Questions tagged [usability]
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object, in this case, software.
117
questions
0
votes
0
answers
15
views
Frozen screen while selecting wifi network
I use Ubuntu 22.04, in the default window manager when I click on "select network" the window of the network manager occupies the center of the screen and there I can pick one of the ...
9
votes
1
answer
514
views
Why should I go through the purchasing process to install a product priced $0.00?
In Software Center, I have to run through the purchasing process even if a product is priced with 0$ (e.g. 'Full Circle Magazine'). That makes no sense to me. If the price of the product is 'zero', It ...
0
votes
0
answers
57
views
Setting the mouse speed high is problematic with multiple windows on multiple displays
Does the community think the problem described below is worth considering?
What suggestions do you have for making the mouse easier to track?
If there's not some setting that is a good solution, where ...
20
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is it possible to drag files with right click?
Is there a way (maybe using some script in nautilus or something) so that you can drag files with the right mouse button and when you release, you're shown the context menu?
If it can even be ...
29
votes
4
answers
16k
views
How to change tab in Google Chrome with the keyboard, in Ubuntu
In OSX, you can browse tabs in browsers by Ctrl+ N/p or similar.
I have not found any keys in Ubuntu 14.04.
How can you browse tabs of browsers by keyboard in Ubuntu?
6
votes
5
answers
9k
views
Nautilus statusbar visibilty - Quickly check free space
In prior versions, I would open Nautilus and check the statusbar, which would tell me how much free space there is. Now, the statusbar isn't shown by default. I know you can enable it from the View ...
-1
votes
1
answer
44
views
non-search file picking with keyboard?
When using "Files" (the default gnome file manager application) I cannot use the keyboard to select a file that i know is already in the current view.
Only way to use the keyboard is to ...
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
do-release-upgrade how to continue after choosing D for "Remove obsolete packages?"
I was on 20.04, commands I ran on terminal to upgrade :
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install update-manager-core
sudo gedit /etc/update-manager/release-...
3
votes
0
answers
682
views
Firefox 95.0.1 and earlier versions suddenly becomes unusably slow
I'm having a persistent and transient issue with firefox on ubuntu 20.04 with ff 92 / 95, etc.
Basically I can be watching a video, or reading a web page, or filling out a forum and firefox becomes ...
52
votes
7
answers
19k
views
How are typical users expected to read the documentation in /usr/share/doc?
I recently learned that there is a huge pile of documentation in /usr/share/doc.
It seems like much of it is gzipped so that it is not directly accessible without administrative privileges:
$ gunzip ...
1
vote
0
answers
178
views
is there some way to tell the window manager to block all input to any new window, or any kind of popup dialog for a few seconds?
(This is not about web browsing), this is about:
system popups (I know only the one about: application not responding).
Windows focus and input grabbing behavior.
what is the worst thing we all (???)...
1
vote
0
answers
28
views
Warn when other workspace session is open or when programs still running (20.04)
When pressing the "Power Off" button in Ubuntu 20, is there a way to prevent the system from shutting down when any programs (especially in other workspaces) are still open? Or to at least ...
1
vote
0
answers
33
views
Dialogue boxes steal focus form current application
I was jut typing an email when an Ubuntu error message popped up. Since I was pressing enter or space while typing I either OKed or Cancelled something. I think it's really bad to steal the focus of ...
1
vote
1
answer
157
views
Is it possible to install latest version of RaySession on Ubuntu MATE 20.04 LTS?
I'm testing RaySession application.
I have started with its version from official repository. But it seems to be outdated.
So I decided to get latest master from GitHub project page https://github.com/...
4
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How to scroll in any direction with evince PDF viewer using mouse dragging
When viewing large PDFs with small print where one has to zoom in to be able to read even on fullscreen, it would be nice to be able to move the 'paper' with the drag of the mouse (hand cursor type).
...
3
votes
1
answer
210
views
What is overriding my window geometry? (Unity / 15.10)
Out of the box, on a freshly installed Ubuntu 15.10, if I start a terminal, it will launch a window which fills almost the entire screen. It's not maximized in the window manager sense, but its ...
3
votes
0
answers
904
views
How do I type a disk encryption password using a bluetooth keyboard?
