In Dolphin, how can I stop the hovered item from being highlighted

[lteak]

It is driving me nuts that as I move my mouse up and down in a file list, each line gets highlighted as the mouse passes over. (And I can see the cursor just fine without that.)

How can I turn that feature off, in Plasma 6.7?

(A related frustration is that things have been moved around so much in the Settings over recent years, that online searches for help on things like this just wastes time, with no result. Some stability on this would be good!. And “hover” should be added as a Settings search term.)

But back to the question, How can I turn that hover highlighting off in Plasma 6.7?

[skyfishgoo]

i don’t think you can.

that hover effect it showing you that the item under your cursor is ready to be selected and if you have the info panel open it will display information about the item.

there are probably theming changes you can make so that the highlighting is less obnoxious for you, but the underlying function is integral to how dolphin works.

you can go to settings > colors and try editing some different options for your selected theme (or try a different one).

[ben2talk]

@lteak

And “hover” should be added as a Settings search term.

It’s tricky - have you looked at the colour scheme?

You can load it up, then ‘Save-As’ and mark it as an edit (e.g. save Breeze as '1. Breeze`) and then try to isolate the colours.

However, I think this subtle shift in contrast is a coded contrast to show what you’re hovering - not something you can choose.

[pg-tips]

I don’t feel that strongly about this myself, but the way it interacts with the zebra-striping in Details mode is a little awkward.

If you hover over an item which would normally be on a white stripe, the contrast between “normally white, but highlighted” vs “normally dark” is only very slight on default Breeze. For example -

[ben2talk]

@pg-tips

the way it interacts with the zebra-striping in Details mode is a little awkward.

It’s certainly inconsistent in that regard - depending on the contrast of the zebra-striping. I prefer a more subtle alternate colour, so most of my USED colourschemes are edits of originals.

Also, my HDTV is lower in contrast than most monitors - so things already look different than they do for you.

My favourite ‘light’ theme is ‘Card’ - available for download, it’s a nice creamy scheme… the ‘alternate’ lines are extremely subtle in Dolphin, and the hover effect is just a very slight darkening and totally inoffensive…

Expose is another ‘good’ colourscheme - though with the bright titlebars (it’s an XP clone) which can be tamed.

However, flicking through a few other schemes it seems they’re all pretty subtle in nature.

The solution here, however, is not that you can see where your mouse is - the answer is that it’s a vital function of the desktop environment to let you know what is registering as being ‘under the mouse’.

There are many subtle cues - for example, bringing the mouse back over to Firefox I notice the scrollbar briefly glowing up before disappearing again.

To have settings for all of these things would be going too far, we already have more settings than we can throw a stick at…

[lteak]

@ben2talk

the answer is that it’s a vital function of the desktop environment to let you know what is registering as being ‘under the mouse’.

That is so unnecessary in the main list of a file manager (or an email program) - we know those lines are selectable. It should be, left click it and then it is highlighted (selected); or double click it and it opens. Highlight should only be for “selected.” If some indication is needed, it could be a change in the shape or color of the cursor, instead of the current method of highlighting the whole line.

Or it could be designed as a choice of Zebra Stripes yes/no, and Hover Highlight yes/no; with no need to fiddle with color changes. All the current flashing on-screen is overkill.

I will make a wishlist suggestion to KDE (and had hoped that this might already be easily customizable).

Thanks, all, for your help and suggestions!

[amilias]

I think the main problem is that so far you haven’t really explained what the actual problem is and why a bit of highlighting annoys you so much.
The way I see it this is an accessibility feature that I’d wager is helpful to more people than it annoys and I don’t understand why it should need an entry in an already overcrowded settings dialog.

Also, visual feedback on hover is everywhere in plasma, from menus to toolbar icons to tabs, etc.

[lteak]

I pretty much live in a file manager, so the highlighting of full rows (flashing one-to-the-next as I move the mouse) is a constant irritation. Otherwise I wouldn’t have made this post.

As you say, hover-highlighting occurs elsewhere in Plasma such as in menus. But menus are narrow and used only briefly and infrequently, so the line-to-line flashing in those isn’t a problem for me.

