the next step on the desktop

[Markus Slopianka]

Am Montag 31 Januar 2011, 02:22:41 schrieb Aaron J. Seigo:
> hi...
> 
> back when we started the path towards plasma i said that we needed to
> slowly evolve the desktop beyond the desktop folder with icons littered on
> the desktop.
> 
> now we have activities, kick-ass containments like search and launch and
> grouping desktop.
> 
> it is time to go to that next step and move people away from the old ways.
> 
> i was at a friend's house last night where a bunch of people gathered to
> hang out, chat, play games, etc. there was a desktop system there running
> plasma desktop with the search and launch containment and a gorgeous
> translucent panel couresty of kwin.
> 
> i saw it and hardly recognized it: it looked new, amazing, the next thing.
> it looked amazing.
> 
> so, here's my suggestion for 4.7:
> 
> let's try something big and new. let's make that Big Move and step away
> from ~/Desktop.

Frankly, I like my dumping ground.

> my proposal is this:
> 
> * by default, Search and Launch on the desktop

What do you mean by that? Full screen SAL like on Plasma Netbook? Then one could just use 
that. However, if you mean a SAL plasmoid is the corner of the screen or a new top bar 
with a search bar and an extender than displays the icons (or another approach that 
combines both metaphors), I'd be fine with that.
As long as KDE's file search and indexing mechanism is still broken 
<http://kdeatopensuse.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/opensuse-11-4-kde-testing/>, I see more 
frustration than benefit. I could be wrong, though.

> * improve the tasks widget to have some of the nice features of widgets
> like "smooth tasks" with the mouse over highlights

I'd be happy if I could disable the scroll wheel for starters...


> * an "activities" widget (i'll hapilly write it) that sits next to the app
> launcher and when clicked brings up the actvities manager
> * an activities switcher as a kwin effect (!)
> * have all activities avaiable in kactivitmanagerd, even if they are
> "stopped" in plasma-desktop

It seems to me that programmers with their fully cramped task bars (IDE, terminals, 
debuggers, SCM frontends,...) are bigger fans of activities than the common persons with 
music player and browser open alone and -- if they are cutting edge -- even separate chat 
and mail clients.
Personally, I'd rather have an actually good Dock implementation that merges launcher, 
task switcher, and systray in a single icon for each app. But that's possibly the former 
Mac user speaking inside me.

I'm willing to try alternative approaches with an open mind, though. Especially when I can 
try them in my 4.6 installation (I'm assuming QML plasmoids and activity templates can be 
used for that kind of stuff).
Maybe I can come up with a mockup for something different myself in the coming days.

Markus