Defaulting to multitouch physical clicking can be unwanted on touchpads with touchpad area indications

[zach-hopkins]

Prerequisites

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates.

Describe the bug

Right click on a laptop trackpad basically never works out of the box. I have a small sample size (4 notebook/laptop computers - Lenovo, Clevo, x2 Dell), however, right clicking worked on zero of them until I changed the touchpad settings to "touchpad areas". Any thought of potentially making "Touchpad Areas" default?

If applicable, add screenshots or screen recordings to help explain your problem.

Expected behavior

Out of the box right click functionality on laptop trackpads

Platform Information

OS: Elementary

• OS Version Hera

Please check what applies:
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• I'm using the latest version from git that I've manually compiled
• I'm using the latest released stable version

[danirabbit]

When using "Hardware default" does two-finger tap work as a right click?

[zach-hopkins]

When using "Hardware default" does two-finger tap work as a right click?

Yes it does.

[danirabbit]

I think that sounds like this is working as intended then. If your hardware default is two-finger tap and that’s working as described, I’m not sure this is a valid report except to say that you prefer something other than your hardware default which is why there is a setting :)

@cassidyjames any thoughts about this?

[zach-hopkins]

Laptop trackpads i've tested have distinct 'click' areas - intention is for hard right-click/left-click.

[cassidyjames]

Hold on, I think two different things are being conflated. Taps and physical clicking are treated completely separately by LibInput, so one doesn't affect the other.

Two-finger tap (tapping on the surface without physically clicking down) for secondary click is always enabled as long as "Tap to click" is enabled, which it is out of the box in elementary OS. elementary OS also defaults to "Multitouch" physical clicking by design, i.e. using two fingers to click down on and depress a trackpad. I think we chose this default because otherwise it can be confusing why two-finger tapping works but two-finger clicking only works on certain hardware.

That said, I would not be super opposed to trying "Hardware default" physical clicking and seeing if folks generally find it does the right thing on their hardware. This is super hardware-dependent, though, and I believe that data lives in LibInput itself.

[cassidyjames]

@zach-hopkins for clarity, does right-clicking work as you'd expect (phyiscally depressing the bottom-right area of the trackpad) when you choose "Hardware default" for physical clicking?

[zach-hopkins]

Yes it did, on all four devices.

…

On Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 11:55 AM Cassidy James Blaede < ***@***.***> wrote: @zach-hopkins <https://github.com/zach-hopkins> for clarity, does right-clicking work as you'd expect (phyiscally depressing the bottom-right area of the trackpad) when you choose "Hardware default" for physical clicking? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#183 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AKNWCC7I5WN3JFPOFWIN76LSCQCJPANCNFSM4OWC3KIA> .

[cassidyjames]

@danrabbit so we could try out "Hardware default" here as a default, though I suspect it will be a change that some don't like; for example, on Pinebook Pro, the "hardware default" from LibInput is for touchpad areas, even though it has no indication of those areas on the trackpad. I believe the same thing was often the case for System76 and Dell hardware as well—maybe LibInput defaults to areas if there's no data?