I want to thank who ever it was that made the decision to NOT force KDE to develop a composited desktop with a fall-back to a totally different looking un-compositied desktop in the event the computer has a driver failure/poor videocard. (Edit: I know kde has compositing, but those are effects and the overall design of kde looks basically the same whether you have the compositing on or off).
I say this in light of the development work on Unity and Gnome3. Which falls back to gnome2 when 3d acceleration is not available. Why? The people developing their software are going to develop it with the "new model" in mind. However, when the thousands of previously happy linux users whose hardware is not up to these new standards try to use this new awesome software. They won't get the same experience the developer had in mind. I cannot imagine that the gnome3 developers will continue to actively work on things with the gnome2 based desktop. Ubuntu in the past couple of releases has done some pretty nice things to gnome2. However they seem to have determined that gnome2 was indeed on its way to the history books and went with a netbook setup for a desktop (???).
In Unity's "defence" they are working on a "Unity2D" desktop. However, that uses QT unlike the default "3d"Unity. While I have to admit I'm not entirely familiar with this decision, it seems to make little sense. It seems to now require twice the effort because they have to code the same interface in 2 different toolkits??? Why not just make all of Unity in Qt? Or just use plasma to design something new. I've been waiting for this since plasma came out. Interestingly enough distros seem hesitant to play with the default kde look (I'm sure many in KDE support this). So every time I try a new kde distro I get the same bar at the bottom with a folderview in the desktop. So perhaps the winner here might be Kubuntu if they decide to make a "kubuntu-Unity" using plasma. (Feel free to prove me wrong here).
In any case I think I might try messing with the default KDE setup and posting the results. And if you have screenshots of cool kde4/plasma desktops that look unique please share them with me! (I'm getting kind of bored with the windows-esq setup of a taskbar+panel+window launcher setup at the bottom.) I would like to say that I am a fan of the KDE-netbook interface, and I'd like to see some equally cool new setups for the desktop.
/* This is mostly an opinion/impression based post that I hope to follow up with more analysis based posts that deal with design. These will likely focus more on kde design than a lot of these other DE's but may include "plasma implementations" of some of the better design decisions in other DEs. */
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I totally agree with you. I too am a bit bored by the default looks in every KDE4 distribution.
ReplyDeleteI love KDE4, but it's weird that no one is looking to develop great UI with it. There are too few good themes, too few great plasmoids to fill up the desktop, too few "plasma implementations".
It's a shame, though, it's a great window manager to work with...
Well, I suppose that there’s a reason why the current layout, though looking alledgedly boring, is so popular: it is efficient and ergonomic. While it leaves most of the screen for windows, it still offers enough surface for many tools to control one’s desktop. Having the window controls in a screen corner makes them fast and easy to reach (the Mac approach with a panel at the top is just wrong for that reason). Plus I once tried the netbook interface on an actual netbook and it was awfully slow and inefficient due to the animations when I clicked on a program group.
ReplyDeleteAs I just read in another KDE-related blog (basically): “Newer doesn’t necessarily mean better.” So I am very happy with that “Windows-esq setup”'. Of course I should mention that I am blessed with a 1400×1050 resolution. YMMV on a smaller screen with all those tray icons nowadays.
“…Or just use plasma to design something new.” I’m sure the plasma enthusiasts design new and probably great stuff like artwork all the time, but the general population such as myself are reminded of the long buzzword history of early KDE4. A time where everything was given a fancy name and pushed out when it was still in its infancy, regardless of its then-performance.
I do read planet KDE every other day, but still I am still in the unclear to some extent as to what plasma actually is (and I’m sure I’m not alone here). All I know is the visible Applets part,and my initial thoughts when I had first contact with them was “Why does it have to look different from the rest of my desktop?”, e.g. different scrollbars and such. Hence when I hear “Plasma” my first thought was and is “big hogging framework for stuff that would be faster done natively”, as I was never a fan of any framework, be it e.g. .net or java. The given netbook example only supports my (prejudiced) assumption.
BTW: it’s “whose” and “its”, not “who’s” and “it’s” in your second paragraph. ;-)
Although I am happy with plasma for the most part, I think it would be a good showcase of plasma and kwin's abilities and flexibility to reproduce the various parts of the gnome3 shell and unity. Of course since this is KDE they would be individual kwin effects and plasma widgets that could be mixed and matched with existing ones, but it would allow someone to more or less duplicate the appearance and behavior of either in KDE.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this might be easier once the switch to plasma2 and QML is complete.
