Disable scrolling on window list to flip through windows

Bug #39328 reported by Ben Maurer
152
This bug affects 23 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
GNOME Panel
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned
One Hundred Papercuts
Invalid
Low
Unassigned
libwnck
Confirmed
Wishlist
libwnck (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Wishlist
Unassigned
Declined for Lucid by Sebastien Bacher

Bug Description

On a laptop track pad, it's really easy to accidentally use the "scrolling goes through windows" feature of the new g-p. I believe this would warrant disabling the functionality (maybe only if a trackpad is detected? is this doable?) or at least offering an option to do so.

As a workaround, you can install packages from the following PPA that were compiled with the “scrolling on task list” feature disabled.
https://launchpad.net/~libwnck-noscroll/+archive/ppa

Revision history for this message
Daniel Holbach (dholbach) wrote :

Thanks for your bug report. I don't quite understand - do you mean the trackpad equivalent of scrolling the mouse wheel over the workspace switcher applet? Or am I on the wrong track?

Changed in gnome-panel:
assignee: nobody → desktop-bugs
status: Unconfirmed → Needs Info
Revision history for this message
Ben Maurer (bmaurer) wrote :

This is the window list. So, here's what happens:

1. My cursor is on the panel (eg, because i was switching windows)
2. I want to move the cursor somewhere else
3. I often put my finger on the lower right hand corner of the pad.
4. The trackpad thinks i'm scrolling
5. windows flash wildly

The issue is that this scroll isn't as reversible as scrolling in a text document or something.

Changed in gnome-panel:
status: Needs Info → Unconfirmed
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

That bug is not really clear:
- on what applet do you that? windows list? workspace switcher?
- what do you cakk "flash wildly", the glowing effect of the windows list?
- with what application does it happen? Using the scrolling mouse action change the active window on my box but without any effect

Revision history for this message
Ben Maurer (bmaurer) wrote : Re: [Bug 39328] Re: Offer option to disable scroll wheel on task list

On Fri, 2006-04-14 at 12:08 +0000, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> That bug is not really clear:
> - on what applet do you that? windows list? workspace switcher?

Windows list
> - what do you cakk "flash wildly", the glowing effect of the windows list?

Even on a desktop, look what happens when you use the scroll wheel on
the windows list. It's like pressing alt+tab alot. Now imagine if it was
really easy to do this by mistake.

>
> - with what application does it happen? Using the scrolling mouse action change the active window on my box but without any effect
The issue is *exactly* that it changes the active window. However, it's
really easy to trigger this by accident with a laptop touchpad.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote : Re: Offer option to disable scroll wheel on task list

That is a new upstream feature: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=309956

Ccing Vincent who is upstream. Vincent, what do you think about that? Should it be a gconf option?

Revision history for this message
Vincent Untz (vuntz) wrote :

No plan for this, but I can't say we'll never do this.

Ben, I don't quite understand this comment: "The issue is that this scroll isn't as reversible as scrolling in a text document or something."

Why isn't it as reversible?

Revision history for this message
Ben Maurer (bmaurer) wrote : Re: [Bug 39328] Re: Offer option to disable scroll wheel on task list

On Fri, 2006-04-14 at 14:22 +0000, Vincent Untz wrote:
> No plan for this, but I can't say we'll never do this.
>
> Ben, I don't quite understand this comment: "The issue is that this
> scroll isn't as reversible as scrolling in a text document or
> something."
>
> Why isn't it as reversible?

When you scroll a text document a few steps by accident, you don't lose
your place that much. You are just a few lines off from where you were.
However, when you scroll on the window list, you need to make the
*EXACT* same number of scrolls to get back to where you were. This is
hard to do on a laptop touchpad.

The scrolling works really well when you have a normal mouse, however I
think that it is hard to control with a laptop, and false-positive
detection of scrolling can make things worst, rather than better, with
the new feature.

-- Ben

Revision history for this message
Vincent Untz (vuntz) wrote : Re: Offer option to disable scroll wheel on task list

Isn't the right fix to fix scrolling on laptops, then?

