I use the keyboard arrow keys to highlight a window, then move the mouse to another window, the selection is lost.
3. If I hover the mouse on one window, the use the keyboard arrow keys, there'll be two highlighted windows (one under the mouse, another keyboard selection), and it's confusing which one is really "selected". (the window not under the mouse is keyboard selection and will react to Enter key)
Comment 5 Jin Liu 2022-09-17 00:51:19 UTC
(In reply to Jin Liu from comment #4)
> (In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> > This is intentional, and in fact it's what we do in multiple other places.
> > It's so your keyboard selection doesn't get lost if you use the mouse. If we
> > changed this, then you would lose your keyboard selection when you moved the
> > mouse, even accidentally.
> 
> But I don't see how the current behavior helps in that case:
> 1. If I use the keyboard arrow keys to highlight a window, then move the
> mouse in then out of that window, the selection is lost.
> 2. If I use the keyboard arrow keys to highlight a window, then move the
> mouse to another window, the selection is lost.
> 3. If I hover the mouse on one window, the use the keyboard arrow keys,
> there'll be two highlighted windows (one under the mouse, another keyboard
> selection), and it's confusing which one is really "selected". (the window
> not under the mouse is keyboard selection and will react to Enter key)

Point 1,2 are allright, but point 3 is especially confusing. Either the keyboard selection and the mouse hover are visually very different (as in Dolphin), or there's always one highlight (as in Kickoff).
Comment 6 Nate Graham 2022-09-19 22:14:19 UTC
The highlights looking the same for both keyboard and mouse selection seems valid. Folder view is also like Dolphin, with two highlights but they look different.
Comment 7 Jin Liu 2022-09-20 03:15:06 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #6)
> The highlights looking the same for both keyboard and mouse selection seems
> valid. Folder view is also like Dolphin, with two highlights but they look
> different.

Yes. And in Folder View, mouse hover doesn't reset keyboard selection, while in Overview it does.

However, I doubt that Folder View is a good model for Overview:
1. There are not that many windows on one screen. So perhaps keyboard selection accidentally reset by mouse isn't such a big thing, to warrent extra complexity of two types of highlight.
2. Overview doesn't support multiple selection like Folder View. With multiple selection, "selection" and "hover" must be distinct. Not the case for Overview.

IMHO how Kickoff handles keyboard and mouse selections looks good enough in this case.