To put a finer point on the hover behavior in Dolphin, in the left panel listing devices and folders, there is no hover highlighting at all (nor any underlining or other indication) that the cursor is over a selectable item. It is simply intuitive that the cursor is over something that can be clicked on the activate. I think this is proof that hover-hightlighting in the main panel is superfluous, at least for those users who may wish to disable the hover feature.

[dzon]

You could edit the color scheme. Won’t work in breeze though.

As an example, a semi transparent highlight.

[ben2talk]

@dzon

You could edit the color scheme.

I found that highlight to be subtle in most schemes - but I did edit one in the past to adjust the contrasts, and this one has a lower ‘alternate’ and ‘highlight’ contrast you might find inoffensive.

However, to call this ‘annoying’ or ‘flashing’ strikes me as a slightly intense reaction.

Solution:

We don’t get paid if this doesn’t get solved… though I still insist that the ‘effect’ is a pretty vital feature, it can be tamed…

@lteak Can you try this and report back?

The solution is the workflow… if you can’t adjust in the GUI.

The scheme `~/.local/share/color-schemes/01Dimmed.colors

[ColorEffects:Disabled]
Color=#FF0000
ColorAmount=-1
ColorEffect=1
ContrastAmount=0.5
ContrastEffect=0
IntensityAmount=0.2
IntensityEffect=0

[ColorEffects:Inactive]
ChangeSelectionColor=true
Color=#706F6E
ColorAmount=0.025
ColorEffect=2
ContrastAmount=0.1
ContrastEffect=2
Enable=false
IntensityAmount=0
IntensityEffect=0

[Colors:Button]
BackgroundAlternate=#3e3e3e
BackgroundNormal=#222222
DecorationFocus=#AAAAAA
DecorationHover=#969696
ForegroundActive=#FF80E0
ForegroundInactive=#A0A0A0
ForegroundLink=#3C5A64
ForegroundNegative=#F00101
ForegroundNeutral=#5B8966
ForegroundNormal=#969696
ForegroundPositive=#80FF80
ForegroundVisited=#4B1E1E

[Colors:Selection]
BackgroundAlternate=#737373
BackgroundNormal=#737373
DecorationFocus=#AAAAAA
DecorationHover=#969696
ForegroundActive=#FF80E0
ForegroundInactive=#A0A0A0
ForegroundLink=#3C5A64
ForegroundNegative=#F00101
ForegroundNeutral=#5B8966
ForegroundNormal=#FFFFFF
ForegroundPositive=#80FF80
ForegroundVisited=#4B1E1E

[Colors:Tooltip]
BackgroundAlternate=#00044B
BackgroundNormal=#798996
DecorationFocus=#AAAAAA
DecorationHover=#969696
ForegroundActive=#FF80E0
ForegroundInactive=#E1E1E1
ForegroundLink=#3C5A64
ForegroundNegative=#F00101
ForegroundNeutral=#5B8966
ForegroundNormal=#252525
ForegroundPositive=#80FF80
ForegroundVisited=#4B1E1E

[Colors:View]
BackgroundAlternate=#2E2E2E
BackgroundNormal=#2F2F2F
DecorationFocus=#AAAAAA
DecorationHover=#969696
ForegroundActive=#FF80E0
ForegroundInactive=#A0A0A0
ForegroundLink=#3C5A64
ForegroundNegative=#F00101
ForegroundNeutral=#5B8966
ForegroundNormal=#AFAFAF
ForegroundPositive=#80FF80
ForegroundVisited=#4B1E1E

[Colors:Window]
BackgroundAlternate=#113700
BackgroundNormal=#1E1E1E
DecorationFocus=#AAAAAA
DecorationHover=#969696
ForegroundActive=#FF80E0
ForegroundInactive=#8C8C8C
ForegroundLink=#3C5A64
ForegroundNegative=#F00101
ForegroundNeutral=#5B8966
ForegroundNormal=#AFAFAF
ForegroundPositive=#80FF80
ForegroundVisited=#4B1E1E

[General]
ColorScheme=Kvantum
Name=01Dimmed.colors
shadeSortColumn=true

[KDE]
contrast=10

[WM]
activeBackground=#1E1E1E
activeBlend=#FFFFFF
activeForeground=#6EA07A
inactiveBackground=#1E1E1E
inactiveBlend=#3D3D3E
inactiveForeground=#969696

It’s actually easier to find and tweak individual colours here than it is through the GUI (which categorises, but has no search…).