I mean, there are a lots of places where you'll get similar issues. We shouldn't disable scrolling everywhere except for texts just because of this.

Revision history for this message
Ben Maurer (bmaurer) wrote :

At least for me, the panel ends up being more of an issue than other places we use scrolling for non-text (like in tabs). The panel is a natural "resting" place for one's mouse. Also, I've found that I often use the lower-right-hand corner of the trackpad as a starting place to scroll.

The panel is the *ONLY* place I ever accidentially scroll using my laptop.

One (somewhat) odd thing: on a trackpad, the most natural motion to switch windows would be scrolling along the *bottom* of the trackpad, left to right or right to left. I imagine that's a bit more complicated though.

Changed in gnome-panel:
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :
Changed in gnome-panel:
status: Unknown → Unconfirmed
Revision history for this message
Steve Zemanek (steve-zemanek) wrote :

I agree, i actually disabled touchpad scrolling because this happens so much

Revision history for this message
Ugo Riboni (uriboni) wrote :

This happens to me a lot too.

And it's more of a problem on desktop than in other places because a small, mistaken scroll in most app windows will not cause much trouble, it will generally scroll just a little.
Instead in the desktop even a very tiny amount of scroll will start switching like mad between screens.

The real issue i think is a sum of two factors:
1) it takes even a very small amount of scroll to switch one or two desktops in a certain direction. in other words, the desktop scrolling is more sensitive than scrolling in other windows (e.g. firefox or nautilus)
2) the desktop list is circular, so it will keep scrolling very fast even if you reach the last desktop

The combination of these creates the very annoying "flashing" effect.
it also makes it effectively impossible to use this feature intentionally. The desktops flash by too fast and you need to be a precision monster to be able to use this feature on a laptop.

(please not that using a mouse will not show this issue since the scroll whell has "notches" that provide easier control of the number of "scrolls" you generate. a laptop touchpad scroll feature has no such thing instead)

Revision history for this message
Thomas Dwyer III (tomiii) wrote :

I can see how this could be a very useful feature for mouse users but I agree with the other laptop
users--this feature is extremely frustrating for me because I accidentally trigger it all the time on my
touchpad. And yes, my windows flash wildly when it happens. :-) Picture someone spinning the
scroll wheel on a mouse at some very high RPM rate--each window that gets focus raises itself to
the foreground for a fraction of a second, until the next window gets focus and raises, etc.

It would be wonderful if this feature had an enable/disable setting on the Window List Preferences
pop-up dialog. It really is unusable on laptops.

1 comments hidden view all 108 comments
Revision history for this message
Thomas (tmofield) wrote :

I have this exact problem using KDE. I have read the KDE developer's responses to requests about this and they are unwilling to add the option to disable scrolling on the task bar. They were IMO very rude to their users about this issue. One response they gave was to learn to use the touchpad better. What jerks.

I am happy to see that GNOME is a little more user sensitive and I am now switching my desktop manager. If an option could be added to satisfy laptop users, I think this would be very helpful.

Thank you for even CONSIDERING this issue and thank you for being concerned about what your users. You guys are really great.

Revision history for this message
Jouke (digigram) wrote :

I totally agree - scrolling desktops should be turned off when using touchpad. This is a daily annoyance. But the current workaround, turning scrolling off altogether, would be worse.

Yes scrolling desktops is not 'reversible' since often I end up on another desktop that has some window open, and when I would like to scroll back, I end up just scrolling in that particular window. Scrolling desktops is also very sensitive.

Revision history for this message
Cory Dodt (corydodt) wrote :

Add another "bump" to this. It is far too easy to accidentally scroll the desktop switcher. I'm not even sure how scrolling is useful in the desktop switcher. You would have to be extremely precise with the mouse to get the desktop you meant to get in this fashion.

Scrolling in the desktop switcher seems entirely useless to me.

