Research: how should the settings window be visually triggered?

Date: 2026-10-02 Question: What visual affordance should open DropTerm’s existing settings window — and what do quake terminals and COSMIC apps actually use?

TL;DR

Use the right-click context menu on the terminal as the primary trigger — a “Settings” item in a libcosmic context_menu, exactly like cosmic-term, the app DropTerm’s terminal widget is adapted from. Across every primary source surveyed, quake/drop-down terminals expose settings through whichever chrome is always present: Yakuake through a menu button on its persistent title bar, Guake/Tilda/QTerminal exclusively through right-click context menus (they have no other chrome), and Windows Terminal through the chevron at the end of its always-present tab row. DropTerm’s only always-present chrome is an 8px drag handle (the grab bar), and its tab bar vanishes with a single tab — so the tab bar cannot be the sole trigger without becoming persistent, and the grab bar is too small and semantically wrong for a button. The right-click on the terminal area is today completely unused in DropTerm (outside mouse-reporting passthrough) and is the one surface every comparable app converges on. No COSMIC app surveyed uses a gear button — COSMIC apps (cosmic-term, cosmic-edit, cosmic-files) put “Settings” in menus (menu bar and/or context menu). If a gear icon is ever used, the Pop icon name is preferences-system(-symbolic); settings-configure does not exist in Pop’s icon theme (it is the KDE/Breeze name).

Findings

1. Yakuake (KDE) — menu button on the title bar; not the context menus

From KDE/yakuake @ master (fetched 2026-10-02):

• Yakuake’s always-present title bar carries three buttons: keep-open, “Open Menu” (a QPushButton with mainWindow->menu(), tooltip “Open Menu”), and quit — app/titlebar.cpp:33-49 (menu button at L41-46).
• That main menu’s “Settings” section contains Manage Profiles, Configure Keyboard Shortcuts, Configure Notifications, and “Configure Yakuake” (KStandardAction::preferences → MainWindow::configureApp) — app/mainwindow.cpp:243 (action creation), :741-746 (setupMenu, the “Settings” section), :876-896 (configureApp builds the KPageWidget dialog).
• The same menu doubles as the system-tray icon’s context menu (app/mainwindow.cpp:943 m_notifierItem->setContextMenu(m_menu)).
• The tab context menu does NOT contain Configure Yakuake — it is split/rename/move/close actions (app/tabbar.cpp:107-128). The terminal (app/terminal.cpp) has no context-menu handling at all: right-click goes to the embedded Konsole part.

2. Guake — Preferences reachable only via context menus

From Guake/guake @ master (fetched 2026-10-02):

• The terminal right-click context menu ends with gtk-preferences → on_show_preferences, plus About and Quit — guake/menus.py:167-186 (mk_terminal_context_menu). It is triggered from guake/boxes.py:524-547: button 3, but only after VTE declines the event — i.e. mouse-reporting applications consume right-click first, exactly the interaction DropTerm’s mouse_reporter must preserve.
• Right-clicking the notebook tab strip opens mk_notebook_context_menu, which also contains gtk-preferences → on_show_preferences — guake/notebook.py:131-132 and guake/menus.py:35-53.
• The tab context menu (guake/menus.py:13-32) has no Preferences; there is no visible button anywhere in Guake’s window — the context menu is the only visual trigger.
• show_prefs opens the dialog — guake/guake_app.py:561-568.

3. cosmic-ext-quake-terminal — settings window exists, but no visual trigger

From M0Rf30/cosmic-ext-quake-terminal @ main (fetched 2026-10-02):

• It does have a settings window (src/app.rs:195-208 opens a second window titled “Settings”; the content is built from libcosmic’s widget::settings::{section, item, view_column} — src/app.rs:255-284).
• Its only triggers are non-visual: a CLI subcommand (src/app.rs:147-151) and a D-Bus activation action (src/app.rs:355-367). There is no gear button and no context menu — the app hosts a third-party terminal window (README.md: “spawns your configured terminal emulator”), so it owns no terminal surface to hang a trigger on. This is the discoverability failure mode DropTerm is trying to avoid, not a pattern to copy.

