Touch Gestures Inconsistency and Incorrect Documentation
I have recently been experimenting with Linux on convertible tablets to replace my Chromebook, and after some distro-hopping found Fedora Gnome to be the best for screen rotation, trackpad, and touchscreen support. However, I am constantly frustrated with the inconsistency between gestures on trackpad vs. touchscreen.
In my quest for a solution to this inconsistency I have found zero solutions and 3 separate pages on gnome.org which give differing information about gestures. The help.gnome.org page had a link to email feedback to docs-feedback@gnome.org but I received an automatic "rejected" response:
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My feedback is as follows:
https://infrastructure.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/help.gnome.org//gnome-help/touchscreen-gestures.html
- 1st and 2nd system-wide gestures state 3 fingers for Activities Overview and Workspace switching; correct for trackpad, touchscreen requires 4 fingers
- 1st application gesture (tap) only selects items on both trackpad and touchscreen, does not open files; does activate buttons such as playing music or launching programs
- 2nd application gesture (press and hold) works on touchscreen, does nothing on trackpad
https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/touchscreen-gestures.html.en
- System-wide gestures
- 1st gesture does not work on trackpad or touchscreen
- 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gestures only work by happenstance; they actually activate whichever item in the top bar your finger is on when leaving the screen, not always the stated menu; on trackpad they, as expected, simply move the mouse
- 6th gesture does not work on trackpad, only on touchscreen
- 7th gesture opens Activities Overview on touchscreen, does nothing on trackpad; switching Workspaces on touchscreen actually requires a sideways 4-finger swipe, not up or down.
- Application gestures
- 1st gesture (tap) only selects items on both trackpad and touchscreen, does not open files; does activate buttons such as playing music or launching programs
- 2nd and 3rd gestures do nothing on trackpad, works on touchscreen
https://wiki.gnome.org/Design/OS/Gestures
- 1st gesture (tap) only selects items on both trackpad and touchscreen, does not open files; does activate buttons such as playing music or launching programs
- 2nd and 3rd gestures do nothing on trackpad, works on touchscreen
- 5th gesture (double-tap)
- Selects text in browsers and documents for both trackpad and touchscreen
- Launch files, open folders, etc., on both trackpad and touchscreen
- Toggles fullscreen in ImageViewer on trackpad and does nothing on touchscreen
- 7th gesture (edge drag) are functional identical to my feedback for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gestures on the help.gnome.org link above, plus the final variation "left edge" does nothing at all on touchscreen; on trackpad they, as expected, simply move the mouse
- 8th gesture (3-finger pinch) does nothing on trackpad or touchscreen
- 9th gesture (4-finger drag) does nothing on trackpad, on touchscreen it opens the Activities Overview (up) or switches Workspace (left and right)
- 10th gesture (3-finger hold + tap) does not work on trackpad, only on touchscreen
- Further, under the list with icons is a table titled "Touchpad Specifics" which, while highlighting the odd 3-to-4 finger discrepancy, inaccurately states up and down gestures on touchscreen switch Workspaces; on my devices, up opens the Activities Overview while left and right switch Workspaces
Please can you amend the documentation to correctly reflect how gestures work within Gnome?
I have asked in the Gnome forums about how to actually change touchscreen 4-finger gestures to match the 3 fingers used on trackpads. If no solution is presented I may raise a separate Gitlab issue asking for this inconsistency to be fixed.