Why rotate widgets?

[Chani]

> 
> Good design implies that less-used features are made less pronounced. I for
> one find the whole widget toolbar too intrusive. I put my widgets
> side-by-side on the desktop, and during normal use the toolbar on one
> widget will overlap the one besides it, obscuring its contents. I would be
> happier if the toolbar would only show on demand by clicking a toggle
> button (a cashew?), not by hovering over the widget.
> 

hmm, sounds like you might enjoy the newspaper layout better... it's available 
in 4.5 but I can't remember how stable it is.

> Do people really move and rotate their widgets, with the same frequency
> that they interact with their contents? As far as I can see, none of the
> use cases presented in this thread would be hurt by a "configuration only
> mode", while it does get in the way for some of us in its current form.
> 
> What was the original reasoning in having the complete direct-manipulation
> interface for plasmoid applets always present? Is it for the kool effect?
> To make it discoverable? Or is there a benefit in having the toolbar
> always available that I'm missing?

umm, the handles go away if you lock the widgets... :) there's your 
"configuration only mode" :)