4. QTerminal and Tilda (brief) — right-click, both

• QTerminal: terminal right-click context menu includes the PREFERENCES action (“Preferences…”) as its last item — lxqt/qterminal src/termwidget.cpp:224-258 (actions leased from the main window), also in the File menu (src/mainwindow.cpp:426).
• Tilda: right-click context menu has a preferences section — lanoxx/tilda src/tilda-context-menu.c:123-130 (callback opens the config wizard), :213-217 (_Preferences menu entry).

5. Windows Terminal — chevron at the end of the tab row (the always-present bar)

From microsoft/terminal @ main (fetched 2026-10-02):

• The dropdown attached to the new-tab/chevron button at the end of the tab row lists profiles, a separator, then static items: Settings (with Symbol::Setting — a gear — and the Terminal.OpenSettingsUI key chord shown as an accelerator), Command Palette, About — src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalPage.cpp:1022-1148 (_CreateNewTabFlyout; settings item at L1048-1067).
• Default binding for the settings UI: ctrl+, — src/cascadia/TerminalSettingsModel/defaults.json:728 (command ids at L522-525).
• Official docs describe the same path: “To customize the settings of your Windows Terminal, select Settings in the dropdown menu.” (Windows Terminal installation, Microsoft Learn; the openSettings action and defaults: Actions page).
• Note the precondition: Windows Terminal’s tab row is always visible, so the chevron is always reachable. DropTerm’s tab bar is not (see below).

6. cosmic-term — the direct ancestor: menu bar item + right-click, no gear button

From pop-os/cosmic-term @ master (fetched 2026-10-02) — the app DropTerm’s terminal widget is adapted from (src/terminal/widget.rs in this repo):

• Right-click context menu on the terminal contains New Tab, Copy/Paste, Select All, Clear Scrollback, splits, the window-header checkbox, and — last item — “Settings…” — src/menu.rs:42-93 (context_menu, settings push at L74; label menu-settings = Settings... in i18n/en/cosmic_term.ftl:141). The menu is opened through libcosmic’s widget::context_menu wrapper (src/main.rs:3444-3450), fed by terminal_box’s right-click handling (src/terminal_box.rs:1354-1376, including hyperlink detection).
• The same menu-settings is the closing item of the menu bar, which cosmic-term places in its header bar — src/menu.rs:223 and src/main.rs:3329-3333 (header_start returns vec![menu_bar(...)]).
• Both routes funnel to Message::ToggleContextPage(ContextPage::Settings) (src/main.rs:323), rendered as a libcosmic context drawer (src/main.rs:3262-3293) — a slide-in panel inside the same window, not a separate window.
• cosmic-term’s tab bar is also ephemeral: rendered only if tab_model.iter().count() > 1 (src/main.rs:3383-3385) — the behavior DropTerm copied. Its persistent header chrome is only the menu bar and a “+” icon button (header_end, list-add-symbolic, src/main.rs:3335-3344). There is no gear/settings icon button anywhere in cosmic-term.

7. cosmic-edit and cosmic-files — Settings in the menu bar, context drawer

Both @ master (fetched 2026-10-02):

• pop-os/cosmic-edit: MenuItem::Button(fl!("menu-settings"), None, Action::ToggleSettingsPage) in its responsive_menu_bar (src/menu.rs:337) → Message::ToggleContextPage(ContextPage::Settings) (src/main.rs:289) → context drawer (src/main.rs:2991-3008).
• pop-os/cosmic-files: menu::Item::Button(fl!("menu-settings"), None, Action::Settings) in the View menu (src/menu.rs:707) → ToggleContextPage(ContextPage::Settings) (src/app.rs:263) → context drawer (src/app.rs:5470).