I'm using a bluetooth keyboard (a Keychron K8) through a USB bluetooth dongle (from Plugable) on Ubuntu 20.10 with an encrypted disk. I connected and trusted the keyboard using bluetoothctl. When I ...
1
vote
2
answers
299
views
Why are apt-get repositories hardcoded to a specific release?
From the usability point of view, I do not understand why on each release upgrade you have to manually patch all the URLs of apt in order to make them point to the newer distribution.
Why is not ...
30
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Drag and Drop across (fullscreen) applications, switching via Alt-Tab
Example
Drag media file onto Totem's playlist to enqueue
Bug in Compiz
Especially for Unity (formerly Netbook Edition, being intended for small screens) this is quite a vital feature, as ...
23
votes
5
answers
63k
views
Minimal terminal editor alternative to vi and nano
What terminal/console mode alternatives to vi/vim and nano are available? I am looking for minimal, good looking and friendly text mode editor for complete newbies with PC.
I remember I've seen ...
18
votes
7
answers
11k
views
From Screenshot to "edit Image"
If I take a screenshot, often the next action is to paint on it. Sometimes I paint a circle around something, sometimes I blank parts to anonymize them.
Below is an example of the window after the ...
84
votes
4
answers
148k
views
How to change LUKS passphrase?
Having installed Ubuntu 11.10 with whole disk encryption and LVM, I need to provide a way for users to easily change LUKS passphrase.
Preferably, this should be done using GUI tools, thus, enabling ...
2
votes
0
answers
260
views
Center tray icons popup in Ubuntu 18.04
I'm using Dash to Panel to have my tray icons in the bottom-right corner of the screen, and there is something that bugs me off about the popup that the icons show when clicked.
It appears to the ...
4
votes
0
answers
408
views
Resizing a window should be easier - increase boarder pixel count?
Currently its too difficult to resize a window by hovering cursor on window edge or corner until cursor changes to that double arrow pointer ... when I install Ubuntu 19.04 for people new to computers ...
11
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Highlight Window with focus even more
I have two monitors and sometimes I start to type into the wrong window.
The window with the focus is highlighted in unity (Ubuntu 16.04) with a gray shadow.
Is there a way to highlight the window ...
3
votes
1
answer
87
views
Default Action for Cancel-Dialog in Gedit nearly not visible
I am getting older and my eyes see worse.
If I close gedit, I can hardly see the default action which is "Save as..."
Is there a way to make default actions (in all applications) more visible?
0
votes
1
answer
69
views
How drag a window with ALT+click like in Unity in GNOME 3
How can I arrange windows in a certain position in GNOME 3 manually,
like in Ubuntu 16 with Alt+Click?
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Enabling Ctrl+Alt+Del for X
How to I re-enbale the feature where Ctrl+Alt+Del will immediately kill X? I've been running into a graphics bug and I realized that, that was disabled in Ubuntu 16.10 for some reason. How do I get ...
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to hide "quodlibet wants to inhibit shortcuts" message
Ever since upgrading to 17.10, whenever I click on the time elapsed bar in quodlibet (to manually change the current track playback time), I get a
warning message that says "Quod Libet wants to ...
2
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Scroll up the page to previous input on terminal
In the work that I am doing, sometimes the output of a certain command is so large, that it becomes very challenging to find the first few lines of the output. By large I mean so large that scrolling ...
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
autocomplete at desktop level
I often type the same words in several applications:
Editor (emacs, vi)
Webbrowser
Shells
It would be great to have an autocomplete of the words I typed during the last week available in all the ...
1
vote
1
answer
176
views
Orange lock screen
When I lock my screen, I come back to an orange screen with a white clock and date in the middle. Getting out of this screen to get to the password screen is quite tedious. Clicking on the desktop ...
38
votes
8
answers
20k
views
Keeping multiple terminal windows in focus
I write code. I use terminal a lot. I ofter use many terminal windows. I hate how tabs look.
Are there any applications that allow me to keep multiple terminal windows in focus to streamline my ...
0
votes
1
answer
493
views
How to type A with Circle in Ubuntu 16.04 With Dead-keys?