Very good post! I'm also little bored with the current theme, so if you'll find something different and nice looking I hope you'll share it with us. :)
ReplyDeleteI have munged my desktop a bit with plasma and kwin rules: http://i.imgur.com/Ak0RZ.png
ReplyDeleteThe short panel on the right forces a margin on all windows, even maximized ones, so that pidgin's tab bar is always visible. Pidgin's conversation window is moved offscreen a bit so I can hit the tabs right at screen edge, similarly with firefox's controls (the tab group button serves as a long-winded tab bar).
The task manager only shows amarok's windows and other non-normal-type windows (eg dialogs). I use it as a lightweight nowplaying widget.
I can activate any window with the bottom-right windows list's shortcuts Alt+f1 then a letter (which change unpredictably a lot), but the permanent four (pidgin, konsole, fx, emacs) get assigned to Alt+Shift+f1/2/3/4.
I also mix up the window buttons (not visible in the shot), make double-clicking the title bar minimize, scrollwheel shade, and some windows have no border.
*buntu guys can fiddle with graphics because, well, they don't do anything else, really (and even with graphics, we can't say they do much... but that's another story).
ReplyDeleteTake Kubuntu, since you mentioned it: one of the worst implementation of KDE around. Slow (yeah, let's use raster so users won't notice!), inefficient, prone to crashes (what was that? I don't know, but report it to the blackhole we call LaunchPad), uses technology that never worked (plymouth), etc. They don't even test packages (when they successfully build them), they just hurry to make them available in PPAs to have beta testers in between release cycles ASAP. A serious distribution would release only when everything's safe for their users. What do they do? Take Ubuntu and change its clothes. Wait, isn't it what also their colleagues at Ubuntu do with GNOME?
But, hey, who cares? As long as they can hypnotize us with a shiny new colourful interface? Right?
I would also LOVE to see some inspiration for a different desktop... the meego guys did a fantastic job with their netbook interface.. so sleek and usable. seeing something like this done in plasma would just rock!
ReplyDeleteAll you desktop coders: Please bear in mind that most normal users do not focus on the desktop but rather at whatever apps they are using to get their job done. The desktop is just an environment to make sure that job can get done efficiently. Apart from that it should stay out of the way as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteOrdinary users will seldom "be bored" with their desktop. Only frustrated if it gets in their way.
/gustaf
I believe KDE developers should focus on polishing the Search & Launch interface, Frankly, I think it ahouldn't be limited to netbook. It is a much better and technologically advanced alternative to traditional destop than Unity or Gnome Shell. It is slick and clean; but has room for improvement, of course. I am using it on my main desktop PC since KDE 4.5 and it seems that I will continue to use it in the future.
ReplyDelete>I too am a bit bored by the default looks in every KDE4 >distribution.
ReplyDeleteWhaaat?
I dont even know where to start.
WHY do you care?
There is one default and an unlimited amount of choices after that.
How does not liking the default change your experience?
I HATE every default in KDE.
I hate the light theme, I prefer dark or Slim Glow transparent instead of Oxygen.
I HATE the window decoration and prefer Plastik which gives me 3 BIG buttons and the close X glows red on mouseover. The default one is too small and delicate to see.
I hate the default font size which some 'designers' think are ok when set at 5pt. Sure, it might be sleek but totally useless unless you have 20-20 vision.
I change icons to the ones I like (Futurama ones for the eldest and soccer ones for the youngest).
I hate all kinds of taskbars or dock. I prefer them to be slide out when not used. When in use, the taskbar is at least 1 inch high.
A secondary taskbar on the left side for my most used audio-video programs.
I dont like stock wallpapers and rather have a slideshow which takes pix from our families latest photos and a folder with some of the nicest wallpapers Ive DLed.
My wife discovered that she can change the color setting and have everything dark with white fonts when she works late at night.
Needless to say, when people see her laptop, its different from others around here.
I DL themes, colour settings, wallpapers, icons sets, I changed the login manager...
Im not difficult but I like my desktop to suit MY needs, not someone else's.
I realize that my tastes dont have to be the same as the default because choice is a click away.
As long as they dont take away my choices to make my desktop look the way I want, I have no problem with defaults.
So dont fret defaults: so youre choice is not the "popular" one, so what?
>too few good themes
Good: subjective.
Few: false.