Revision history for this message
eldorel (eldorel) wrote :

Fully agreed. This is extremely annoying on my laptop. An option to diable, or even turn the sensitivity way down would be welcomed.

Changed in gnome-panel:
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Earthling (earthlingphil) wrote :

you can disable this scroll event with compiz fusion http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=583112

Revision history for this message
Earthling (earthlingphil) wrote :

actually, you cant. this doesnt work with the window list, sorry. i thought i had it for a second, then it happened to me again :(

Revision history for this message
Cheshirecat86 (oriental-tut) wrote :

you can disable the vertical (or horizontal) scroll via System->Preferences->Mouse->Touchpad->Check off the "Enable scrolling" box.
However it will turn off the touchpad scrolling feature in all applications, not just windows list. But as for me, I dont like to scroll with touchpad, it's too sensitive, so I have it off anyway.

Revision history for this message
Øyvind Jensen (jegerjensen) wrote :

I landed here when I was googling for a way to turn off the mousewheel control of the workspace-switcher. I am using a laptop and the sudden workspace shifting is pretty annoying. Since it seems there is no way to turn this off, I have to say this "feature" is terribly bug-like...

To disable all scrolling as suggested by Cheshirecat86, is not a good alternative as most applications make very good use of the mouse wheel. (like scrolling, zooming, slider control etc...)

Revision history for this message
Sardar (ja-doma) wrote :

The best solution so far is to use xfce4-panel which doesn't support scrolling at all and looks like default gnome taskbar.

1) install xfce4-panel (thing can be installed apart from whole xfce)
2) right click on your taskbar, "Delete panel".
3) alt-F2 (will show "run command"), type "xfce4-panel" -> will start the panel
4) setup the panel, right click "properties" and "Add New Item" (add Window List)
5) add "show desktop", "workspaces" and recycle bin as they are in default ubuntu-gnome

enjoy the simplicity of xfce4 without that f**kin annoying scroll.

For the developers, that don't understand what is going on: we don't want disable scrolling everywhere, we are using it to scroll docs in Firefox, editors, everywhere. We want to disable scrolling exactly in taskbar, because it is useless there if you can't (and you can't with touchpads) scroll precisely.

KDE Plasma has no scroll too, but don't rely on this, eventually it will be there and probably without config option (explained in KDE thread)...

Revision history for this message
Memo (memorito) wrote :

Yes this is an extremely annoying "feature". Whenever my pointer is
over any area of the desktop and I go near the vertical scroll area of
the trackpad I lose 3 minutes of my life. 2 to stop the impending seizure
caused by the flashing workspaces and 1 to find where I need to be again.
Then I can work for 2-5 minutes before it happens again. If there was a way
to change the behaviour only for trackpads, I think it would be great if it could
be set to work on the Left Scroll zone of the trackpad where it would not be
confused with a page scroll. Or I would find it useful also if it perhaps was
just a tap in the upper left corner to pop through the workspaces. This might
not be attractive for those that tend to use many workspaces but for like 4 it
would be fine. Just some suggestions.

I am new Ubuntu(& Studio) user. The MS Viral Magnet and Spy Generator
features forced me to look for something else. I am glad I did. Thank you!

Revision history for this message
Alassane (alassane-maiga) wrote :

I will bump this. I also think that it is not even convenient when we use the "normal" mouse wheel. To look on every desktop a window free area to use it, is much more a pain in the ars*. it's much more simple to simply use <ctrl><alt> arrow.

I never used this "feature" intentionally. even without the trackpad. It's a pain not to be able to disable it

Revision history for this message
mannheim (kronheim) wrote :

I also feel that this is a bad design, even for normal mouse use. It seems like "making the scroll wheel do something" just for the sake of it. There are other instances of this which *can* be turned off. For example, using the scroll wheel when the cursor is over the desktop switches desktops by default under hardy with compiz. (Actually, I think this is what the two previous comments are referring to, not the original bug.) This behavior is also very annoying to (some) touchpad users, but can be turned off in compiz settings.

Revision history for this message
ginga (gingaz) wrote :

Yep, i agree too.