Pattern: every surveyed COSMIC app puts “Settings” in a menu (menu bar item and/or right-click context menu) and never behind a standalone icon button; the settings UI itself is a context drawer inside the app window.

8. libcosmic @ DropTerm’s pinned rev — what the toolkit already provides

Verified in the local checkout of [pop-os/libcosmic @ 08a09e3] (https://github.com/pop-os/libcosmic/tree/08a09e3dfa1f729d52585fcedd6e731130235363) (DropTerm pins this rev — Cargo.toml:30-33):

• widget::context_menu (src/widget/context_menu.rs:23-72): wraps any content element; opens a menu::Tree on right-click; Wayland popup creation built in (create_popup, L94+); on_open/on_close messages, close_on_escape, item_width — all public. This is the exact widget cosmic-term wraps its terminal box in.
• widget::menu (src/widget/menu.rs exports; MenuAction trait at src/widget/menu/action.rs:41-52: a Copy + Eq action type plus a message() mapping — the cosmic-term TabAction pattern, src/menu.rs:32-40), and responsive_menu_bar for a header-bar menu.
• context_drawer (src/app/context_drawer.rs:9-32) — the settings-panel container cosmic-term/edit/files use.
• widget::settings::{section, item, view_column} — the settings-page building blocks (src/widget/settings/section.rs:10-20), also used by cosmic-ext-quake-terminal’s settings window (src/app.rs:255-284).
• Styling reference for DropTerm’s tab bar — SegmentedButton::TabBar preset, src/theme/style/segmented_button.rs:19,82,137,224-243 (already mirrored by src/tab_bar.rs:34-38 in this repo).
• Popups from an exclusive layer surface are explicitly supported by cosmic-comp: “Popups are judged by their root surface, so an exclusive surface can still open grabbing popups (menus, dropdowns, context menus)” — cosmic-comp src/shell/focus/mod.rs ~L655-660, as quoted with citation in this repo’s own panel-visibility research note (§5). So a context menu popup works on DropTerm’s layer surface while it holds exclusive keyboard focus.

9. Icon names — preferences-system on Pop, not settings-configure

From pop-os/icon-theme @ master (fetched 2026-10-02; the repo pop-os/pop-icon-theme no longer exists — the theme lives here):

• Present: preferences-system.svg in 8 sizes (e.g. Pop/16x16/categories/, Pop/128x128/categories/), preferences-system-symbolic.svg (Pop/scalable/categories/), and emblem-system (7 sizes).
• Absent: settings-configure (0 hits) — that name is KDE/Breeze’s, codified by the KDE HIG icon pages for its own theme (KDE HIG: Category and Preferences Icons), and it will fall back/blank on Pop.
• Flagship usage: cosmic-settings names every page icon with preferences-*-symbolic strings (page::Info::new("dock", "preferences-dock-symbolic") etc.) — pop-os/cosmic-settings cosmic-settings/src/pages/desktop/dock/mod.rs, .../sound/mod.rs, .../applications/mod.rs (@ master).

10. HIG guidance (brief)

• GNOME HIG — primary menus are where standard app-wide features live: “Most apps have primary menus, and they are the location for standard features which every app is expected to have.” The standard-items table reads: “Preferences — Opens the app’s preferences dialog, if it has one”, placed “in a group at the end of the menu”; the trigger is a menu button (open-menu-symbolic) at the end of the header bar — GNOME HIG: Menus. GNOME’s answer is always “menu item”, not “gear button”.
• KDE — the configuration dialog is a standard component (“If you need a configuration dialog for your QtWidgets application, use KConfigDialog” — KConfigDialog docs); apps attach it via KStandardAction::preferences, which is exactly what Yakuake does (finding 1). KDE HIG’s settings philosophy (“apply immediately”, don’t make users relaunch) is at Powerful when needed. Neither HIG prescribes a gear button; both prescribe a labeled menu item.
• COSMIC has no published HIG for this — the operative convention is the first-party app suite (findings 6-7). Stated plainly: no primary source prescribes anything for COSMIC; the convention is inferred from pop-os’s own apps, which are unanimous (menu item + context drawer).

