In windows you have to press once on arrow to show popup menu containing folders
In Dolphin you have to click every time on an arrow to show popup menu with folders.
Popup menu does not show up automatically
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TIL that you can navigate to other folders by clicking on the arrow between folders in the location bar.
never noticed that before, thanks.
For what itâs worth - I personally feel that menus which automatically follow the pointer, and which have small tolerances (like the Windows example above - the menu changes almost instantly on a very slight motion to the right), are tricky to use when you have imprecise input.
That might not always be the case for everyone, but I know my own experiences with touchpads, and my sonâs experiences with developing motor skills, were fairly challenging with the old Application Launcher default that changed categories on mouseover instead of on-click. Just one perspective, though 
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I would say this is another good reason to avoid using Windows - it leads people into bad habits, and then leads them to complain when another system doesnât follow suit.
Windows is not the default, and I would find it very annoying to have this âstickyâ click behaviour in Dolphin.
Usually, when I open one of these menus I will use the keyboard to navigate it - because I donât really enjoy having to use my mouse with a high degree of accuracy; especially once a menu is openâŚ
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If you look at the statistics then Windows is THE DEFAULT home operating system used by hundreds of millions users. How many people in homes do use linux? 4%-5%?
If you have not noticed yet MAIN MENU also has this sticky behavior. Problem?
For what itâs worth, the âCopying other platformsâ section of the KDE Visual Design Group wiki page seems relevant here: Get Involved/Design/Frequently Discussed Topics - KDE Community Wiki
I feel like the gist there is that UX choices should be mindful of, but not necessarily adhere to, what other projects or companies are doing.
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Windows uses linux servers, the vast majority has a linux driven phone and about 90% of the world population are total mor..s. One of the reasons for that most probably is the fact that they have this URGE to belong to some statistic. Problem?
Whatâs wrong with copying good ideas from commercial projects?
Why should I constantly click on an arrow icon to reveal popup menu?
When it comes to main menu you seem to accept that behaviour but when I ask for the same in dolphin then we have this argue.
Nothing - I think rejecting an idea simply because it came from a commercial project would be just as illogical as copying it for the same reason It should come down to whatever makes for the best experience that fits with the projectsâ vision, and has contributors willing to design, code, and support it.
If I had a magic wand, Iâd have the menubar behave the same way - only changing menus on-click, rather than on-hover. Which one is the preferred behavior, and where consistency on that should or shouldnât matter, sounds like a good topic for Get Involved/design - KDE Community Wiki
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regardless of what windows does or doesnât do⌠i would petition that sub menu selection by hover should be consistent throughout the UI.
the application launcher categories, the sub menus in kate or dolphin, the arrows in the location bar of dolphin⌠all of them should have a consistent UX.
either you have to:
- explicitly click on each element to get the sub menu to appear (laborious)
- the sub menus appear by simply hovering over the element (annoying)
- a hybrid where you have to first click an element to make it sticky, and then sub menus appear and will follow the hover until you click somewhere else (strikes a good balance)
right now i see all three of those behaviors on my screen at the same time and i donât like it⌠itâs inconsistent and a bit gaslight-y to be honest.
Wow, I hadnât even noticed this - I hate mousing menus, so I always use the keyboard for accuracy⌠but as you say, perhaps some additional preferences to enable the on-hover and make the behavior more consistent would be a good thing.
Many years ago I learned this is what the Alt key was for, to access menus and trigger underlined accelerator options - so I guess I never transitioned into preferring mouse for navigating menus, though I loved the ability to use Mouse Gestures in the past which allow you to add a shape you can draw anywhere on the desktop to directly access a featureâŚ
Goes off to Bug Tracker⌠#1 Bug âWindows is Defaultâ
I could see it useful as a option in settings. Mainly if you already have a disability where keyboard or mouse gestures are difficult or impossible. Lets say missing arm or navigating by sight or mouth due to being paralyzed. Having things be able to flow would be a useful thing. Rather then it being something that just windows has I think its always best to look at things a little deeper.
But I mainly say this cause I help people get systems set up OS agnostic so they can use them since most of the world requires it.
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iâm just old and donât like how fidgety it feels trying to launch an app buried more then one level deep in the app menu⌠there should be a way to lock the sub menus open so you can take your time clicking on the app, without having to worry about going back and dragging back open every time you miss.
In my opinion this is why I always revert to the keyboard when navigating once the menu is open - nothing fidgety, and one false move wonât drop the menu or open a new one⌠itâs just up/down/left/right and Enter.
May I ask which launcher you are using? I definitely donât have that issue, nor anything deeper than one layer using either the stock Application Launcher or the old-skool Application menu, or any of the third-party ones I have. I donât customize mine to add any submenus, though.
But fwiw, Plasma 6âs Application Launcher does have the option to enable/disable switching to submenus on hover, which is not present on Plasma 5.27.
i can use meta to open the app menu, then use the cursor keys to navigate, but unfortunately for me a bug in the app menu structure prevents that from being workable.
my task bar is on the right side of my screen and vertical and when the app menu is opened the menu spills out to the left.
i then have to cursor DOWN to even get a highlight to show (on the 2nd line, weirdly)
from then on to use the keyboard i have to cursor RIGHT in order to highlight anything (or open a submenu, which opens to the left), and itâs backwards like that trying to navigate the entire tree.
literally unplayable.
still on plasma 5 using the application menu widget, so maybe this is all fixed by now.
nope it has not been fixed, just checked plasma 6.2 on opensuse (distrosea.com) and it behaves exactly like my plasma 5 menu.
Going back to the OP, I too like the Windows behaviour here (click once, then hovering the mouse will change which menu appears), and as pointed out, this is exactly the same as how menu bars have worked for decades. Clicking on the arrow in the address bar is already quite a niche thing to do, so if this was changed to do the hover thing, I donât see much of an accessibility issue - the usual method of navigating the folder structure (double-clicking a folder name, clicking the up arrow button in the toolbar etc.) will still be present.