I see no dead-key symbol for circle in Fig. 1 which is about my used keyboard layout, English Dvorak, you can use English Qwerty with dead-keys to test the same thing.
There is small circle at bottom-...
14
votes
4
answers
15k
views
How to hide window title and menu bar in GNOME Shell?
Is it easily possible in GNOME 3's gnome-shell to achieve similar appearance of windows' title and menu bars as with Unity's Globalmenu?
5
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Can't change WiFi username after entering incorrect credentials (Ubuntu 13.10)
I have to enter a username and password to log into a new WiFi network. I entered the wrong username the first time I tried to connect. The username has been grayed out every time I've tried to ...
4
votes
1
answer
20k
views
How to modify default printscreen behaviour?
The Prnt Scrn button currently takes a screenshot and saves it in ~/Pictures.
How can I modify the behaviour I want for the Prnt Scrn button?
Use case: I want to take a screenshot and go to GIMP and ...
14
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Why does no file manager ask for higher permission if needed? [closed]
I just answered another beginners question about "Cannot write.......check permissions".
Of course I know how to use chown/chmod; I'm working with command line anyway. But the average consumer does ...
0
votes
1
answer
200
views
Input language groups switching windows style
I want to enable one more input language and I wonder is there any way to group similar languages? Suppose I have English, Russian and Ukranian. Russian and Ukranian are similar and it would be ...
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
To Disable CTRL+SHIFT+C in Google Chrome of Ubuntu? [duplicate]
This keybinding is very irritating because it is very close to the copy-command Ctrl+C.
Partially, the problem can be explained by my keyboard layout Dvorak such that the browser may consider the ...
4
votes
1
answer
119
views
Spelling correction which feels like flying
Here is a screen shot of a typo:
The cursor is at the "..." position.
My dream: I press a magic keyboard short-cut and the spelling correction takes its best guess at correcting the typo.
How to ...
6
votes
2
answers
11k
views
How to apply master font and color to existing slides in LibreOffice Impress
I created a master/template in Impress by selecting:
Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Colors to select colors for creating a new gradient
Format > Area : Gradients to create the gradient ...
26
votes
2
answers
43k
views
How to copy/paste from "Sorry, the application XXX has stopped unexpectedly"
An app just crashed and I want to copy the error message and paste it into a search engine to hopefully find a solution.
Unfortunately the error dialog does not allow me to copy/paste anything:
In ...
4
votes
1
answer
69
views
Thunderbird: History of seen Messages
Is there a way in thunderbird to step backward and forward in the history of last messages? Like in firefox: It has a history of the last visited pages.
I would like to have a history of the last ...
30
votes
1
answer
24k
views
Refreshing the wireless network list?
When I wake up my laptop (Ubuntu 10.04) from suspension, it does not recognize the available wireless networks. The only way to refresh the list is to disable wireless networking, and than enable it.
...
18
votes
4
answers
19k
views
How to select text for copy and paste in Chrome by keyboard not using the mouse?
I have some online tutorial open in my Google chrome. It tells me to run some commands in a terminal.
My current workflow is to select the necessary parts via mouse, and insert the copied text via ...
1
vote
3
answers
2k
views
What are good ePub viewers you have come across? I'd like to take notes and highlight important text paragraphs [duplicate]
ePub3 has become very popular in the recent years because it has had some style-improvements entails much more than before. I am looking for a good ePub viewer that is simple but has great ...
0
votes
0
answers
39
views
Search for configuration (like Super-A for Applications, Super-F for Files)
Is there a way to search for configuration settings, like Super-A for Applications, Super-F for Files?
I want to type in: "shortcuts" and then I want to see a list of things which match this term.
...
1
vote
0
answers
85
views
Window decoration which respects titlebar colour AND supports Attach as Tab
It seems that some KDE features, such as Attach as Tab, are windows decoration dependent. Specifically, the otherwise excellent Plastik windows decoration does not support Attach as Tab.
The default ...
2
votes
1
answer
105
views
Interactive "open with" dialog mod?
I switched to Ubuntu this year from Windows. I like Ubuntu, but what I'm missing is smart "Open with" dialog. You should manually search for a program either from long list without ability to filter, ...