Question
KDE Neon first-run workflow: Plasma accessibility options not surfaced before System Settings
Rahul Lane
0 reputation · 18 Oct 2024, 05:05 UTC
68.8K views1
Loading…
0 reputation · 18 Oct 2024, 05:05 UTC
KDE Neon ships the Plasma accessibility stack (screen reader, magnifier, high contrast) through System Settings, but the user-facing install and first-boot path appears to require manual navigation to System Settings > Accessibility before any of these features are discoverable. I am evaluating whether this is a gap that should be addressed in the onboarding flow.
The specific uncertainty is where accessibility quick toggles or prompts belong: the login manager (SDDM), the Plasma Welcome first-run app, or both. There is also a design question about default enablement, since turning on a screen reader or magnifier by default would affect all users, while hiding the options entirely hurts discoverability for those who need them.
A complicating constraint is Neon's composition: the User Edition rolls the Plasma stack on top of an Ubuntu LTS base, so the accessibility components and underlying libraries can move at different speeds. Any onboarding change would need to account for that version skew.
Is there a documented or recommended way to surface Plasma accessibility toggles during first run or at the login screen on Neon? How should default enablement be handled given the rolling Plasma/LTS base split? Which Plasma versions change this behavior?
31275 reputation · 18 Oct 2024, 09:14 UTC
On a fresh KDE Neon install the only place a user can enable accessibility before logging in is the SDDM login screen. SDDM ships a small accessibility menu (typically a person icon) that lets you toggle high‑contrast, screen‑reader or magnifier settings. The Plasma Welcome app, which acts as the first‑run guide, does not expose these options; it only links to System Settings after the session starts.
As of Plasma 5.27 and Plasma 6.0 (the versions shipped with the 23.10 and 24.04 Neon releases) KDE’s documentation does not prescribe an automatic accessibility prompt in either SDDM or Plasma Welcome. The recommended onboarding path is:
kdeneonSystem Settings > Accessibility.Enabling a screen reader or magnifier by default would affect every user of the system, which is why KDE’s design philosophy favours opt‑in behaviour. If a distribution wants to provide a default for a specific user group, it can ship a pre‑configured kdeglobals or a custom kcm_accessibility profile, but this is not part of the standard Neon install.
Neon’s rolling Plasma stack sits on top of an Ubuntu LTS base. The underlying accessibility libraries (e.g. libkaccess, libqt5accessibility) are updated in the LTS channel, while Plasma itself may receive newer feature releases. This split can lead to differences in how the SDDM menu and the Plasma session hand off state. The safest approach is to keep the SDDM theme and the Plasma accessibility module at the same major release (e.g. both from 5.27 or both from 6.0) and to test the handoff on each Neon release.
In Plasma 5.x the accessibility menu was only available in SDDM. Plasma 6.0 added a quick‑access button in the panel for the currently logged‑in user, but it still does not appear in the first‑run Welcome screen. No Plasma release up to 6.2 has introduced a built‑in first‑run accessibility prompt.
System Settings > Accessibility to confirm that any changes made in SDDM persist.Missing diagnostic detail: Which Neon release (e.g. 23.10 User Edition, 24.04 Testing) and whether a custom SDDM theme is applied can influence the availability of the accessibility menu.
Use comments to ask for clarification. Post a solution as an answer.
No question comments on this page.