Bug 495492 - Screen capture with ability to bypass zoom + color inversion
Summary: Screen capture with ability to bypass zoom + color inversion
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2024-10-28 17:03 UTC by Ritchie Frodomar
Modified: 2024-10-28 17:03 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description Ritchie Frodomar 2024-10-28 17:03:39 UTC
SUMMARY
As an accessibility user, sometimes I want to take screenshots or record video of my screen while zoomed in/with colors inverted, but don't want the viewer to see this. Currently, as this is a fairly unique requirement, it isn't possible to do this in any compositor, including Kwin.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Zoom into the screen, or invert colors.
2. Take a screenshot with Spectacle

OBSERVED RESULT
If you had color inversion turned on, that will appear in the screenshot. If you were zoomed in, the screenshot will be as well.

EXPECTED RESULT
The above observed result is fine in a lot of cases, but sometimes you don't want this. Operating systems like Windows and macOS allow you to bypass zoom and color inversion when capturing the screen. This way, as an accessibility user, you don't need to worry about turning accessibility features off when sharing your screen with others who don't need them/find them bothersome to look at.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: Arch Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.7.0
Qt Version: 6.8.0

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This isn't really a bug, more or less just a missing feature. It's also fairly unique to visually impaired people like myself, which is why I marked it as wishlist. I suspect this would need a wider dialogue outside of just the KDE community, as I'd imagine this would require extending some Wayland protocols. That's beyond my skill level though, I figured I'd start the dialogue here where people know what they're doing.

The real question is why you'd want a feature like this. Over the years of making YouTube videos and doing livestreams where my desktop is part of it, I've received lots of feedback (and even jokes) about how far I have to zoom into the screen and how much things move around. While most people are polite about it once I let them know I'm blind and there's nothing I can do about it, the biggest complaint is that people find it nauseating to watch. I don't blame them - it does take a while to get used to using a computer zoomed in, finding the most comfortable zoom level and mouse movement mode, etc. Being able to bypass that in a screen capture would make everybody's life easier - I can stay zoomed in so I can see what I'm doing, but everyone else can watch without developing motion sickness from the constant movement of UI elements.

Based on my (limited) understanding of the zoom effect in kwin from a previous contribution, I'd imagine this would require direct support from the compositor.