Scrollbar clicks "Warp" instead of "Page"

Ideas
1

I found an annoying thing in the Windows version, and that’s the scroll bar behavior that was introduced with GTK version 3. I always patch that in Linux with an INI file,and I’m sure that I could add that to Windows too, or use a theme to fix it.

What I mean is the setting called ‘gtk-primary-button-warps-slider’. When true (default) it makes the scroll bar move (warp) to the location where you click, and that is very uncommon in Windows. People expect that a click above or below the slider causes a page up or down, just like they get in a standard install of Gramps 5.1.6.

2

The “Shift” modifier flips behavior.

5.16 on Linux, shift makes the click performs warping.
5.13 on Windows, Shift makes the click performs paging. (Same on 5.2.0rc1)

I tested using the People view with the example.gramps tree.
Can a Mac user check?

3

That’s nice, but most users don’t read this forum to find out, or read manuals at all, so, as a conservative, I suggest that we activate paging as default for Windows.

Note that on my Linux, Shift makes it warp, because I changed the behavior in the INI file. Warp is the default on Linux Mint for all apps running on GTK 3, and this behavior can be changed in the Themes settings now.

4

I’m not asking for documentation purposes.

After determining the behaviors in the 3 OSes, we can determine if the behavior can be changed with a GTK CSS overlay At the very least, all three OSes should exhibit the same behavior.

5

I don’t think so, because users of different OS’es have different backgrounds and habits. And I read that many touchpad users do appreciate the warp. Same for touchscreens, I guess.

Gramps’ behavior should feel natural for the user’s OS, as far as that is possible with GTK, not for us.

6

On a Mac (5.2rc1):
Left mouse: scroll up/down
Right mouse: page up/down
shift right mouse: jump to position
shift left mouse: scroll up/down (same as without shift)

2 Likes
7

Linux behavior is a match. Mouse wheel click also warps (jumps to position)

8

Ok. This seems to pre-date the 5.1.6 version. So we can move it out of the Beta Testing section. It can go in Ideas to hash out the specifics needed for an Feature Request.

9

I don’t think so, because the behavior is ‘good’ in 5.1.6, and not in the 5.2 RC, with ‘good’ meaning what’s standard in Windows. This means that I think that it must be fixed, because in Windows, GTK and its settings are supplied by us, not the OS.

10

I did tests (and re-tests) in the People Views with 5.1.3 in PortableGramps and 5.1.6 AIO 64 within a freshly re-installed Windows 10 OS on a Thinkpad. (Gtk 3.0 was required as far back as Gramps 4.0 in 2013. Gtk 4 was released Dec 2020.)

The left-click on the scrollbar ‘Warped’ instead of ‘Paged’ there too.

Since the behavior is unchanged in the 5.2 candidate, then this is not a ‘new with beta’ bug. If it is a Gtk 3 related issue, then it is not new either.

There are scrolling-related changes in the 5.2 cycle. They seem unrelated to changing the known behavior of the clicks in Windows:

  • Fix Gtk deprecation ScrolledWindow.add_with_viewport
  • Allow scrolling if the ancestor tree is too large.
  • Add a scrolled window to the preferences data tab. Fixes #12968.
  • Add scrollbar in popup content.
  • Add more scrollbars to the Preferences dialog.
  • Fix sizing of the surname table in the name editor. The columns were slightly too large requiring a scrollbar with the default dialog size and column widths. Fixes #12994.
  • Fix black margin in project list with scrollbar. Fixes #12993.

And since the 5.2 is frozen for new changes and this is NOT new behavior, it has to move to the 5.3 cycle or be a “patch” outside the 5.2 cycle.

11

I did that test too, and was quite surprised, because I see paging in the Gramps 5.1.6 AIO that I run in Windows 10, and warping in the 5.2 RC.

So to check this, I just installed Portable Apps with Gramps 5.1.6 on a thumb drive running in Windows 11, and that warped, so it would suggest that you’re right, which would look weird, because I know what I saw yesterday, before I replied.

When I install Gramps, I always install all add-ons using the preferences window. That’s not because I need all, but because I’m too lazy to read all the descriptions, and prefer to have them all in the menu’s, so that I can try how useful they are. It is also a great way to find problems, which also makes it easier to help others.

And after installing those, I found that Gramps 5.1.6 switched to paging, so I was right too. And that suggests that the fix is in the Themes add-on, which came with my install all.

I will check if this works with the 5.2 RC in a moment.

1 Like
12

I just checked, and it’s the same with the RC. The scrolling is fixed by the Themes add-on.

1 Like
13

We can add an extra file to the Windows AIO if required. The Gtk settings are not part of Gramps.

14

If the Themes add-on addresses the Warp vs. Page, then adding an extra file in the AIO at this late date might create an interaction.

Why not wait until 5.3 when there won’t be so much competition for developer attention?

1 Like
15

I leave these decisions to the distribution maintainers. The point I was making was that such changes are permitted.

1 Like
16

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