UX Inconsistency: Meta+Alt+Scroll vs Pager Widget hover scroll in Plasma

Brainstorm
1

Hi all!

I’ve noticed a design inconsistency in KDE Plasma (returning after early days of version 5 and boy is it better! Awesome to use.)

Meta+Alt+Scroll cycles through virtual desktops regardless of whether an app or UI element is focused. Scrolling up with this keybind goes forward through virtual desktops, and scrolling down goes backwards. I prefer the inverse, but that’s neither here nor there. The UX issue comes in when scrolling on the Pager widget to cycle through virtual desktops. Scrolling down on the pager goes forward, and scrolling up goes backward; the exact opposite of Meta+Alt+Scroll’s behaviour!

Per the issue reporting procedure over in the “Get Involved” wiki (I can’t share links unfortunately), I’ve opted to post on the forum about this to see:

  1. If anyone else has noticed this, and if they have a workaround/solution?
  2. Failing the above, if you think requesting a “scrolling cycle direction” feature would be worth looking into.

Obviously a very minor issue, even perhaps up to preference, but I am curious to hear your thoughts.

Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

1 Like
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Hi! I’m not a virtual desktop user myself, but for what it’s worth, there’s a KDE Bugtracking System issue created for something that sounds pretty similar: 483601 – Virtual Desktop switching through mouse scroll should respect mouse scrolling direction setting under Mouse and Touchpad

That report isn’t necessarily calling out the difference between the Pager widget and the global shortcut - but if I’m reading both correctly, addressing the “respect scroll direction” one might also address the situation you’re noticing?

2 Likes
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Hmmm yes you’re absolutely right, “respect scroll decision,” will definitely address this! Thank you for sharing, I’ll go look at that more closely :slight_smile:

Next time I’ll consult the bug tracker as well before posting; would have saved you the time spent replying :')

Hope you have a nice day!

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Not a problem at all - and in my opinion, this one is nuanced enough that it’s still absolutely fair to bring up on this board. A quick back-and-forth here might save folks time down the road on submitting and working through a full-on bug or feature request! :slight_smile:

1 Like