What DropTerm has to work with

Verified in this repo:

• Ephemeral tab bar: rendered only if self.tabs.len() > 1 — src/app.rs:2428-2460; module doc: “shown only while more than one tab exists” (src/tab_bar.rs:3-4). Any trigger placed in the tab bar disappears in the default single-tab state — precisely the state where a new user is stuck without the keybind. The bar is also a fully custom widget (custom-rendered pills, drag-reorder, rename overlay — src/tab_bar.rs), so adding a trailing control means extending that widget by hand.
• Persistent grab bar: always present on the free edge (src/app.rs:2423,2452-2467), but it is an 8px drag handle (src/grab_bar.rs:47 BAR_HEIGHT = 8.0) whose entire semantics are “this is a resize handle” (src/grab_bar.rs:3-6); it swallows left presses for dragging. A click target inside it would fight the drag gesture and is far below any reasonable touch/click target size.
• Unused right-click: no context menu exists anywhere in the app (no context_menu/Button::Right handling outside mouse reporting). Right-click is only forwarded to the child process when it enables mouse reporting — src/terminal/widget.rs:1272-1279,1417-1443 and src/terminal/mouse_reporter.rs:51 (Button::Right => Some(2)). When mouse reporting is off, right-click falls through unhandled. Guake’s precedent for this exact conflict: pass the event to the terminal first, show the menu only if the terminal declines (Shift bypass optional) — guake/boxes.py:524-547.
• Settings window already exists: DropTerm::open_settings (src/app.rs:811-849, one window per process, hides the drop-down because a normal window can never stack above the layer surface — comment at src/app.rs:828-836), currently reachable only via the Action::Settings keybind Ctrl+Shift+I (src/keybinds.rs:54-61) and the CLI startup flag.

Recommendation

Ranked options for the visual trigger, fitted to DropTerm’s anatomy:

Supporting decisions for option 1, all evidence-backed:

• Menu shape: follow cosmic-term’s exact composition — terminal-scoped actions first, Settings… last, preceded by a divider (cosmic-term src/menu.rs:42-74); Guake and QTerminal also end with Preferences/Settings (findings 2, 4). GNOME HIG’s “group standard items at the end” (finding 10) agrees. Label it “Settings…” (cosmic-term and cosmic-files use Settings...; Yakuake “Configure Yakuake…”; Guake “Preferences”) — “Settings…” is the COSMIC-suite name.
• Mouse-reporting conflict: keep DropTerm’s existing passthrough first (src/terminal/mouse_reporter.rs:51) and open the menu only when the child isn’t capturing the mouse — Guake’s documented order of checks (guake/boxes.py:524-534). cosmic-term reaches the same design from the other side (its terminal box opens the menu on the release, from state the right-press recorded — src/main.rs:3437-3443, comment included).
• Keyboard shortcut stays: every surveyed app pairs the visual trigger with a keybind (Windows Terminal ctrl+,; Yakuake’s KStandardAction; DropTerm already has Ctrl+Shift+I, src/keybinds.rs:58-61). The menu item and keybind should route to the same open_settings funnel (src/app.rs:811).
• If any icon is ever wanted (e.g. a future persistent bar): use preferences-system-symbolic / preferences-system — not settings-configure, which does not exist in Pop’s theme (finding 9).

Open questions (flagged, not blocking):

• Context drawer vs separate window: cosmic-term/edit/files render settings inside the app window as a context drawer (finding 6-7), which sidesteps DropTerm’s hide-the-terminal dance (src/app.rs:828-837). DropTerm already shipped a separate settings window with its own rationale (a normal window can never stack above the layer surface). Whether a drawer-style settings pane inside the drop-down would serve better is a design question for the app’s owner — the answer here concerns only the trigger, and both UIs would use the same one.
• Right-click on the tab bar / grab bar: Guake puts Preferences on the notebook-strip context menu too (guake/notebook.py:131-132); Yakuake’s tab context menu pointedly omits it (app/tabbar.cpp:107-128). If DropTerm later adds a tab context menu (rename/close are already gestures there), cosmic-term suggests keeping Settings terminal-scoped, not tab-scoped.
• Whether emblem-system or preferences-system-symbolic reads better at 16px in DropTerm’s custom-painted bars is a hardware-checklist question (per AGENTS.md, rendering needs real COSMIC hardware).

