unity: enable natural scrolling by default

[Chris Bainbridge]

Testing trusty desktop on a laptop, natural scrolling is off by default. In this day and age, this makes no sense; ios and Android have conditioned users to understand that when they want to scroll a document, they touch it and drag it in the direction they want it to go. The option can be changed by the user, but it's important to have the default that gives the best initial impression to the user.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: unity 7.1.2+14.04.20140321-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-19.40-generic 3.13.6
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-19-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.13.3-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Mar 27 20:58:38 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-27 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Beta amd64 (20140326)
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1298620

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

It's a non-ideal default configuration.

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

I'm not sure what you mean by "natural scrolling...." Do you mean applications should scroll their windows using a touchscreen?

If so, that's a bug you need to file against the toolkits like GTK, Qt, etc. or against individual applications. Filing a bug against the Unity shell is not the same as filing a bug against Ubuntu in general.

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

Stephen, "natural scrolling" is a setting in Unity that reverses the direction of scrolling to match what a user expects to naturally happen (if you want to move a piece of paper up, you put your finger on it and move your finger upwards, natural scrolling matches this in the digital world). See http://itsfoss.com/enable-edge-scrolling-ubuntu-1310-quick-tip/ - that article calls it "edge scrolling" but in Ubuntu it's known as "natural scrolling" - this image shows the setting in Ubuntu: http://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Enable_edge_scrolling_ubuntu.jpeg

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

Natural scrolling is the default on iOS, Android and OS X. Non-natural scrolling is really a historical throwback to the times before touchpads and scrollwheel mice, where it was usual to scroll by dragging the slider with the mouse, rather than dragging the content.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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