This 'feature' is very very annoying in both:
1.touchpad mode
it's almost guaranteed to face this problem every time you use touchpad.

2.mouse mode
sometimes pointer is not on application window and you scroll to another desktop. Happens at least once in a day. (4-8 hours of work).

So at least 'disable' option is mandatory.

Also, didn't find any request for automatic touchpad disabling when writing or when USB mouse is connected. This is a very basic feature ant writing your own scripts is absurd (if you want to make ubuntu OS mainstream). Making these features would save lots of nerves for ordinary people.

Revision history for this message
Uwe Schilling (uschilling) wrote :

Same grievance here. Whenever the pointer is accidentally over the taskbar and I only slightly touch the scroll area of my touchpad, I'm instantly desoriented for a few seconds. On a touchpad, this feature is unusable (at least, obviously to a lot of people) and it should be possible to disable it.

Revision history for this message
Josh Green (josh-resonance) wrote :

Wanted to chime in on how annoying this "feature" is. In particular the desktop switch when mouse wheel event occurs on desktop. Whats worse is that certain parts of some GTK interfaces (labels, for example on the nvidia-settings program) and other unexpected parts of some GUIs will also cause this desktop switching behavior, despite the fact the cursor is over the application window (its really bad when its things like the trough near a scroll bar). I've been using Linux for about 12 years now and gnome since early 1.0 releases and its things like this, that make it feel like its progressing backwards in usability, probably an exaggeration, but reflects just how $&*@ing annoying this is. I think this option should be disabled by default. If some masochistic user wants to enable it, give them a gconf option somewhere, call it something like "/desktop/gnome/really-annoying-desktop-switch-mouse-wheel-hell".

Revision history for this message
oliwek (oliwek2) wrote :

I bump this too, we really need a way to disable the scroll feature (even with a mouse) on the windows list, maybe even on the workspace switching area : many newcomers have problems with this feature and get disoriented (clic on task list to a text document, they want to scroll the doc and other windows show up), they ask to disable this but I couldn't find a proper way (thanks for the xfce4 suggestion, but of course it's not ideal for everyone)

Revision history for this message
Oliver Gerlich (ogerlich) wrote :

As stated in upstream report:

"It's totally visible to the libwnck developers. The only way to elevate this is
to provide a patch -- it's all a matter of priorities, and there are some
things that I personally consider more important to fix in libwnck. Note that
it really shouldn't be hard to do..."

Indeed, a simple band-aid fix probably only involves:
- adding a gconf setting for disabling this behavior
- in libwnck, check the gconf setting in the scroll-event handler, and ignore the scroll-event if value is set
- build and publish a new libwnck package with that patch

This would make it possible for users to work around this usability problem, by using some gconf command line.

In the long run, it would be nice to either expose the gconf setting in some UI (in panel applet config dialog?), or detect if a scroll event comes from a touchpad, and ignore it in that case (this might be difficult to implement, though). But for now, it would be a huge improvement if users could just manually disable this annoying behavior.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Oliver did you coordinate with anybody before adding this hundredpapercut task there? The idea was to have the design team selecting issue not to have any user to add random bugs to the list, if every start adding some random bugs to the list it defeat the purpose to have a selected set of usability issues

Revision history for this message
Oliver Gerlich (ogerlich) wrote :

Sorry if that was inappropriate. From http://blog.davebsd.com/2009/06/10/one-hundred-paper-cuts/ I got the impression that everyone could mark a bug as "papercut"; and my personal opinion is that this bug qualifies for that. But it wasn't my intention to interfere with the design team's decisions.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

seems that the design team meant to let everybody do suggestion, seems that people have quickly picked on adding the bug they would like fixed many not being small or design issues though; this one for example about adding an option most users will not understand is probably not one

Mat Tomaszewski (mat.t.)
Changed in hundredpapercuts:
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
xtknight (xt-knight) wrote :

Here's a patch that'll disable the feature entirely.

At the end I don't know what this portion is in the patch or if it's needed.
--- libwnck-2.26.0.orig/libwnck/tasklist.loT
+++ libwnck-2.26.0/libwnck/tasklist.loT

Revision history for this message
xtknight (xt-knight) wrote :

This proof-of-concept patch registers a boolean option at /apps/panel/global/tasklist_mousewheel, in which a true setting turns on the mousewheel capability and the false option turns it off. There is not yet a "gconf schema" for it and I am not sure if the gconf option was added in the right place, but nevertheless it demonstrates the option requested in this bug.

A few caveats:

1) it should probably be a per-panel option, stored in /apps/panel/applets/window_list_screenX/prefs where X is the number of the screen upon which the window tasklist is shown. That would make it consistent with the other panel options;
2) there needs to be a GUI option added to the gnome-panel preferences applet to toggle the flag;
3) as mentioned earlier, it needs a default value and a gconf schema and I don't know exactly what the schema is;
4) make sure that the implementation is optimal. Right now, the tasklist constructor (tasklist.c) is returning a global variable of the tasklist GTK object, because I don't know what called the tasklist constructor. The tasklist GTK object needs to be stored because the signal needs to be connected and disconnected upon callback of the gconf notification;
5) ensure that the dependency gconf-2.0 (libgconf2-dev) was added correctly to configure.in, control.in, and anything else that may need it. I don't know the minimal version of the package to specify: I assume any gconf-2.0 will work so this is how the dependency was added for the time being. And I know it's required for Build-Depends, but I don't know if it needs to be in the Depends for the generated libwnck-dev package as it currently is.

Please see libwnck under my PPA to test it for Karmic Koala: https://launchpad.net/~xt-knight/+archive/ppa

You do not need to relink gnome-panel against it. Simply install the deb packages for libwnck and run "killall gnome-panel && gnome-panel". Then add the boolean gconf key. Changes should take effect immediately.

Revision history for this message
Tralalalala (tralalalala) wrote :

It'd be really nice to see an option to disable this annoying feature in one of the upcoming releases of Ubuntu.

summary: - Offer option to disable scroll wheel on task list
+ Disable scrolling on window list to flip through windows
Changed in hundredpapercuts:
milestone: none → round-3
Revision history for this message
Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu) wrote :

xtknight, I wrote a similar patch to disable scrolling in the workspace switcher, maybe we should use the same gconf key name?
Se bug #150443 for the patch.

I don't think it's necessary to add a GUI option to enable the scrolling, this just clutter the gui, better let it rest in gconf for the geeks who want it (like me).

Revision history for this message
Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu) wrote :

After a quick look I would propose not add the gconf dependency to libwnck but instead add a property, scroll_enabled, to the tasklist and use gconf within window-list.

What do you think?

Revision history for this message
Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu) wrote :

This patch adds the ability to set the scrolling behavior of the tasklist in libwnck.

Changed in hundredpapercuts:
assignee: nobody → Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu)
status: Confirmed → In Progress
28 comments hidden view all 108 comments
Revision history for this message
JjBehrens (jjinux) wrote :

There's a way to disable this feature :)

apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
System >> Preferences >> CompizConfig Settings Manager >> Viewport Switcher >> Desktop-based Viewport switching >> Disable Move Next and Move Prev.

Revision history for this message
JSuvanto (jaakko-suvanto) wrote :

Would it be possible to get this patch as a PPA? I'm new to Ubuntu and I don't feel comfortable compiling this thing myself.

Coming from a Windows background, I find this thing to be more of a bug than a feature. I can understand uniforming things everywhere in the OS/WM, but it's still annoying that this thing doesn't have any GUI option to disable it.

Revision history for this message
oliwek (oliwek2) wrote : Re: [Bug 39328] Re: Disable scrolling on window list to flip through windows

you can disable sitch to next (virtual) desktop in compiz...but not disable
the "switch to next window" in the tasks list (this is not limited to
compiz, it works the same in metacity)

2009/9/29 JjBehrens <email address hidden>

> There's a way to disable this feature :)
>
> apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
> System >> Preferences >> CompizConfig Settings Manager >> Viewport Switcher
> >> Desktop-based Viewport switching >> Disable Move Next and Move Prev.
>
> --
> Disable scrolling on window list to flip through windows
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/39328
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in The GNOME 2 Panel: New
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts: In Progress
> Status in “gnome-panel” package in Ubuntu: Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> On a laptop track pad, it's really easy to accidentially use the "scrolling
> goes through windows" feature of the new g-p. I believe this would warrent
> disabling the functionality (maybe only if a trackpad is detected? is this
> doable?) or at least offering an option to do so.
>

Revision history for this message
ericmc783 (ericmc783) wrote :

There's a way to disable this feature :)

apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
System >> Preferences >> CompizConfig Settings Manager >> Viewport Switcher >> Desktop-based Viewport switching >> Disable Move Next and Move Prev.

IT. DOESN'T. WORK.

clear enough now?????

Revision history for this message
ericmc783 (ericmc783) wrote :

just for the record, this "papercut" was not resolved in ubuntu 9.10

Revision history for this message
tibibo (tibibo) wrote :

Everything works like a charm on Jaunty.
Thank you Marcus!

Changed in hundredpapercuts:
milestone: round-3 → r1
Revision history for this message
antaveiv (antaveiv) wrote :

It's also driving me nuts (Ubuntu 9.10, compiz uninstalled). With a Logitech MX revolution mouse the scroll wheel can spin freely for several seconds, or needs just a small movement to trigger it

Revision history for this message
Rovanion (rovanion-luckey) wrote :

This bug could be solved by fixing Bug #487749 for laptops. This bug is about replacing the current one-finger-on-the-edge scroll with the double-finger-scroll on Synaptic touchpads.

Revision history for this message
zorblek (zorblek) wrote :

Switching the default scrolling method to two fingers only solves this bug if users stick with the default. I have some fine motor control problems, and I find scrolling using two fingers more difficult than with one along the edge.

Revision history for this message
Alassane (alassane-maiga) wrote :

Not to mention that not all touchpad support mltitouch config

Revision history for this message
Rovanion (rovanion-luckey) wrote :

But about every touchpad is a Synaptics touchpad and for the great mass of laptop users this will solve the problem. Tough it is true that if the user chooses to use edge-scroll or has some custom hardware this bug will still persist.

Revision history for this message
Tralalalala (tralalalala) wrote :

How do you tell users the way of scrolling has been changed? Users have been scrolling using the edges of the touchpad for years. You can't just change this to two-fingers scroll. If the edges don't work in a new release of Ubuntu, they'll think the developers screwed up the touchpad drivers and just re-install an older version of Ubuntu where this "bug didn't excist". Yes, I know it's just disabled and users can re-enable it, but they don't know. How does the user know he has to use two fingers to scroll? The best way is to show a window showing an animated picture of how to scroll in this new version of Ubuntu. This windows should be displayed for every user which logs on for the first time if Ubuntu detects a Synaptics touchpad. Otherwise people really don't know how to scroll.

Revision history for this message
Alassane (alassane-maiga) wrote :

Maybe, it would be ok to tell the user about this feature when the synaptic touchpad is detected. With a popup message and a small explanation about this bug.

Revision history for this message
JSuvanto (jaakko-suvanto) wrote :

Switching the default scroll mode to two finger scroll is a workaround, not a final solution. "Solving" this by defaulting to two finger scroll would be forcing everyone who is affected by this bug to use their laptops in a certain way. I thought Ubuntu was the free OS. =) I would still use edge scrolling even if two finger scroll was an option. Also, I'm not a coder, but it sounds a lot less work to write code for disabling an old feature than to implement a completely new feature.

Revision history for this message
Tralalalala (tralalalala) wrote :

JSuvanto wrote 2 hours ago:
"I would still use edge scrolling even if two finger scroll was an option. Also, I'm not a coder, but it sounds a lot less work to write code for disabling an old feature than to implement a completely new feature."