You can EDIT and PREVIEW these colours (HTML format) in Kate and adjust them there visually also:

[lteak]

I’m stumped, and burning up lots of time on this. So I made a copy of a light theme in that folder. I can’t figure out where to make changes in the file, can’t find a guide online for figuring that out, and haven’t been able to locate that color panel in the current version of Kate (after online searching to find it).

I appreciate the help and will figure it out eventually - got to get back to real work.

Meanwhile, my eventual wishlist submission to KDE will be something like this (red circle, and with an explanation of course), for making a simple choice as simple as it should be in the Dolphin configuration:

:

[ben2talk]

It shouldn’t take too long.

If you downloaded the scheme I suggested, you should see that those lines are ‘Alternate’ and you can adjust them here:

[Colors:View]
BackgroundAlternate=#2E2E2E
BackgroundNormal=#2F2F2F

So setting them the same means no contrast at all, or you could set them to be close as I have done.

There are just soooo many variables that you can edit and adjust, it’s ridiculous to demand a setting for just one of those, whilst ignoring all the others…

Those settings are available in the colour scheme.

You can do the same for any theme once you understand the theme… though personally I prefer to run them through an LLM replacing the HSL value with HTML to get the Kate preview.

To convert to HTML, you can just paste the content into an LLM:

Like this:

Summary

I have a light theme (called Card):

[ColorEffects:Disabled]
ChangeSelectionColor=
Color=255,0,0
ColorAmount=
ColorEffect=0
ContrastAmount=0
ContrastEffect=
Enable=
IntensityAmount=
IntensityEffect=

[ColorEffects:Inactive]
ChangeSelectionColor=false
Color=invalid
ColorAmount=0.025
ColorEffect=2
ContrastAmount=0
ContrastEffect=2
Enable=false
IntensityAmount=0
IntensityEffect=0

[Colors:Button]
BackgroundAlternate=226,224,210
BackgroundNormal=228,222,200
DecorationFocus=91,137,102
DecorationHover=224,205,160
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=127,140,141
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=46,44,40
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[Colors:Complementary]
BackgroundAlternate=59,64,69
BackgroundNormal=224,214,191
DecorationFocus=61,174,233
DecorationHover=147,206,233
ForegroundActive=147,206,233
ForegroundInactive=175,176,179
ForegroundLink=61,174,230
ForegroundNegative=231,76,60
ForegroundNeutral=253,188,75
ForegroundNormal=239,240,241
ForegroundPositive=46,174,230
ForegroundVisited=61,174,230

[Colors:Selection]
BackgroundAlternate=29,153,243
BackgroundNormal=91,137,102
DecorationFocus=91,137,102
DecorationHover=224,205,160
ForegroundActive=252,252,252
ForegroundInactive=239,240,241
ForegroundLink=253,188,75
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=248,248,248
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=189,195,199

[Colors:Tooltip]
BackgroundAlternate=77,77,77
BackgroundNormal=35,38,39
DecorationFocus=91,137,102
DecorationHover=224,205,160
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=189,195,199
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=252,252,252
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[Colors:View]
BackgroundAlternate=240,239,226
BackgroundNormal=246,245,231
DecorationFocus=91,137,102
DecorationHover=224,205,160
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=127,140,141
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=58,58,58
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[Colors:Window]
BackgroundAlternate=224,214,191
BackgroundNormal=224,217,191
DecorationFocus=91,137,102
DecorationHover=224,205,160
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=127,140,141
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=36,43,46
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[General]
Name=Card
shadeSortColumn=true

[KDE]
contrast=4

[WM]
activeBackground=91,137,102

Do not use any Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other non-English characters anywhere in your thinking or output. Respond only in English.

Now convert those colours to HTML from HSL and replace the HSL colours with #xxxxxx values to produce a new file ‘CardHTML.colors’

Present the result in a code block for easy copying.

