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Is there a dock that responds to touch screen movement? (self.linux)

submitted 4 months ago by AndrewZabar to c/[email protected]

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey, so I know you can tap on a dock icon to launch the app, but when the dock is more than full and requires scrolling to shift the icons, this still cannot be done with the touch screen, based on docks I have tested. I tried the built in docks in Gnome on Pop, Ubuntu, and also Plank. None respond to an attempted drag via the touch screen.

Are there any less widely known ones that do? Are there any plans to bring this functionality to the dock in Gnome?

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[–] just_another_person 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

There are touchscreen extensions for Gnome specifically, but maybe there is something in gnome-tweaks that changes dock behavior that will work for you.

There are also different default dock setups that differ by distro, so may be helpful to know what you are working with. Example: Ubuntu has dock enabled by default, but Fedora does not.

For touchscreen in Fedora, I just hit the top-left to open all apps like on a phone, then scroll through from there. Everything works as expected with touch.

[+] AndrewZabar -6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Ok so your reply literally reads like an AI bot. No offense. I’m aware there are different dock setups - I never asked about that. You said maybe helpful to know what I’m working with - well I said pop and Ubuntu. This limitation has come up on numerous devices so it’s not device that’s the issue. Touch screen works fine it’s just the coding of the dock that treats it a certain way.

The problem is I want to slide the dock content when it takes up more than the length of the dock. Using mouse wheel / touchpad scroll works. That’s the way docks designed. But it doesn’t seem to consider touch screen dragging as scrolling for the purpose of this.

I was pretty clear in my post so I’m not sure why you even replied. I mean, I appreciate any help but that wasn’t just not helpful it was not even addressing my question.

Also, gnome-extensions is outdated and I’ve had crashes on the latest gnome version. I don’t think the extensions plugin been updated in quite some time.

[–] just_another_person 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Hey, buddy. Advice is free. Not a bot, but if you're not knowledgeable about your particular issue to recognize that my response is obviously not AI, you need to do more research. Just telling you my knowledge and experience for free, buddy.

[+] AndrewZabar -6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

You “answered” by giving me parenthetical information and not actually even addressing the specific thing I asked. I just don’t understand why you’d bother doing that. Advice is free? Yeah it would be but that’s not what you did. You just said some things and ignored the very specific issue I’m having.

I can appreciate if someone tried to help but could not, but what you told me has nothing to do with my issue.

Also, I said no offense and I genuinely meant it. No need for name calling. This isn’t an attack it’s just I’m very confused by you.

[–] just_another_person 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Friend, your post is incredibly vague, and you've yet to fill in the details. Nobody here can write you a script that does exactly what you want without details. If you're looking for that, head over to the Gnome mail boards. You have the freedom to do so because it's open source. We're just people here trying to help.

[–] AndrewZabar -3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

That’s a helpful suggestion thank you! Sincerely. Let me try to clarify: with any docks that I have used (dash to dock, plank, and whatever comes by default in Ubuntu which I think is a modified plank, same with elementary), when you fill up the length of the visible dock area and add more icons, they are hidden. You can then use your mousewheel / touchpad scroll to slide the icons so as to scroll to the hidden ones.

Now, my touchscreen works fine and I can do things like scroll web pages, tap icons to launch, tap fields in an application and even type in the on-screen touch keyboard.

But what I cannot do is move the dock icons to scroll them along the dock to reveal the hidden ones that are past the dock’s end.

In theory since it’s a scrolling function, the intuitive thing would be to drag them with your finger using the touchscreen. But this doesn’t actually work. Clearly, it is not coded in the same way that most things are that respond to that kind of interaction.

I tried using a few dock applications and on a few distros. It doesn’t work anywhere.

So that’s my goal - to be able to drag/scroll the contents of the dock to get to the ones that are hidden past the end.

[–] just_another_person 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So, as I replied, stop using the Dock altogether. Spend the time to use one more click into the exploded view of all apps, and use touchscreen like that. It solves your problems with only one extra touch. Gnome is not designed as a mobile-style interface as you wish, but with one touch it does what you want.

[–] AndrewZabar 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Ok well, that’s telling me to stop wanting to do what I’m trying to do, and instead do something else. I mean…. Do you see how that’s not an answer at all.

You’re allowed to just say you don’t know how or if it can be done at all. But telling me just don’t do that is altogether pointless and just responding just to respond. Why do so many people do this and think it’s perfectly useful, I’ll never understand.

[–] just_another_person 3 points 4 months ago

Write your own code.

Ask the current dev team to support this.

Script it.

Fork the other repos I mentioned to fix your specific use case.

There's no boundary here. You're free to do whatever you want. Nobody is telling you to stop looking for a solution.

[–] just_another_person 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Also just want to clarify that "pop and Ubuntu" are two wildly different things. Not sure why you thought they were similar.

[–] AndrewZabar -2 points 4 months ago

I don’t know where I said they were similar. I mean, they are both using gnome in my situation and Pop is based on Ubuntu. That’s the extent of it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Does double tap and drag work?

Meaning: tap, lift, tap without lifting, drag.

[–] AndrewZabar 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Nope. Launches the app. Tried a lot of times.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sorry. If there is a keyboard key or other input event to scroll it, you could set a touchscreen gesture to emulate that input?

[–] AndrewZabar 1 points 4 months ago

Standard scroll. Like with a mouse wheel or two finger swipe or edge swipe on a touchpad.