Breakout: * multiscreen behaviour: how should Plasma exactly behave in different scenarios?

[Sebastian Kügler]

On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 12:44:01 PM UTC Martin Graesslin wrote:
> Other issues we regularly get reported is windows not opening on the screen 
> the user expects them to open. Mostly a problem, because on X11 almost
> every application provides a positioning hint which kwin honors.
> 
> Both issues are unfixable with X11. And even on Wayland we kind of would
> need  to know what the user wants. Which  is hardly possible.
> 
> With my window manager hat on, I'm nowadays convinced that there are
> two/three  different usage strategies:
> 1: static setup with two screens. System should ideally have virtual
> desktop  per screen, window management super important
> 2: notebook with docking station: like 1, but dynamic
> 3a: notebook with external extended projector: no window should ever go to
> the  external screen except the ones added there
> 3b: static system with an external (off) TV: only used for kodi/vlc. No
> window  should ever go there
> 
> Of course this is all highly dynamic. A system like 2 might turn into 3a at 
> any time.
> 
> Taking the panel question from above: it depends on the usage pattern we
> are  in. In 1 and 2 it should only be one panel, in 3a it should be 2, in
> 3b I have no idea.
> 
> And of course the question related to window management also depends on the 
> usage strategy.

What I'm reading consistently in bugreports is that users expect windows to 
open on the primary screen (which hasn't been the case forever). I recall 
(pre4.0 times I think) that applications would open on the screen containing 
the mouse pointer, now it's the screen containing the focused widget.

The thing that users don't expect is applications opening on the secondary 
screen, or applications moving there after connecting another output (that 
behaviour annoys me as well). This can be tested with a dualscreen setup where 
the primary output is either left of the newly connected, or under it. 
(applications have a tendency to move to the top-left.
-- 
sebas

Sebastian Kügler    •    http://vizZzion.org    •    http://www.kde.org