Overlay scrollbars prevent me from scrolling all the way up/down

[Teo]

The degradation in the functionality of scrollbars began when somebody had the brilliant idea to replace the traditional and perfectly functional scrollbars with this overlay nonsense.

But now, recently (with some update), it has become absolutely demential.

Previously, the overlay scroll cursor would only appear if you placed the mouse cursor over the red vertical region (which is the equivalent to the old scroll bar cursor). So when you move it to the top or to the bottom you would actually scroll to the top or to the bottom (not always 100% indeed, it was already imperfect).

But now, the overlay cursor appears at any position when the mouse cursor is near to the scrollbar, and when you drag it the movement is done relative to the original scroll position. While this has the apparent advantage that it is apparently easier to do the scrolling (which only reveals how the whole idea of the overlay scrollbar goes against usability in the first place), the problem is that when you reach the top/bottom of the window with the overlay cursor, you often have not reached the top/bottom with the real cursor.

So it gives you a false impression that you can scroll more easily (you don't have to look for the red bar), just to double your frustration when you get stuck midway and cannot scroll any more unless you ¿guess what? look for the red bar!!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity 5.14.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-29.46-generic 3.2.24
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-29-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 295.40 Thu Apr 5 21:28:09 PDT 2012
 GCC version: gcc version 4.6.3 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.3-1ubuntu5)
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu12
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,vpswitch,mousepoll,compiztoolbox,snap,place,resize,session,regex,grid,wall,move,gnomecompat,imgpng,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Sat Aug 11 17:27:11 2012
DistUpgraded: 2012-05-17 16:45:23,028 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 295.40, 3.2.0-29-generic, i686: installedError! Could not locate dkms.conf file.
 File: does not exist.
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation G84 [GeForce 9500M GS] [10de:0405] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:15d2]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 xorg:nvidia_173_updates - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use)
 pkg:sl-modem-daemon - Software modem (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 xorg:nvidia_current_updates - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51Sn
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic root=UUID=173acbf5-26a0-49e3-8d2b-f1c142582cbf ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-17 (86 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/24/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 303
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: M51Sn
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr303:bd12/24/2007:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnM51Sn:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnM51Sn:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: M51Sn
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.4
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.32-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu10.7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1.2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Confirmed. I never noticed before but can verify that in a Terminal window I can't always scroll all the way to the top, depending on the position the scrollbar started at.

And dragging the bar to the bottom and then top again changes how far up you can go!?

[Teo (teo1978)]

Pretty long time without this getting any attention.

If there is no interest in fixing the long list of bugs and brilliant features of these usability-killer scrollbars, why don't you please remove them from Ubuntu by default?

Most tutorials I've seen around about tweaking the latest releases of Ubuntu to make it work great, include removing the shitty overlay scrollbars among the first 5 or 10 things to do.