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interface and documentation

Hello, I just enabled Clipman and I found some of the interface/docs confusing so came to make suggestions/feedback.

1. text selection to clipboard interface + docs

I found this issue: #23 (closed) "Synchronize CLIPBOARD to PRIMARY selection?" Which confused me greatly but is probably related.

Goal: I just want a list of the last x copied text in a popup. Do not change any behavior from existing clipboard/copy/paste settings. No fancy stuff.

I don't recall the technical vocab for this but here is how my setup works:

  • GUI: I only copy/paste text using ctrl-c/ctrl-v or right-click (selected text does not get copied otherwise)
  • Terminal (I use kitty): I use "select to copy" with the buffer that is only available in the terminal (paste via middle mouse or ctrl-v). When I want to copy from terminal to GUI, I use ctrl-c in terminal. Paste in terminal will paste whatever was most recently copied (via GUI or terminal) (all that mapped in kitty.conf)

My guess as to the behaviour of "Sync mouse selections" checkbox is that it would bring the terminal behaviour "select to copy" into the GUI (as in it "syncs" (to clipboard) your "selections"). Which I do not want. Furthermore, the docs explain:

Sync selections: Sync the primary clipboard with the default clipboard in a way that it is possible to paste what gets selected

Which reinforced that understanding.

Then on the "History" tab there is a checkbox "Ignore mouse selections". Documentation explains:

Ignore selections: Prevents the primary clipboard from being inserted in the history

After trying various combinations, the effects of both is mysterious to me:

  • GUI:
    • With "ignore mouse selection" activated: Selected text is not in the panel popup. Selected text does paste via ctrl-v.
    • With "ignore mouse selection" deactivated: Selected text is in the panel popup. Selected text does paste via ctrl-v.
  • terminal: the option "ignore mouse selection" has no effect that I can discern. No matter what is selected:
    • With "ignore mouse selection" deactivated: Selected text is in the panel popup. Selected text does paste via ctrl-v.

When I deactivate "Sync mouse selections", the effect is:

  • GUI:
    • With "ignore mouse selection" activated: Text selected in GUI is in the panel popup. Selected text does paste via ctrl-v.
    • With "ignore mouse selection" deactivated: Selected text is in the panel popup. Selected text does paste via ctrl-v.
  • terminal: the setting "ignore mouse selection" has no effect:
    • Selected text is in the panel popup. Selected text does paste in GUI via ctrl-v.

I know linux clipboard is sort of complicated with multiple buffers and variable ways to interact with them. Probably what settings the user already has can confound an application like this. I am not sure what either of these checkbox is meant to be doing. They both sound like they do the same thing to me, but no combination of them gets what I'd like.

  • A little more verbosity in configuration labels
  • If there are 2 settings related to selecting text, put them on the same tab
  • I suspect that one or both settings might be doing multiple things; if so, separating these into discrete items rather than grouping them might help account for variable using settings and make things more predictable
  • Since this interacts with existing settings, would it be possible to display those settings? For example, having an "environment" tab that displays system configurations, or even just lists the relevant files? Or provide a terminal command that would find these?

I am not sure using the language "primary clipboard" is good in a GUI application that is active by default in various distros. You have to understand terminal stuff to know what it means. (And what it means it the opposite of what many people except it to mean.)

2. duplicate documentation

Not sure if it should be a separate issue. But I wonder what is the difference between these two pages which have almost but not quite the same content:

Either the two pages should be different from each other and link to one another, or they should be merged and redirected to a single document. As a user it is confusing to try to sort through pages that have so much overlap. And it must be annoying to maintain too.

3. action dialogue

documentation shows just one box:

image

but some of that is actually in a second box, accessed through a little button:

image

(minor and admittedly anyone with use for this feature could probably figure it out. :) )

environment

  • clipman version 1.6.2-1 (according to pacman; there doesn't seem to be any way to get clipman to tell you what version it is in the GUI or with usual cli arguments like --help --version, --info)
  • xfce version: 4.18 with xfwm4
  • linux: 6.1.19-1-MANJARO
Edited by plaster