I just installed Kubuntu 15.10 with Plasma 5.4. I must say that it is beautiful. However I am having a few issues, one of which is that when a second monitor is plugged into my laptop, the Panel in vertical configuration does not behave as expected.
1. When set to Auto Hide, the panel does not hide when the mouse leaves its area.
2. When set to Always Visible, maximized windows maximize against the entire monitor size (as opposed to the expected [monitor_size - panel_size] as was done in previous versions) and thus appear below the panel.

When I disconnect the second monitor the panel behaves as expected in both Auto Hide configuration and in Always Visible configuration.

Should I file a bug, or is this something that can be resolved here?

Thank you!

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94470

luebking wrote:https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94470

Thank you, but this seems to be a different issue. The setup that I have now worked fine in KDE 4 with Plasma 4.

The linked bug is about the "maximized windows go under" issue. Didn't work, doesn't work, will not work - unless we abandon "I do not see where this would be any relevant for gnome" NETWM

Autohiding panels could in theory work, but it seems such is at elast not supported by the electric borders in KWin (eg. there's code like

if (bordersLeft && border == ElectricLeft) {
if (!isLeftScreen(screen, fullArea)) {
continue;
}
) so if the autohiding panels rely on that, it doesn't work because of this.


You can file a bug (I've no idea whether that worked before, didn't see the patches in review) - it would be required to skip pushback on inner borders (so the panel shows immediately as you cannot push the mouse against "nothing"), but in theory should be implementable.

It seems that the issue only occurs when the panel is on a screen edge which is adjacent to another monitor. For instance, this is my screen configuration:

Code: Select all

+------------+
|            |
|  External  |
|  Monitor   |
|            |
|            |+--------------------+
|            ||                    |
|            ||        Laptop      |
|            ||        Screen      |
|            ||                    |
+------------++--------------------+


If I put the vertical panel here, then it hides and otherwise behaves as expected:

Code: Select all

+------------+
|            |
|  External  |                  Panel
|  Monitor   |                    |
|            |                    v
|            |+--------------------+
|            ||                   *|
|            ||        Laptop     *|
|            ||        Screen     *|
|            ||                   *|
+------------++--------------------+


However, if I put the vertical panel here then it will not hide when the external monitor is connected:

Code: Select all

+------------+
|            |
|  External  |     Panel
|  Monitor   |    /
|            |   /
|            |+--------------------+
|            ||*                   |
|            ||*       Laptop      |
|            ||*       Screen      |
|            ||*                   |
+------------++--------------------+


I stress that this configuration worked perfectly fine in all KDE 4.x versions with Plasma 4. Only with Plasma 5.4 do I have this issue. Unfortunately, putting the panel on the right side of the screen is not viable as scrollbars are on the right side of windows and having the panel there means that the scrollbars are very difficult to get to with the mouse (Fitt's law). Likewise, putting the portrait monitor on the right side of the laptop is not viable either.

It seems that the issue only occurs when the panel is on a screen edge which is adjacent to another monitor.

Yes, as pointed out.

I stress that this configuration worked perfectly fine in all KDE 4.x versions with Plasma 4.

I can assure you that inner panels have not restricted the maximization area in any KDE version - it's not possible because the NETWM protocol completely ignores multiscreen cases. There's absolutely no way for the panel to hint the WM "please do not put windows here".

As mentioned, whether inner autohiding panels have worked in KDE4 or not: i do not know.
There's however no technical restriction for *this* feature, so if you feel it's missing, please file a bug.
It needs to be supported by plasmashell (panel containment) as well as kwin (ie. file a bug and CC the other group, eg. "kwin æt kde døt org")