Bug 485591 - Many windows, UI elements are unusably small on high DPI screens
Summary: Many windows, UI elements are unusably small on high DPI screens
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: digikam
Classification: Applications
Component: Usability-Ergonomy (show other bugs)
Version: 8.3.0
Platform: Appimage Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Digikam Developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2024-04-15 14:07 UTC by Barnaby
Modified: 2024-04-21 16:37 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:


Attachments
renaming template selection window unusably small (433.70 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:07 UTC, Barnaby
Details
import images from files window much too small (168.95 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:07 UTC, Barnaby
Details
image editor filter options unreadable (164.88 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:08 UTC, Barnaby
Details
image editor crop grab handles unusably small (mouse pointer in the position shown is not close enough to grab onto them) (75.30 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:08 UTC, Barnaby
Details
font selection window unusably small (127.20 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:09 UTC, Barnaby
Details
renaming window template selection buttons have no padding (306.83 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:09 UTC, Barnaby
Details
renaming window EXIF property selection checkboxes unusably small, not checked when clicking on property name (274.93 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 14:10 UTC, Barnaby
Details
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 photo list (1.49 MB, image/png)
2024-04-15 20:56 UTC, Barnaby
Details
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 default image editor size (226.99 KB, image/png)
2024-04-15 20:57 UTC, Barnaby
Details
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 enlarged image editor window (1.88 MB, image/png)
2024-04-15 20:57 UTC, Barnaby
Details
8.4.0 Qt6 Main View unreadable sidebar icons (2.67 MB, image/png)
2024-04-21 16:17 UTC, Barnaby
Details
8.4.0 Qt6 image editor resized toolbar spaced-out tool icons (2.22 MB, image/png)
2024-04-21 16:18 UTC, Barnaby
Details

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Description Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:07:01 UTC
Created attachment 168552 [details]
renaming template selection window unusably small

SUMMARY
When using the DigiKam 8.3.0 AppImage on a laptop with a high DPI screen, many windows and UI elements are so small as to be near-unusable by default. Some of these (window sizes) can be mitigated by the user by resizing them, but in many cases this must be done every single time the window is opened. Other non-resizable UI elements cannot be mitigated like this.

These occur regardless of whether the “use high DPI scaling from the screen factor” setting is enabled, and regardless of the application font size (in my case Noto Sans at 12). Adjusting the app’s QT Scale Factor (e.g. to 1.5 or 2) via an environment variable in the .desktop file results in everything being much too large.

The UI is correctly scaled in non-AppImage versions, but I ended up needing to use AppImage digiKam to get access to a newer version than the packaged version available on current kubuntu.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
digiKam 8.3.0
Build date: 14/03/2024 17:13 (target: RelWithDebInfo)
Revision: 9e9222fa4002acf2fcca6741b79260f01817eb30
Branch: HEAD

Operating System: Kubuntu 23.10
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.8
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.110.0
Qt Version: 5.15.10
Kernel Version: 6.5.0-27-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 20 × 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700H
Memory: 31.1 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® Graphics
Comment 1 Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:07:36 UTC
Created attachment 168553 [details]
import images from files window much too small
Comment 2 Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:08:05 UTC
Created attachment 168554 [details]
image editor filter options unreadable
Comment 3 Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:08:46 UTC
Created attachment 168555 [details]
image editor crop grab handles unusably small (mouse pointer in the position shown is not close enough to grab onto them)
Comment 4 Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:09:14 UTC
Created attachment 168556 [details]
font selection window unusably small
Comment 5 Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:09:43 UTC
Created attachment 168557 [details]
renaming window template selection buttons have no padding
Comment 6 Barnaby 2024-04-15 14:10:30 UTC
Created attachment 168558 [details]
renaming  window EXIF property selection checkboxes unusably small, not checked when clicking on property name
Comment 7 Maik Qualmann 2024-04-15 20:51:33 UTC
This could be a problem with the integration in Wayland with the AppImage.
I'm currently using an X11 desktop with KF6. With a QT_SCALE_FACTOR of 1.5 to 2.0 I have no problems with the AppImage, everything scales and looks good. Also, for example, the grab handles in the selection tool in the image editor.