[ngraham]

@lteak

Meanwhile, my eventual wishlist submission to KDE will be something like this (red circle, and with an explanation of course), for making a simple choice as simple as it should be in the Dolphin configuration:

I’m afraid I would reject feature requests for settings like these. The stripes and hover effects are usability aids using well-established user interface design principles.

We need to go back to the beginning. You say the hover effects for list items in Dolphin’s details view are driving you nuts; but why? Can you articulate what the problem is, specifically?

And also, do the hover effects drive you nuts elsewhere too? There super common in KDE’s software. Do the hover effects also drive you nuts in System Settings’ sidebar list, for example? What about for buttons? Menu items? Files in Dolphin in icon view rather than details view?

[lteak]

Thanks for your reply, Nate.

First, my post and wishlist suggestion are exclusively for Dolphin, not Plasma generally. Ben’s advice went further afield than that (whole Plasma) so not really what I’m after necessarily.

“in Dolphin’s details view … what is the problem, specifically?”

The list lines in the main list span most of the screen, and in my case are relatively tall. As I move the cursor arrow up and down the screen, each row in turn that is under the cursor flashes a highlight bar across the screen. My selected screen appearance (which is light background) is high contrast, so this action is very flashy and distracting. I find this constantly annoying and can’t get used to it.

Though I used the word “hover” that isn’t accurate, because the above is a matter of mouse movement (or arrow key use), not a matter of holding the cursor static over a line. So here I will refer to it as “tracking highlights”.

I understand that you consider this flashy action to be an established UI design principle; however, it is not universal among file managers and some (e.g. Directory Opus, which I’m familiar with) allow it to be turned off. Note in the image above of my suggestion, I left the tick boxes unchecked so that the default setting would be for your preferred interface action.

What about “sidebar list … buttons? Menu items?” or “Dolphin in icon view”?

I am not troubled by sidebars, buttons and menu items because these panels and popups are narrow, and also are infrequently used. Nonetheless, if there were a choice to turn off the tracking highlights, I would use it. The cursor arrow by itself is sufficient, and the cleaner and simpler the UI the better for me when I can choose.

SOME INCONSISTENCIES: KDE and/or Plasma as examples does not use tracking highlights in these places: (1) in Plasma Quick Settings, theme thumbnails yes but 7 other choices not; (2) Mouse & Touchpad, 6 tick boxes not; (3) Power Management 3 cases yes but six other choices not; (4) KOrganizer no tracking in the calendar or daily list (but hovering gives a popup, fine); (5) in Okular the file > open list has no tracking; and (6) in KFind there is no tracking in the list of found files.

So, respectfully, I still think my wishlist idea is reasonable. Both the tracking and zebra stripes settings are significant choices (for those want the choice), and a convenient way of choosing would be to the good. KDE is implementing good simple choices for appearance settings, and IMO these are good ones to add.

[skyfishgoo]

hover vs selection

these are very different things.

when you use the arrows to move thru the file list you are selecting an item for operation, and this is a significantly more pronounced contrast than the hover highlight.

still it comes down to a theme choice that is more suited to your needs… the default breeze light theme is quite contrast-y and bold, but there are hundreds of other color schemes out there, or you can simply edit your own copy of breeze to tame the colors to your liking.

if you were to turn OFF the selection highlight in any file manager, it would render the GUI unusable for the purpose… how would you know what file will open when you press enter?

i suggest you take another stab at editing your colors, but look for “select” rather than “hover”

[ben2talk]

It might prove useful if you could provide video to demonstrate how this looks on your system.

However, you did say you have set your screen to be high contrast - and that’s an interesting choice. I find it hard to sympathise because I dislike bright/high contrasts, so I adjust mine to be subtle but noticeable.

[lteak]

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Sky.

