Plugin store: two-step focus on store cards reads as a broken install/uninstall button

[matmartinez]

Summary

First off — thanks for OpenGamepadUI, it's a joy to build for. I work in UI design, so please take this as a friendly two cents rather than a complaint; you know your constraints far better than I do.

On a plugin store card, activating install/uninstall takes two A presses, and the first press gives feedback that looks like the action already happened. The result is that the install/uninstall button reads as broken: you focus the card, press A, see the button visually react, and conclude nothing (or something wrong) happened — when in fact the first press only moved focus into the card, and a second A is required to actually trigger the button.

This is working as designed (see below), but from a usability angle it's hard to discover and easy to misread, especially on a handheld with gamepad-only navigation. I only figured it out after a fair bit of head-scratching.

How it currently works (intended, per the scene)

plugin_store_card.tscn gives the card a two-level focus model:

• The card itself is focusable and pressable (plugin_store_card.gd::_gui_input emits pressed/button_up on ui_accept).
• A FocusGroupSetter on the card (on_signal = "button_up", target MarginContainer/HBoxContainer/FocusGroup) moves focus into the card on the first press, landing on ActionButton (FocusGroup.current_focus = ../ActionButton).
• Only a second A — now with ActionButton focused — reaches CardIconButton._gui_input and fires _on_install_button, which does the install/uninstall.
• An InputWatcher/FocusSetter (on_signal = "input_released") backs focus out to the card again.

So the flow is: focus card → A (enter card, focus action button) → A (trigger). Functionally correct; the loader and handler work fine once the second press lands.

Why it reads as broken

• After focusing the card, the action button already looks highlighted/active, so the first A appears to target it directly.
• The first A produces visible feedback (focus/selection change on the card), which reads as "the button did something," so the user stops there and assumes it failed or hung.
• There's no visible cue that you've "entered" the card or that a second press is needed, and no distinct state between "card focused" and "action button focused."

So I spent a good while convinced the button was flaky/broken before realizing the second press is what triggers it. (Filed and are closing a mistaken bug report to that effect.)

Suggestions (just ideas — any one might help, or none if they don't fit)

• Make the card-focused vs. button-focused states visually distinct, so it's clear a press "entered" the card and which control is now armed.
• Or, for a card whose primary action is a single button, let a press on the focused card trigger that action directly (skip the extra focus hop).
• Or a small hint ("Press A to manage") when a card is focused.

All of these have trade-offs I'm sure you've already weighed — feel free to close this if it's a non-issue or already on your radar.

Environment

• OpenGamepadUI 0.46.1 (Godot 4.7.2 export), overlay-mode ogui-steam session
• Bazzite 44.20260921, AYANEO 3, gamepad navigation (touch passes through the overlay to the game beneath)

Happy to help test any change on the device.