GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 415123
Make Print and <Alt>Print more discoverable
Last modified: 2020-11-26 16:27:34 UTC
I recently read a review of Ubuntu which included this: "I was a little confused how to take screenshots and create a text file at first, but I checked the applications list and found applications called "Take Screenshot" and "Text Editor." Doesn't get much more obvious than that. Take Screenshot is actually an application called "Gnome-Screenshot" and "Text Editor" is called "Gedit" - a notepad like program with spell-check and find-and-replace. Good to know. I right-clicked on the "take screenshot" button and found an option to add it to the top panel - convenient." http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI5OCwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI= While his method IS convenient, it is even more convenient to press Print and <Alt>Print but it seems like he did not discover those keybindings. So, if we extrapolate that anecdote it must mean that many thousands of users have missed these keybindings. Here is a patch that adds a simple help message to gnome-screenshot, reminding the user of these two keybindings.
Created attachment 84022 [details] [review] Add a help label to gnome-screenshot's main dialog
Created attachment 84023 [details] Screenshot of the patched gnome-screenshot
I agree with Björn, because this hint would have helped me. I do not know whether this change is in accordance with the GNOME User Interface Guidelines. It would might also be helpful to display these simple key-bindings in the apps tooltip.
the custom dialog should be removed and a GtkFileChooserDialog should be used instead. also the menu entry will now raise the interactive dialog, so the whole idea of adding an hint label for a key combination on the very dialog that the key combination invokes is wrong. the patch should add the hint (with an icon) on the interactive dialog, instead.
Thanks for the patch review. I agree that a GtkFileChooserDialog is better here, but I'm not sure how to fit the screenshot in the file chooser dialog? > also the menu entry will now raise the interactive dialog, so the whole idea of > adding an hint label for a key combination on the very dialog that the key > combination invokes is wrong. > > the patch should add the hint (with an icon) on the interactive dialog, > instead. I don't understand this, can you elaborate? What is the "interactive dialog"? Is it different from the "Save Screenshot" dialog?
(In reply to comment #5) > Thanks for the patch review. I agree that a GtkFileChooserDialog is better > here, but I'm not sure how to fit the screenshot in the file chooser dialog? every GtkFileChooser has the ability to add a preview widget; otherwise, create a new GtkDialog containing the GtkFileChooserWidget and the screenshot preview - always on the text direction (right for RTL languages, left for LTR) to improve consistency with the real file chooser dialog. > > also the menu entry will now raise the interactive dialog, so the whole idea of > > adding an hint label for a key combination on the very dialog that the key > > combination invokes is wrong. > > > > the patch should add the hint (with an icon) on the interactive dialog, > > instead. > > I don't understand this, can you elaborate? What is the "interactive dialog"? > Is it different from the "Save Screenshot" dialog? yes. the dialog which comes up with the applications menu entry (Accessories, Take Screenshot) is the "interactive" dialog: it allows you to set up the screenshot preferences before taking the screenshot. it is also available by launching gnome-screenshot -i from the terminal. a hint about the print screen and alt+print screen should be added there, not on the save dialog, which is what you get if you launch gnome-screenshot from the terminal without the -i argument, or if you already pressed print screen or alt+print screen (in which case the hint is perfectly useless). there's one problem with the hint, though: the user can effectively change the key binding. gnome-screenshot would have to check the contents of these gconf keys: /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_screenshot /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_window_screenshot to get the actual keys and: /apps/metacity/keybindings_command/command_screenshot /apps/metacity/keybindings_command/command_window_screenshot to see if gnome-screenshot is the command to be launched (admittedly, this last check can be avoided).
*** Bug 556429 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Oh. I`m kinda fresh in Gnome development - I`ve send an email with my plans of giving some more functionality to gnome-screenshot. http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-utils-list/2009-April/msg00001.html When I`ll complete my plans, it wille be possible to mark it as done.
Now gnome-screenshot has moved to 3.2.1-3 for me (Debian Wheezy), so this patch doesn't apply anymore. Anyway, the hint about key combinations should be added to gnome-screenshot's interactive mode window, or at least to the corresponding help file (accessible by clicking the "Help" button in that window)
The Screenshot tool interactive dialog has been redesigned; if you wish to add the shortcuts to it, then please open a new issue on GitLab: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-screenshot/issues/new There's also an effort to redesign the in-shell screenshot tool which would improve the discoverability of the key shortcuts: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/2947