Sources

• Yakuake @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): app/titlebar.cpp L33-49; app/mainwindow.cpp L243, L713-750, L876-896, L943; app/tabbar.cpp L107-128; app/terminal.cpp (no menu handling) — https://github.com/KDE/yakuake
• Guake @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): guake/menus.py L13-32, L35-66, L69-186; guake/boxes.py L524-547; guake/notebook.py L131-132; guake/guake_app.py L561-568 — https://github.com/Guake/guake
• cosmic-ext-quake-terminal @ main (fetched 2026-10-02): src/app.rs L147-151, L195-208, L255-284, L355-367 — https://github.com/M0Rf30/cosmic-ext-quake-terminal
• QTerminal @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): src/termwidget.cpp L224-265; src/mainwindow.cpp L426 — https://github.com/lxqt/qterminal
• Tilda @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): src/tilda-context-menu.c L123-130, L213-217 — https://github.com/lanoxx/tilda
• Windows Terminal @ main (fetched 2026-10-02): src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalPage.cpp L1022-1148; src/cascadia/TerminalSettingsModel/defaults.json L522-525, L728 — https://github.com/microsoft/terminal; docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/install, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/customize-settings/actions
• cosmic-term @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): src/menu.rs L32-40, L42-93, L223; src/main.rs L323, L3329-3344, L3383-3385, L3444-3450; src/terminal_box.rs L1354-1376; i18n/en/cosmic_term.ftl L141 — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-term
• cosmic-edit @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): src/menu.rs L337; src/main.rs L289, L2991-3008 — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-edit
• cosmic-files @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): src/menu.rs L707; src/app.rs L263, L5470 — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-files
• libcosmic @ 08a09e3 (DropTerm’s pinned rev, local cargo checkout): src/widget/context_menu.rs L23-72, L94+; src/widget/menu.rs (exports); src/widget/menu/action.rs L41-52; src/app/context_drawer.rs L9-32; src/widget/settings/section.rs L10-20; src/theme/style/segmented_button.rs L19, L82, L137, L224-243 — https://github.com/pop-os/libcosmic/tree/08a09e3dfa1f729d52585fcedd6e731130235363
• cosmic-comp popup-from-exclusive-surface rule: src/shell/focus/mod.rs ~L655-660, as quoted (with citation) in this repo’s docs/research/panel-visibility.md §5 — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-comp
• pop-icon-theme → pop-os/icon-theme @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): Pop/*/categories/preferences-system*.svg, Pop/*/emblems/emblem-system.svg; zero hits for settings-configure
• cosmic-settings @ master (fetched 2026-10-02): page icon strings in cosmic-settings/src/pages/**/mod.rs (preferences-*-symbolic) — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-settings
• GNOME HIG, Menus (primary menus / standard items table): https://developer.gnome.org/hig/patterns/controls/menus.html
• KDE: KConfigDialog docs https://develop.kde.org/docs/features/configuration/configdialog/; HIG Powerful when needed https://develop.kde.org/hig/powerful_when_needed/; HIG Category and Preferences Icons https://develop.kde.org/hig/icons/colorful/category_preferences/
• DropTerm itself: src/app.rs L811-849, L2423-2472; src/tab_bar.rs L3-4, L34-38; src/grab_bar.rs L3-6, L47; src/keybinds.rs L54-61; src/terminal/widget.rs L1272-1279, L1417-1443; src/terminal/mouse_reporter.rs L51; Cargo.toml L30-33