GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 789944
No way to copy or open-in-new-tab on touchscreen
Last modified: 2018-01-25 15:46:11 UTC
When using the touchscreen it is not possible to select text and copy it, or to open a link in a new tab (or window). I would expect that long pressing text would allow me to select and copy it. I would expect that long pressing a link would allow me to open in new tab/window.
Shouldn't this be implemented in webkitgtk?
At least most of the implementation would need to be in WebKit, yes. If you just make long press bring up the existing context menu, that would be an entirely WebKit-level solution. But if you want to do something special for touchscreens, e.g. equivalent to the cool GTK+ editing popup with select/cut/copy/paste options... well, if something complex like that is desired, we normally provide a default implementation in WebKit, and add API to allow applications to override it. That's where we would need Epiphany-level code to add new options. But TBH, I have no clue what the desired user experience is, because I don't have a touchscreen. You know much better than me what the end result ought to look like. If all that's desired is a way to bring up the existing touch-unfriendly context menu, then yes that will not require any changes in Epiphany. Anyway, I'll resolve this as NOTGNOME since there's nothing to be done in Epiphany for now, at least. I know you're already working on a patch, so I trust you'll report the WebKit bug? Canned reply: Thanks for taking the time to report this. This issue is most likely a bug in WebKit. Please report the bug to https://bugs.webkit.org/ including a link to this bug report and noting the version of WebKitGTK+ that you have installed. When reporting the WebKit bug, be sure to include the prefix '[GTK]' in the bug summary and select the 'WebKit Gtk' component.
I am not sure of the status of long-press popup menus in GTK+, but last thing I know this was discussed in bug #315645, which is still open.
Does this really matter? Yes, a standard way officially supported by the toolkit would be nice, but for me the user matters most. If we can do it using current supported techniques than it is fine. Iff the toolkit will support a better solution we can switch as soon it is available.
It matters in that, whichever way this is implemented in WebKitGTK+, it needs to use the infrastructure in GTK+, which is discussed in that bug.
Last comment says that for the moment a longpress should be used and connected to popup-menu. Later on it needs to be changed to a more generic way. My current patch (attached in webkit bugzilla) uses standard gtk functions to solve this issue. Is this ok?