[Panel-devel] Future of panel applets?

[Eike Hein]

Hans Dembinski wrote:
> While I think that the Plasmoids are great - there is already a nice tutorial 
> for creating them on dev.kde.org - I did not see information about the future 
> of panel based applets.

Plasmoids are panel applets, too.

Both the desktop app and the panel app in KDE started
out with fairly narrowly defined purposes and feature
lists. Over time, both evolved extensibility models
to answer the requirement of placing more complicated
objects on them. For KDesktop, that was SuperKaramba.
For Kicker, that was applets.

One of the core thoughts of the Plasma design, which
is the new app that is powering both the desktops and
the panels, is to abstract that extensibility to the
point where one framework is used for both, reducing
unnecessary duplication and improving integration.

Basically, a Plasmoid can live both on the desktop
plane and on panels. It'll be informed of changes to
the constraints of the space it is living in, and
can adjust its appearance accordingly, i.e. pick a
large, generous appearance for the desktop and a
smaller one for the panel.


-- 
Regards,
Eike Hein, hein at kde.org