Two finger scrolling is already available in Ubuntu since Ubuntu 9.04.

Revision history for this message
Tralalalala (tralalalala) wrote :

Sorry for the double post, but I want to add I agree with you about two finger scroll not being a solution, but just a workaround. Disabling scrolling through windows isn't much work. Marcus Carlson already made a patch which makes it possible to enable or disable this feature, but it hasn't been included in Ubuntu 9.10. I don't know why.

Changed in hundredpapercuts:
assignee: Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu) → Canonical Desktop Team (canonical-desktop-team)
Revision history for this message
Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Reassigning to match the product of the upstream bug.

affects: gnome-panel (Ubuntu) → libwnck (Ubuntu)
Changed in gnome-panel:
importance: Unknown → Undecided
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Martin Pitt (pitti) wrote :

Being discussed/handled upstream.

Changed in hundredpapercuts:
assignee: Canonical Desktop Team (canonical-desktop-team) → nobody
status: In Progress → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
David Jurenka (jurenka) wrote :

Well, the upstream discussion is quite stale. In the meantime, I've created a PPA with a very straightforward patch. No configuration options are added, just the function for scrolling on task list is completely disabled. No more, no less.

https://launchpad.net/~libwnck-noscroll/+archive/ppa

Log out after installation to activate the changes.

Only Karmic and Jaunty are supported at the moment. Just drop me a line if you want another release to be added.

Revision history for this message
Øyvind Jensen (jegerjensen) wrote :

That is great, David! You are awesome :-)

I would be infinitely grateful if you could create a package for hardy as well... Have you placed the patch online somewhere? Could you provide a link to it?

Revision history for this message
David Jurenka (jurenka) wrote :

No problem, Øyvind. The source package for Hardy has just been uploaded and now it's waiting in the build queue.
The patch (version for Hardy) can be found at http://pastie.org/729263 .

Revision history for this message
Øyvind Jensen (jegerjensen) wrote :

Thanks a lot for also making the hardy package! What a cute little patch... :-)

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

glade is not used since karmic and the patch need to be updated, unsubscribing sponsors there for now

Revision history for this message
Jason (beatme101) wrote :

This 'bug' bothers me as well, as a user of a mouse with a rather sensitive scroll wheel.

Revision history for this message
Tralalalala (tralalalala) wrote :

This still is an issue in the latest build of Ubuntu 10.04.

Revision history for this message
psarhjinian (psarhjinian) wrote :

This really should be fixed for Lucid. It drives novice users nuts: they issue a scroll command and their windows go thoroughly berzerk. It's up there with Microsoft Windows' tendency to think the Super/Windows key is stuck down or Mac OS X's tendency to ignore window button clicks: simple, but really frustrating for a novice users.

I've personally seen this feature scuttle a Windows-to-Ubuntu migration because it pissed off a few VIPs.

It probably won't be fixed in gnome-panel because the focus isn't there, but Ubuntu's focus on usability should allow for better practice. The fix (make the behaviour optional and off by default) has been developed and is well-known.

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Tralalalala (tralalalala) wrote :

True. After all those years this bug still isn't fixed. Ubuntu 10.04 is an LTS release and this bug really needs to be finally fixed.

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Rowan (rowancorbett) wrote :

I just found a good alternative to window list this morning called Dockbarx. It gives you much more control over the way the window list functions, including the ability to disable the window scroll without having to disable scrolling system wide.

http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/DockbarX?content=101604

https://launchpad.net/~dockbar-main/+archive/ppa

It seems to be working great for me.

Cheers,
 Rowan

Vish (vish)
Changed in hundredpapercuts:
milestone: lucid-round-1 → maverick-round-8-potpourri
Changed in libwnck:
status: Unknown → New
Changed in libwnck (Ubuntu):
assignee: Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs) → nobody
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

The bug not duplicate on launchpad, is that really an hundredpapercut bug? In any case the change needs to be updated to the current codebase if that should still be an option or simplified to change the behaviour simply by default

Changed in libwnck:
importance: Unknown → Wishlist
Revision history for this message
MarkHamann (j-launchpad-markhamann-com) wrote :

This drives me crazy. My wonderful VX Nano mouse which I looooove in Windows is totally annoying in Ubuntu 10.04 because of this.

description: updated
description: updated
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nick rundy (nrundy) wrote :

PLEASE give us a way to disable the scroll wheel from switching windows on the panel!!!!

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Vish (vish) wrote :

 - Marking Invalid as per Sebastien's comment.
For further information about papercuts criteria, please read https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PaperCut.
Don't worry though, this bug has been marked as "Invalid" only in the papercuts project.

Changed in hundredpapercuts:
milestone: maverick-round-8-potpourri → none
status: Confirmed → Invalid
Revision history for this message
psarhjinian (psarhjinian) wrote :

I disagree that this isn't a papercut, unless the last point ("In a default application of a release under development") is the case. To whit:

:A bug, or an unintended problem occurring within an existing piece of software, **Absolutely. This behaviour sees users, and especially users with trackpads, see window managment issues
:the presence of which makes a computer more difficult or less pleasant to use, ** Definitely, see above comments
:that is easy to fix, ** Patch is above
:that the average user would encounter, ** On a netbook or laptop this is trivial to trigger; it's not a lot harder to trigger with a mouse, either.

This leaves:

:In a default application of the Ubuntu or Kubuntu release currently under development OR in any of the featured applications.

Is the panel being replaced in the next release with one that doesn't exhibit this behaviour? Otherwise, this absolutely a papercut bug. It's very easy to place the cursor over the window list applet; it's demonstrated in Fitt's law that a screen edge control is much, much easier to hit.

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zorblek (zorblek) wrote :

I agree with psarhjinian. This pretty clearly meets the criteria for a papercut.

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gogo (gogolink) wrote :

David Jurenka's patch at comment #87 worked flawlessly for me (on Maverick): no more scrolling through windows in windows list on panel. Thanks, David!

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Dave Lane (dzxb) wrote :

David Jurenka's patch works (Many Thanks!), but only for the window list, not the workspace switcher - which is actually where I get the most problems: I've used Windows for years, so I generally use Alt-Tab to switch windows, but I still use the mouse to switch workspaces.
As suggested by xtknight, running "killall gnome-panel && gnome-panel" will restart the panels, without requiring a log-out.

@ Vish - I agree with psarhjinian and zorblek - this definitely meets the requirements of a papercut.

@Marcus #48 - why should the workspace switcher be a separate bug? As I see it, everyone who has a problem with one, will have a problem with the other. Also, any discussion about options, their locations in menus/gedit, and their defaults, would apply equally to both threads.
If it has already been created as a separate bug, does anyone have a link?

Revision history for this message
unflavored (unflavored) wrote :

I still have this bug on Xenial, Gnome Flashback Metacity. Is there an option to disable this yet? I can't find it.

Changed in libwnck:
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Jeremy Walker (machineghost) wrote :

Please don't let this ticket die. It amounts to one new setting and one new line (of pseudo-code):

    onScroll() {
      if (someSetting) return; // new line
      doNormalScrollThing();
    }

and would remove some *really* annoying behavior.

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theWebalyst (thewebalyst) wrote :

This behaviour is truly awful on a laptop using trackpad scrolling.

If I am scrolling a window down fast to the bottom, once I reach the end of the document the mouse cursor ends up over the task bar and before I know it I'm cycling through windows.

I've searched for settings and there don't seem to be any.

Ubuntu 18.10
Gnome 3.30.1

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James Hanks (jhanks1981) wrote :

I have the problem on desktop too. The slightest accidental touch of the mouswheel while moving across the taskbar sends me zipping through windows. I could slow down the scroll speed, but then scrolling through a document would be slower than desired. I basically dont want my mouse wheel to do anything except scroll through windows unless a key is held down (like for zooming).

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