Speaking here again specifically regarding navigation in Dolphin, and first about mouse navigation in Dolphin. Actually there is a third mouse navigation action (mouse movement) in addition to the two you mentioned (hover and selection). It is vertical mouse movement action that is of concern here, and particularly that highlighting follows wherever the mouse is moved. Hover only needs to be a position over a file, waiting for the user to take action. Actions while hovering can be: (1) one click for selection using the selection highlight color, or a Shift-click or Ctrl-click for multiple selections; (2) a double-click to open the file, which is another form of selection; or a right-click for other options. In other words, hovering and selection are integrated actions. Simply pointing to a file with the cursor (with no added highlighting) will be sufficient for many users to use the mouse this way, while others may like to have the additional highlighting (a feature that other may not like). So providing an on/off configuration choice is a reasonable request.

The third mouse navigation action, vertical movement often combined with use of the mouse wheel for paging in a long list, is a distinctly different kind of action from the above two. And this is the action for which I desire provision of an on/off configuration choice. This is where highlighting that follows the mouse movement is a distraction for some users, and for whom just seeing the mouse cursor is sufficient for navigating to search for a file and then to select it. Here, the moving highlighting is fine for those who like that, but not good for those who find it a distraction.

Now, secondly about navigation in the Dolphin list using the arrow keys. That is something I rarely do, and I included it in my previous post just for completeness. In playing with that now, I see that is different from mouse navigation and really is not an issue in the discussion here. The key case is opening a directory, in which case Dolphin outlines the first file or folder and places the mouse cursor there. Then, moving downward with an arrow key Dolphins selection highlight (not the mouse movement highlight) moves down the screen, and the eye naturally follows that. It is (in my setup) a darkish green highlight on a light back ground, so there is movement but no flashing from row to row. Completely natural, eye focused on the highlight and the cursor left behind at the top of the list (same position there even as the list pages down). So … the issue is only for when navigating a list with the mouse, not with the arrow keys.

“if you were to turn OFF the selection highlight in any file manager, it would render the GUI unusable for the purpose… how would you know what file will open when you press enter?”

You have a statement and a question there. The statement misstates the issue: the issue is not the file selection highlighting, the issue is the mouse movement highlighting. To your question, I will know which file I will open because either I will be double-clicking where the mouser cursor is, or I will have clicked once to visibly select the file (which then displays the selection highlighting), and then open it. There is no problem in this. The position of the mouse cursor is indication enough for the user to take action, and the mouse position highlighting (as opposed to actual selection highlighting) in actuality is superfluous - those some may like that feature very much.

So I continue to think that a simple on/off setting for mouse movement highlighting is a reasonable wishlist request though KDE’s reporting system (i.e. not through this forum). Though I may find a workaround, I see this as not just about me but for making Dolphin easy to configure for everyone.

[lteak]

@ben2talk

I find it hard to sympathise because I dislike bright/high contrasts, so I adjust mine to be subtle but noticeable.

To each their own. An attraction of Plasma among for many, among Linux offerings, is its high customizability. I looking toward how to make that work for me particularly in Dolphin, and beyond my needs I’m just suggesting provision to make it easy for anyone to optionally turn this feature off. There is a good and easily found place to include that in Dolphin’s View configuration.

[skyfishgoo]

ok, well i’m genuinely confused as to what exactly you are talking about… so, i’m just gonna wait for the movie on this book.

[ben2talk]

@lteak

To put a finer point on the hover behavior in Dolphin, in the left panel listing devices and folders, there is no hover highlighting at all

There is on MY desktop, with all the ‘Breeze’ variations.

We should see a video of this.
Here, the item ‘Backup’ is hovered and shows a contrast shift.

Here, a list item (in details view) shows a contrast shift - to the right of the time 01:24 you can see the edge of that highlight.

In Breeze Light, it’s much more subtle than that - but you said you have a very HIGH contrast theme. We need to know what that is, you could copy-paste it here and let someone look at it.

Breeze Light is subtly darker.

Card colour scheme has a subtle green tint:

Also a very subtle highlight in the file listing:

There’s another problem here - I’m viewing these on MY display, and after recently testing out my son’s monitor on my computer, I must say that ‘personalised’ settings could be a huge issue.

Maybe check your display to see if it’s set fairly normal, or somehow that’s amplifying the effect somewhat.

The reason I said I can’t sympathise is that I set up my desktop to have exactly the comfortable contrast and brightness levels for my room, my TV, my eyes.

Show us the moOOOvie