Welcome dialog prevents immediate use of application

[Paul Gideon Dann]

Hi guys,

Great work on Calligra so far.  I submitted a bug[1] that was quickly set to 
WONTFIX, with a suggestion that I bring the problem to this mailing list.  I 
noticed the desire to polish Calligra, and thought it would be a great 
opportunity to file the bug I think is the number 1 turn-off when approaching 
Calligra for the first time.

The problem is the welcome dialog, that pops up when you first launch one of 
the applications.  As can be seen in my example screenshot[2], there is a lot 
of empty space, the icons are blurry and lack colour, and the "Use this 
Template" button is pretty small and tucked away.  If this dialog is to stay, 
I think it needs some serious love.

More importantly, though, the dialog presents me with an immediate feeling of 
frustration: "I just want to *play* with this application; why won't it let me 
in?"  I'm blocked in my attempt to open it, and am forced to think pretty hard 
about what it's asking and what kind of document I might want to write.  I 
think most people coming to Calligra probably won't know exactly what kind of 
document they want to write; they'll just want to try it out.  I believe that 
template selection or opening an existing file is something that should be 
done *after* the application has started and the user has been given a chance 
to see the workspace; ideally in a sidebar or prominent toolbar of some kind.

For me, this is a very serious usability concern.  Not because it prevents me 
from using the application so much (I'm a programmer too; I can tolerate these 
things), but because it presents Calligra in a very poor light from the very 
start.

I hope this is all taken in the spirit it's intended: in an attempt to improve 
software that I really want to see succeed.  I've gone to some pains to bring 
this to your attention.  Whatever you do, please don't dismiss it because you 
could not achieve a consensus before, or because it might displease some of 
the community.  If some people want this dialog on startup, it should be 
possible to turn it on, but it should definitely not be there by default.

[1]: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=308918
[2]: http://ur1.ca/amoof

All the best,
Paul