Plasma Applet Direction

[Marco Martin]

On Thursday 15 January 2009, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Thursday 15 January 2009, Jud Craft wrote:
> > I do really like the platform-independence and compilation-free
> > packages!  I had neglected those; that's awesome, so the picture is
> > much less depressing than my post says.
> >
> > Plasma themes themselves are also independent, correct?  (Assumption
> > based on hearing efforts to port Plasma to Windows).
>
> correct.
>
> > What would be fantastic if there was one integrated area in the
> > Control Center for Plasma management.
>
> we were discussing this just last week, actually. there are a few things
> that probably belong in there:
>
> * theme choice
> * installed component management
> * per-virtual desktop views ...
>
> > For example, Plasma theming and the main containment wouldn't be
> > side-notes in the Desktop Background dialog.  Right-clicking
>
> well, there actually isn't such a thing as "the main containment" per se;
> just the currently active one for a given view. i'm a little hesitant on
> providing access to configuration of that out of process because it means
> loading plugins from the same library in two different processes, making
> sure they are both using the same configuration file settings and then
> coordinating between them.

what about giving a dbus interface for all of this, like background  settings 
and use this for setting stuff from another process?
(for background settings would also be needed a list of activities and have a 
dialog per-activity, dunno if it could be overkill as an ui)


> in part, this is a weakness of kconfig. in part, this is just about having
> settings where they are contextually appropriate. the shift in thinking
> required is that Activities are Contextual.
>
> for the other things, yes, a centralized place for those makes sense.
>
> > "Appearance" on the desktop could bring up a hypothetical
> > "Plasma/Environment/whatever" control dialog, which would have the
> > different areas of a plasma desktop (Background, Theme, Containments,
> > Activities, Plasmoids) grouped in a common area, defaulting to
> > Background (since you did right-click on the Desktop background, after
> > all).
>
> the plan for 4.3 is to combine the Activity's own config with the
> Appearance settings, and to move the Theme settings elsewhere. so.. we're
> on teh same general wave length i think.
>
> > Another thing, besides reorganization of the plasma config options,
> > would be unification of the KDE theme settings.  KDE 3's "theme
> > management" was also more of a side-note.
>
> this is a long term goal. i want to be fully confident that we have the
> individual pieces figure out first, though.
>
> > Compare GNOME, where "theme management" is the de facto way to change
> > the desktop appearance -- you have no choice but to work through a
> > theme metaphor, and THEN change individual aspects (style, colors,
> > etc).
>
> yes. different, both in what is good about it and what isn't good about it.
> certainly begs the question if we can do something better than either
> previous system =)
>
> > A Plasma metatheme (that combines Wallpaper and colors with a plasma
> > theme) that even possibly configures a Qt style theme would be even
> > better -- it makes little sense to have two or three different places
> > that must be traveled to in the Control Center to theme your desktop,
> > and as long as each component is isolated from the other, it is
> > difficult to provide a sense of "cohesiveness" -- a single place you
> > can go to either choose a new theme, get new themes (a single place to
> > get new themes -- not having to go different places for color schemes,
> > Plasma themes, and wallpapers) or alter a component of the current
> > theme.
>
> agreed.
>
> > The Plasmoids panel then would have a similar feel:  rather than a
> > mere listbox of Add New Plasmoids, it would be a central area to
> > download new plasmoids and add/remove them.  But then I don't actually
> > know of any analog of this in any other OS, so maybe that's overkill.
>
> google gadget, the iPhone, Windows 7 ... it's not that exotic =)
>
> > Such a design could be much more usable than having to browse
> > kde-look, but I don't mean to put down Get-Hot-New-Stuff:  I just
> > think that it needs to be a little more than just a web-downloaded
> > list box of plasmoids.
>
> this is simply a presentation issue. it's not a limitation of GHNS or kde-
> look. that dialog could be completely redesigned.