Maik
Comment 8 Barnaby 2024-04-15 20:56:53 UTC
Created attachment 168570 [details]
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 photo list
Comment 9 Barnaby 2024-04-15 20:57:23 UTC
Created attachment 168571 [details]
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 default image editor size
Comment 10 Barnaby 2024-04-15 20:57:49 UTC
Created attachment 168572 [details]
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 enlarged image editor window
Comment 11 Barnaby 2024-04-15 20:59:27 UTC
I added some reference screenshots launching digiKam with QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5. Generally speaking the sizes of icons and UI elements is better, but default window sizes and icon spacing are just as bad. I changed the application font size to 9 which improves things slightly, but it’s still borderline unusable IMO.
Comment 12 Maik Qualmann 2024-04-15 21:11:26 UTC
Your toolbar and tool sidebar icons are too small. It is possible to choose a smaller icon size for the toolbar. I have no idea about the tool sidebar.

A test here with a native Wayland Desktop session shows me no different view than with X11.

Maik
Comment 13 caulier.gilles 2024-04-20 03:23:03 UTC
Hi all,

The digiKam 8.4.0 Appimage bundle pre-release is now based on last modern frameworks Qt 6.7.0 and KDE 6.2.0.

File can be downloaded at usual place : https://files.kde.org/digikam/
Take a  care : the bundle is named with the suffix "-Qt6" not "-Qt5". This bundle is compiled under Ubuntu 22.04 and require a Linux with GlibC version >= 2.35 to run.

Can you reproduce the dysfonction with this version?

Thanks in advance

Gilles Caulier
Comment 14 Barnaby 2024-04-21 16:16:46 UTC
(In reply to caulier.gilles from comment #13)

> The digiKam 8.4.0 Appimage bundle pre-release is now based on last modern
> frameworks Qt 6.7.0 and KDE 6.2.0.
> 
> Can you reproduce the dysfonction with this version?

This version is definitely better! A lot of the windows which were previously unusably small by default (e.g. the font selection one) are now slightly larger – still undersize IMO, but usable without having to resize them every single time.

The sidebar buttons in the main window are still all cut off (the text for ”Tags” doesn’t show up at all, only the tags icon).

Opening the image editor for the first time on the new version, it started with the right tools sidebar taking up most of the screen, with the photo being squashed down to a tiny thumbnail. When the sidebar is resized to only take up ~20% of the screen, the tool icons are still readable and stack much better. IMO they’re unnecessarily spaced out (there are huge, unclickable gutters between them which IIRC were not in the non-flatpak version) but it is readable and usable.

I was hoping that this update might also fix the issues I’ve been having dragging+dropping photos into some other applications, but sadly it’s still very unreliable. I can make a separate bug for that if there isn’t one already.
Comment 15 Barnaby 2024-04-21 16:17:47 UTC
Created attachment 168750 [details]
8.4.0 Qt6 Main View unreadable sidebar icons
Comment 16 Barnaby 2024-04-21 16:18:36 UTC
Created attachment 168751 [details]
8.4.0 Qt6 image editor resized toolbar spaced-out tool icons
Comment 17 Barnaby 2024-04-21 16:20:31 UTC
Ah I also noticed that this latest build seems to have a custom pointer set, which can be seen in my latest screenshots (compare with the default KDE Breeze pointer in the older screenshots). Not sure if that is intentional or not, but I prefer that applications use the system pointers unless they have some good reason not to.
Comment 18 caulier.gilles 2024-04-21 16:34:52 UTC
>I was hoping that this update might also fix the issues I’ve been having dragging+dropping photos into some other applications, but sadly it’s still >very unreliable. I can make a separate bug for that if there isn’t one already.

For this point, it's better to have a separate report. Look already existing ones :

https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=CONFIRMED&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&classification=Applications&component=Usability-Drag%26Drop&list_id=2690607&product=digikam&query_format=advanced

Gilles Caulier
Comment 19 caulier.gilles 2024-04-21 16:37:49 UTC
> Ah I also noticed that this latest build seems to have a custom pointer set

It's not the case. It's probably a KF6 framework side effect. Remember that KDE 6 is not yet mature compared to Qt5 based version.