[Touchpad-KCM] [Bug 387156] New: libinput touchpad KCM lacks support for click method ("areas" or "fingers") for buttonless touchpads

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Bug ID: 387156
Summary: libinput touchpad KCM lacks support for click method
("areas" or "fingers") for buttonless touchpads
Product: Touchpad-KCM
Version: unspecified
Platform: Ubuntu Packages
OS: Linux
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Severity: normal
Priority: NOR
Component: kcm
Assignee: ***@gmail.com
Reporter: ***@zoho.com
Target Milestone: ---

Created attachment 108981
--> https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=108981&action=edit
No click method

Libinput supports two methods of clicking with these annoying modern buttonless
touchpads:
- "Areas": virtual left, right, and middle-click buttons are created on the
bottom edge of the pad
- "Fingers": left, right, and middle clicks can be made by clicking or tapping
anywhere on the pad using one, two, or three fingers (respectively).

For API details see
https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/group__config.html#ga3e5dc19a83752430d5e8be7fb2020663

The libinput touchpad KCM does not expose this setting. See attached
screenshot.

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@zoho.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alias| |libinout-touchpad-kcm-click
| |-method

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@zoho.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alias|libinout-touchpad-kcm-click |libinput-touchpad-kcm-click
|-method |-method

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@zoho.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blocks| |383379


Referenced Bugs:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=383379
[Bug 383379] Modernize Input Devices section to work with Libinput

[Dr. Chapatin]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Dr. Chapatin <***@gmx.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC| |***@gmx.com

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@zoho.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keywords| |usability

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@zoho.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC| |***@gmail.com

[Roman Gilg]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

--- Comment #1 from Roman Gilg <***@gmail.com> ---
Ok, so for reference the difference between click method "Fingers" and "Multi
tapping" is:

* Fingers is associated with the _physical_ down-pressing of the whole touchpad
(my new laptop has this thing, you can press the whole touchpad like a button
and it clicks while doing it; never really used it)
* Tapping/Multi-tapping means just a quick _contact_ of one / multiple fingers
with the touchpad and no physical down-pressing of the whole touchpad

In contrast to tapping it seems not to be configurable if a physical
down-pressing with two fingers is a right/middle click while with three fingers
it is a middle/right click.

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

--- Comment #2 from Nate Graham <***@zoho.com> ---
Actually click method has two options: fingers and areas. It's basically used
to determine where the virtual buttons are for touchpads that lack physical
buttons:
- Fingers: under your fingers; right-click by putting town two fingers and
pressing
- Areas: a rectangle on the bottom of the pad becomes filled with virtual
buttons; a left-click button on the left, a right-click button on the right,
and an )optional) middle button in between them.

Relevant documentation:
https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/clickpad_softbuttons.html

So yeah, if your touchpad actually has physical buttons (lucky you in this day
and age!), then this option shouldn't be visible. But for us poor schlubs stuck
with buttonless touchpads, it's pretty important.

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@kde.org> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Status|UNCONFIRMED |ASSIGNED
Assignee|***@gmail.com |***@gmail.com
Ever confirmed|0 |1

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

--- Comment #3 from Nate Graham <***@kde.org> ---
Here are my suggestions for a UI that exposes all this functionality in a
reasonably comprehensible and user-friendly way.

For a touchpad that has separate physical left and right-click buttons built
into the touchpad, use the UI that we already have; don't change anything.

For a touchpad has no separate physical buttons, or that has only separate
physical buttons on top (e.g. for a trackpoint on Thinkpad laptops), show a UI
like this:



Right-click: (0) Press bottom-right corner {This is Libinput's "Areas" mode;
change the string to say "Press bottom-left corner" when "left handed mode" is
being used}
( ) Press anywhere with two fingers {this is Libinput's
"Clickfinger" mode}


{Middle click setting when using Areas mode}
Middle-click: (0) Press bottom-middle
( ) Press bottom left and bottom right corners simultaneously

{Middle click setting when using Clickfinger mode}
Middle-click: [x] Press anywhere with three fingers
{checkbox is disabled; in this mode you can't turn off three-finger
middle-click, but we keep it visible for instructional purposes}



So this is what the user would see when using "Areas" mode:

Right-click: (0) Press bottom-right corner
( ) Press anywhere with two fingers

Middle-click: (0) Press bottom-middle
( ) Press bottom left and bottom right corners simultaneously


And this is what the user would see when using Clickfinger mode:
Right-click: ( ) Press bottom-right corner
(0) Press anywhere with two fingers

Middle-click: [x] Press anywhere with three fingers

[Nate Graham]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387156

Nate Graham <***@kde.org> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Status|ASSIGNED |CONFIRMED

--- Comment #4 from Nate Graham <***@kde.org> ---
I think I confused people. This is what it would look like:

Right-click: (0) Press bottom-right corner
( ) Press anywhere with two fingers

Middle-click: (0) Press bottom-middle
( ) Press bottom left and bottom right corners simultaneously


The if the right-click setting is changed to "Press anywhere with two fingers",
then the middle-click radio buttons change into a single checkbox:

Middle-click: [x] Press anywhere with three fingers