[Feature] Scrolling: when “always re-insert on drag” is on, invert the behaviour of the trigger key

[Elarcis]

Description

This proposal expands the behaviour of the “always re-insert on drag” setting for scrolling (and possibly tiling) mode.

Currently the toggle enables systematic re-insertion of windows, even if they were previously set floating. The “trigger” and “toggle mode” settings then becomes irrelevant (i.e. they are hidden when the toggle is on). There is, as far as I know, no obvious way of temporarily disabling re-insertion when dragging a window, which this proposal intends to fix.

It relies on a few modifications to the trigger setting for the scrolling mode:

• The “always re-insert on drag” toggle would not hide the two options under it anymore
• When the “always re-insert on drag” toggle is on, the “trigger” and “toggle mode” settings would still be relevant, but have the inverse behaviour: the trigger would disable re-insertion instead of enabling it.

When “always re-insert on drag” is on, this would have the following effects:

• Dragging a window would re-insert it by default (unchanged behaviour)
• …unless the user presses the trigger, which then disables automatic re-insertion and makes the window floating
• Like in “normal” mode, whether the user needs to hold the trigger or not is impacted by the “toggle mode” setting.

Problem it Solves

When using the “Always re-insert on drag” setting, floating windows are pretty much unusable: any attempt at dragging them re-inserts them again, and the user has to make it floating after every move.

Furthermore, there is a lack of symmetry between the “off” and “on” states of the “always re-insert on drag” toggle:

• When off, floating windows are the default but both scrolling and floating windows can cohabit easily
• When on, scrolling windows are the default, but it is very hard to get floating windows

This proposal would clearly simplify the use of floating windows, even when scrolling windows are preferred.

Alternatives Considered

No response

Checklist

• I searched existing discussions and issues

[fuddlesworth]

Thanks, this is a good catch, and the proposal matches something snapping already does: with "Activate on every drag" on, the same triggers hide the zone overlay instead of showing it. Re-insert now works the same way, in #1173, for both scrolling and tiling.

With "Always re-insert on drag" on:

• Dragging a window re-inserts it by default, as before.
• Holding the trigger keeps the dragged window floating instead. That works for a window that's already floating and for one you're pulling out of the strip or stack.
• With "Toggle mode" on, tap the trigger once to keep the drag floating and tap it again to re-insert.
• The trigger and toggle rows no longer grey out when the switch is on. Their labels change to match (for example "Hold to keep floating").

One thing to watch for when it lands: if you had always re-insert on before, your old trigger is still stored (Alt by default), and holding it during a drag will now leave the window floating. If you happen to drag windows with that key held, pick a different trigger.

The "Release grace period" stays greyed out under always re-insert. There it would only stretch out how long the window is kept floating after you let go of the trigger.

[fuddlesworth]

Added in 3.5.4 (#1173). With "Always re-insert on drag" on, holding the re-insert trigger, or tapping it in toggle mode, keeps the dragged window floating, in both scrolling and tiling. Closing this, but reply here if it does not work the way you expected on 3.5.4.