bottom edge tab selector doesn't work with mouse

[Bill Filler]

if you connect a mouse and the browser is in single column mode, there is no way to interact with the bottom edge to view/switch to other tabs. I expected to be able to click on the hint to open it, or at least be able to click and drag with mouse but neither succeeded.

We should look at using the BottomEdgeHint component in the sdk as that correctly deals with handle mouse events and making the hint visible when a mouse is connected to see if that could be a possibility.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

The UITK’s BottomEdgeHint component instantiates a SwipeArea. I’ve done some preliminary work in the browser to start using SwipeArea, unfortunately this is blocked by an oxide bug: bug #1459362. Until this is fixed, we would need to do a custom implementation in the browser.

Note that making the bottom edge hint clickable means that web content below it cannot be clicked. This is not a concern for pages that can be scrolled (as scrolling down the page will hide the hint), but it is a problem with pages that fit entirely in the viewport, because the hint will never auto-hide (but this behaviour could be changed).

Also note that the current implementation of BottomEdgeHint in the UITK supposedly reacts on mouse connection/removal, but in practice this code is not wired up.

[Andrea Bernabei (faenil)]

please doublecheck what I'm about to say, but as far as I know, the bottom edge hint that you get when the mouse is attached should still let you scroll to the end of the page, it shouldn't prevent you from click something at the bottom of the page

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

After discussion with Bill, James and Benjamin, the proposed solution is this:

 - short term fix for OTA 9.5: in narrow layout, when mouse is connected, the bottom edge hint turns into a bottom edge bar that is clickable, thus reducing the height of the webview

 - longer term fix (OTA 10 or later): in narrow layout, when mouse is connected, the bottom edge hint is hidden and a new button is added to the chrome (between the address bar and the drawer menu) to open the tabs view

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package webbrowser-app - 0.23+16.04.20160129.1-0ubuntu1

---------------
webbrowser-app (0.23+16.04.20160129.1-0ubuntu1) xenial; urgency=medium

  * Add a UA override for desktop gmail to get rid of a misleading
    warning about using a deprecated version of safari. (LP: #1452616)
  * Do not connect to the loadingChanged signal, which has been
    deprecated for a good while. (LP: #1538190)
  * In narrow mode, when a mouse is connected, turn the bottom edge hint
    into a clickable bottom edge bar. (LP: #1534239)
  * Update focus highlight to match the upcoming UITK implementation.
    (LP: #1539176)
  * Update tab visuals to higher-contrast assets. (LP: #1534760)

 -- Olivier Tilloy <email address hidden> Fri, 29 Jan 2016 09:41:15 +0000