Dear KDE-Developers,

[Duncan]

Искандер Наджафов posted on Mon, 18 Mar 2024 12:56:49 +0100 (CET) as
excerpted:

> Is this possible in future releases,
> so we could change the the gap between the panel and the corners,
> where the panel was placed, not through the config file,
> but through the KDE-settings in appereance in the future?

I'm not a dev, but answering as a long-time kde/plasma user that runs 
live-git development versions and regularly follows the comments in the 
git commit logs for many (tho not all) kde packages...


So the panel gap is already configurable via GUI to a limited extent (the 
floating panel or not is togglable, but not the /size/ of the gap), and 
I'm not entirely sure if you want /more/ configurability than is already 
there (you want to adjust the size of the gap not just toggle whether it's 
there, which I could definitely imagine some people wanting), or if you 
aren't aware of the existing place to set it in the GUI, or if you know 
about that but want it elsewhere in the GUI, possibly making the size 
configurable when the setting is moved.

Additionally, while kde plasma6 (which I've been running for a couple 
months now) has a GUI settings method and IIRC plasma5 did as well, the 
plasma6 setup is much different, already in an effort to improve the panel 
settings GUI from the plasma5 status, which was... non-obvious to some and 
rather fiddly if you did know about it.  You don't mention which one 
you're running so I'm not sure which of the two methods you'd use, and 
I've already forgotten the details of the plasma5 config so I won't be 
able to describe it in the same detail.


In case you didn't know where the existing GUI toggle is, and to make sure 
we're talking about the same thing in any case:

Plasma6 existing setup:

1)  Right-click (context-click) pretty much anywhere on the panel and 
select show panel configuration.

2) In the resulting panel settings popup, to the lower right, there's a 
style box with a float slide-switch below it.  Clicking either the style 
box itself or the float-slide underneath it should have the same effect, 
toggling float.

3) Note that triggering panel configuration triggers configure mode for 
the desktop as well.  To get out of that click the X at the far right of 
the configure bar at the top of the screen.

Plasma5 existing settings, IIRC.

1) As with plasma6, right-click the panel and select panel configuration.  
Note however that in plasma5 this was rather more fiddly and actually 
getting that option depended on where you right-clicked (some plasmoids/
widgets included the option, some didn't, so depending on the plasmoids 
you had loaded you may have had to find a blank spot between them to click 
to get the panel-config option).

2) The resulting popup should look a bit like a ruler, allowing you to 
move the panel around, etc.  IIRC there was a menu-expand arrow on that 
"ruler" which in turn (I think) contained the float toggle option among 
others.  However, again, fiddly.  You had to be careful how you moved the 
mouse or it would leave the ruler area and the whole thing would close, 
forcing you to start over with step 1.

So plasma6 already improves things both by being WAY less fiddly and by 
having the configure panel option appear, AFAICT, regardless of where you 
right-click on the panel.  The devs believe the settings GUI is more 
intuitive now as well, and I think so too, altho the old plasma5 GUI was 
intuitive /enough/ for me, just WAAAYYY too fiddly -- I /hated/ having to 
reopen the ruler-config thing because it closed before I wanted it too, 
especially since I never knew whether the panel-config option would even 
appear in the context-menu or whether I'd have to adjust my right-click 
location to get it.


But maybe you already knew about that and think it should be available in 
the general plasma system settings application instead?

While I'm not entirely sure whether they're considering that, in case 
you're still on plasma5 you mway not know that in plasma6 they do have a 
wallpaper config kcm (kde config module) in plasma systemsettings as well 
as the usual one available from the desktop context (right-click) menu.  
(For people with multiple monitors, the kcm has an additional GUI allowing 
you to choose which desktop you want to change the wallpaper on, that's 
not needed when you click directly on the desktop to get the popup.)

So it's certainly possible they'll add a panel-configuration kcm to plasma 
system settings as well, just as they did for wallpaper.  And just as the 
wallpaper one has a screen selector if you have multiple monitors, they'd 
need to have a panel selector of some sort for a panel-config kcm, for 
people with multiple panels enabled.


But maybe what you're actually wanting is an option to adjust the size of 
the gap, not just toggle it on/off with the floating option?  FWIW, I 
wouldn't mind such an option myself, tho I don't really care about float/
no-float in general so it's not a big deal for me.

*BUT* purely at a /guess/, I think if they intended such a thing it would 
already have an option.  Rather, I suspect they'd consider that more 
confusing than helpful -- as you're likely aware kde/plasma already gets 
regular criticism from the "too many config options are too confusing" 
crowd -- so I expect this isn't so likely.

If it's an option in the config file already, which you seem to indicate 
it is but I didn't know, that's even more evidence of a "too confusing to 
put in the GUI, but we'll make it a config-file option for those who care 
enough about it to edit it there" position.  I'd consider that a bit 
unfortunate myself, but I can see how devs who constantly see complaints 
about the so-called "too many and too confusing" config options might take 
that position.


Meanwhile, I recall coming across a "brainstorming" section on the kde.org 
web site (I don't have a direct link ATM and you can probably find it as 
fast as I would).  If you believe either that the floating-toggle isn't 
enough and that gap size should be adjustable in the GUI, or that there 
should be a panel-config kcm in plasma system settings as well as the 
existing context menu popup-config (maybe you want both?), I'm guessing 
putting it there will be more likely to get developer attention than here, 
as while the devs do show up here some and might see it, this list is 
primarily for kde user discussion and help, not development suggestions/
requests, which could easily fall through the cracks and be missed here.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman