vncviewer in ubuntu has usability issues

[Trey Ethridge]

This is really a request for enhancement. I've recently noticed some usability issues with the vncviewer app that ships by default with Ubuntu. They are:

1. When you try to connect to a server that has a password set, the dialog that prompts you for a password doesn't give visual feedback that the password is being accepted. Most password fields show black circles as each character is typed in Ubuntu. I had a user today call for support just because he thought it was broken.

2. Once the user connects, if the screen resolution on the user's screen is lower than that of the server that she is viewing, vncviewer shows scroll bars. However, the scroll bars don't work like scroll bars in Ubuntu and even experienced users have difficulty scrolling the window.

Maybe there could be a gnome wrapper written to make the vncviewer app behave like other gnome apps? This would solve both problems. It seems like the problems are associated with it being a "X" app.

[Jonathon Conte (thesicktwist)]

I agree about the scroll bars. They are definitely confusing. This seems to be an issue with xvncviewer. Perhaps having xvnc4viewer installed as the default would be a good solution.

[Sebastien Wains (sebastienw-deactivatedaccount)]

Agree on the scroll bars too.

I'm using vncviewer through rdesktop.
There's also another tedious bug but I guess this is a rdesktop problem.

Whenever you close your VNC session in rdesktop, a message box pops up saying "An error has occured, Will reconnect in 30 seconds".
And it would prompt for the password 30 seconds if you forget to click "Cancel".

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Assigned to correct package.
Is this bug still a problem and what version of ubuntu did you first see it on and what version does it seem to still be an issue?

[Trey Ethridge (tethridge)]

This is still an issue. Try accessing a vnc server that requires a
password. The dialog box that pops up to allow you to enter you
password doesn't give you any feedback that you are entering a
password. It should give feed back like gdm does when you login.

Also, if the resolution of the machine you are accessing is larger than
the screen you are using to view the vnc'd machine, then there will be
scrollbars. However, they aren't like normal scroll bars in gnome.
There isn't a slider to grab. You have to click either the left or
right mouse button to make it move up/down or left/right.

I think the proper solution would be to use a gnome app that wraps the
vnc viewer functionality. The vnc viewer appears to be just an "X" app.

I think I first saw this issue on edgy. Let me know if I need to
further clarify.

-- Trey

-- John Vivirito <email address hidden> wrote:
Assigned to correct package.
Is this bug still a problem and what version of ubuntu did you first
see it on and what version does it seem to still be an issue?

** Changed in: vnc (Ubuntu)
Sourcepackagename: None => vnc

--
vncviewer in ubuntu has usability issues
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/48725
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[Ketil Wendelbo Aanensen (ketilwaa-deactivatedaccount)]

This is still an issue. It is not very user friendly to have scrollbars for an entire desktop. I'm accessing my desktop computer from my laptop. The desktop has a rather large resolution, while the laptop is very small. The vnc viewer window should shrink the server's resolution to fit in a smaller window.

[Trey Ethridge (tethridge)]

I think this issue may be resolved in hardy. I've heard some talk of including a gnome VNC viewer application called vinegar that take care of these issues. We will have to wait and see if it is included.