I have a bottom panel with width set to fit content and visibility to dodge windows. I am using it as a dock with icons only task manager. However since I only have 4-5 apps on there usually, the trigger area is very small, and it is quite easy to miss this trigger area. Is it possible to manually set the trigger area length, or set the whole bottom screen edge as trigger?
How do you miss an area that’s centered on the screen?
Hi - I’m not a Plasma developer by any means, but from seeing the resolution of bug reports like 478691 – Distance at which Panel dodges windows is double the distance it needs to be and the details of merge requests like Only dodge windows when they overlap the panel (!1944) · Merge requests · Plasma / Plasma Desktop · GitLab, I think the dodge windows distances are hard-coded and intentionally designed as they are currently…
So, changing those values on an individual level would (I believe) require getting into the code yourself. As far as the overall feature goes though, if you have ideas for different ways to go about using those panels that would improve usability, I imagine that would be of interest to the KDE Visual Design Group: Get Involved/design - KDE Community Wiki
(Others may have additional ideas here, but hopefully that helps give some initial context)
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Thank you for your response.
Due to the icon only task manager with few apps, the panel length is quite small compared to screen length, which is why I often miss the trigger area and end up needing to try again.
Thank you for your response.
I think I might not have been entirely clear in what I intend to achieve. Firstly I meant the trigger area when the panel is hidden (due to dodge windows settings) to bring it back, which is around the same size as the panel itself. I was wondering if that could be increased. As I could not find any options in the panel settings for this, I was hoping there would be some config I can tweak to achieve it.
Ah, I think I understand now!
I don’t have direct personal knowledge on that, but perhaps take a look at this topic, which seems to be about the same general goal and had some engaged discussion and referenced the wishlist bug tracking issue for that goal:
Thanks that might be it, as I’m accustomed to similar behaviour of dock. Seems as of now it’s not possible with the default plasma panels. Anyway thanks for helping me out.
No matter how long or short you have your panel / dock you know exactly where it is. If you miss it that is on you also what you have on your panel / dock has no bearing on if you trigger it properly or not.
Now that said if you would like a toggle that would give you the options of showing your panel / dock no matter where you are on the screen I can get behind a toggle to allow for that.
To be fair, I know exactly where each key on my keyboard is, and I still make typos - human motion isn’t perfect.
@bonelesstree If you really want that specific look-and-feel but have trouble maneuvering it… IMO the default icon size for a Plasma panel is pretty small compared to what I remember a macOS-style dock being like. So, one other mitigating thought might be, perhaps increasing the icon size might help a bit, plus give a bit more of that “dock” aesthetic?
It’s not the icons, it’s the panel / dock the OP wants the triggering adjusted for.
As @johnandmegh said, human motion is not perfect. It is easier to access a panel with larger trigger area. Also it is pretty much the norm across different dock implementations, be it macOS, or dash to dock in gnome, or even latte in plasma before it died had similar behaviour. So I don’t think it is just on me, neither do I see the reason behind this hostility, but to each their own. Anyway have a good day.
And yes @johnandmegh having bigger icons is what I am doing right now, to have a panel big enough even with fewer apps. Thanks for your input.