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KDE 4.10 gained the ability to use an application's menu from a title bar button (Menubar style: Title bar button) or from a drop-down menu at the top of the screen (Menubar style: Top screen menubar). I really like using the title bar button for appmenu access, but there are a few issues that force me to leave this disabled:

1) Title bar button is missing or buggy in some applications.

Description: I regularly use two applications that do not work correctly with the appmenu title bar button: LibreOffice w/ GTK integration and Thunderbird. In LibreOffice, the application menu disappears from the window contents, but an appmenu title bar button never appears, leaving the appmenu completely inaccessible. In Thunderbird, the appmenu title bar button appears and can be clicked, but moving the mouse over the different menu options causes the menu to disappear.

Proposed solution: Add an option (possibly in the Oxygen theme settings?) to display the normal menubar "In application" for certain programs, a list of which can be specified. So for example, if I added LibreOffice and Thunderbird to this list, all of my apps would use the appmenu title bar button except LibreOffice and Thunderbird, which would simply have the menubar in the application window as is normal. This would prevent the need to disable the appmenu title bar button altogether just because of a few misbehaving apps.

2) No access to menu when app is full-screen.

Description: When the appmenu title bar button is enabled and an application is made to run full-screen, all access to the appmenu is now lost.

Proposed solution: When using the appmenu title bar button and an application is set to full-screen, the application's menubar should be rendered normally. This is not a problem when using "Menubar style: Top screen menubar", since the top screen menubar still appears even in full-screen mode.

hey there,
1) actually not a KDE problem.
I have also enabled the appmenu feature, but I don't see the appmenu in GTK applications (which includes firefox) neither in LibreOffice. The appmenu in non KDE/Qt applications is provided by an extra package, something like appmenu-gtk or so (I don't use Kubuntu), and from the look of it, it seems buggy for you. So I would suggest you uninstall it and yo have achieved what you wish here for. Also AFAIK appmenu-gtk is not developed inside KDE (?), so you should probably report problems there.

2) Are there apps where you can access the ("normal") menubar in fullscreen?
I can do it here via the top-screen menubar, but sometimes I would also like to have the menubar button, that why I wrote this Brainstorm:
Kwin: have menubar on top screen AND as title bar button
Maybe this would be helpful, for you too?

fakd wrote:1) actually not a KDE problem.
I have also enabled the appmenu feature, but I don't see the appmenu in GTK applications (which includes firefox) neither in LibreOffice.

I get the appmenu button in all GTK applications except for LibreOffice.

The appmenu in non KDE/Qt applications is provided by an extra package, something like appmenu-gtk or so (I don't use Kubuntu), and from the look of it, it seems buggy for you. So I would suggest you uninstall it and yo have achieved what you wish here for.

No, because then none of my GTK apps would have the app menu. LibreOffice is the only exception... it hides the menu within the application window, but fails to present an appmenu button on the titlebar, making the appmenu inaccessible.

Also AFAIK appmenu-gtk is not developed inside KDE (?), so you should probably report problems there.

That doesn't change my request for an "exemption" list. KDE can't assume that every app will behave correctly with the menubar button, so having a way to override the "naughty" apps would be very helpful.

2) Are there apps where you can access the ("normal") menubar in fullscreen?

Assuming I am understanding your question, pretty much all apps I use will show the menubar at the top of the screen when in full-screen mode. If I enable the menubar button, however, the menu is hidden in the application window since it is now to be exposed by the menubar button. However, putting an app full-screen, there is no titlebar, hence no appmenu button, hence no way to access the menu.

mrbumpy409 wrote:

fakd wrote:Also AFAIK appmenu-gtk is not developed inside KDE (?), so you should probably report problems there.

That doesn't change my request for an "exemption" list.

I agree on that.

mrbumpy409 wrote:KDE can't assume that every app will behave correctly with the menubar button, so having a way to override the "naughty" apps would be very helpful.

No, I'm pretty sure that for every app in the KDE software compilation (SC) there is a quality control, so it will either show the appmenu correctly or not at all. Well and for apps who fail with this, one could argue, if it is really subject to KDE to provide workarounds for these apps...

mrbumpy409 wrote:

2) Are there apps where you can access the ("normal") menubar in fullscreen?

Assuming I am understanding your question,

Well, there is maximize (with decorations, toolbars, panels, etc.) and then there is full-screen which only shows the content (no toolbars, no tabs, no menus, no panels etc.)

mrbumpy409 wrote:pretty much all apps I use will show the menubar at the top of the screen when in full-screen mode. If I enable the menubar button, however, the menu is hidden in the application window since it is now to be exposed by the menubar button. However, putting an app full-screen, there is no titlebar, hence no appmenu button, hence no way to access the menu.

Please name one application, prefarably with an screenshot as I really don't see this.

Here is kwrite fullscreen with the menu bar "in application":


Here is kwrite fullscreen with the menu bar set to "title bar button":


As you can see, the menu is inaccessible in the second screen shot.

Ah, I see you are actually referring to the kwin feature Fullscreen.

Yes, would be handy to have a menu there. I would, however, go with the top-screen menu, so it is still hidden and shown only on demand.