the next step on the desktop

Diego Casella ([Po]lentino) polentino911 at gmail.com
Mon Jan 31 13:42:31 CET 2011


> ---------- Messaggio inoltrato ----------
> From: "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo at kde.org>
> To: plasma-devel at kde.org
> Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:22:41 -0800
> Subject: the next step on the desktop
>
> my proposal is this:
>  [...]
> * a new panel layout (TBD: let's work on this together!)
>

Panels, in the current implementation, are shared across different
activities: what about adding an option like "stick to current activity", in
order to achieve different panels for different activities?
That would be great imho because, in some activities I'm using, I don't
really need the default panel with the notification applet, application
launcher and clock, and I would be happy to replace it with a smaller panel
with some "common used applications" launchers, and a big side panel with
microblog and rss plasmoid.
That's just my two cents and use-case, tho :)
Cheers,

Diego


> --
> Aaron J. Seigo
> humru othro a kohnu se
> GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
>
> KDE core developer sponsored by Qt Development Frameworks
>
>
> ---------- Messaggio inoltrato ----------
> From: "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo at kde.org>
> To: plasma-devel at kde.org
> Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:38:32 -0800
> Subject: Re: the next step on the desktop
> On Sunday, January 30, 2011, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > my proposal is this:
>
> forgot:
>
> * a selection of pre-made activities (not running) including a trad desktop
> /
> folderview thig
>
> --
> Aaron J. Seigo
> humru othro a kohnu se
> GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
>
> KDE core developer sponsored by Qt Development Frameworks
>
>
> ---------- Messaggio inoltrato ----------
> From: Markus Slopianka <markus.s at kdemail.net>
> To: plasma-devel at kde.org
> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 03:17:00 +0100
> Subject: Re: the next step on the desktop
> 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
>
>
>
> ---------- Messaggio inoltrato ----------
> From: todd rme <toddrme2178 at gmail.com>
> To: plasma-devel at kde.org
> Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:00:13 -0500
> Subject: Re: the next step on the desktop
> On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 8:22 PM, Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo at kde.org> wrote:
> > 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.
> >
> > my proposal is this:
>
> I have some extensions to this, more blue-sky and not necessarily feasible:
>
> > * by default, Search and Launch on the desktop
> > * an icon in this S&L that takes you to your desktop folder .. in a file
> > manager.
>
> I think this is potentially a good idea, but I think as it currently
> stands it denigrates the importance of widgets on the desktop.
>
> My suggestions would be:
> 1. Break the S&L containment into categories.  Applications,
> bookmarks, and contacts already exist.  Add some additional
> categories: places, devices, and widgets come to mind.  These would
> all be kio slaves under the hood.  Places would allow you to navigate
> the file system from within the S&L interface, devices would show
> removable devices and let you manage and browse them, and widgets
> would let you launch individual plasma widgets within the S&L
> interface.  Individual items and categories from all of these could be
> dragged to the favorites at the top, and individual categories can be
> turned on and off.  Clicking on a category or sub-category in the
> favorites would jump straight to it.
>
> 2. Add breadcrumb navigation next to the "back" button to make it easy
> to get back to specific levels.
>
> 3. Let users resize the favorites bar and add widgets to it.  Widgets
> will take the panel form-factor, but if the favorites bar is sized
> large enough they should switch to the desktop form-factor (as they
> are supposed to do on existing panels).  The favorites bar can scroll
> if you put too much in it.
>
>
> > * a new panel layout (TBD: let's work on this together!)
> > * improve the tasks widget to have some of the nice features of widgets
> like
> > "smooth tasks" with the mouse over highlights
>
> Some other possible improvements:
> - Application control interfaces moved from the system tray to the
> task manager (I recall you mentioning this before).
> - More focus on thumbnails.  For instance smooth tasks lets you close
> applications from the thumbnails.  There should also be prettier ways
> to deal with groups with large numbers members
> - I think it would be nice if applications had some way to extend the
> thumbnail display.  For instance put buttons on it, or have a pop-up
> button to show extra thumbnails (such as thumbnails of tabs you can
> select).  This may not be feasible using existing desktop standards,
> though.
>
> > * an "activities" widget (i'll hapilly write it) that sits next to the
> app
> > launcher and when clicked brings up the actvities manager
> You mean like this:
>
> http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Activity+Manager+Plasmoid?content=136278
>
> Also, if we are going with S&L, having a list of activities available
> within the S&L interface would probably be a good idea, especially if
> you are intending it to be a jumping-off point for other activities.
>
> > * an activities switcher as a kwin effect (!)
> See here:
> http://forum.kde.org/brainstorm.php#idea90912
>
>
> > * have all activities avaiable in kactivitmanagerd, even if they are
> "stopped"
> > in plasma-desktop
> >
> > thoughts?
>
> - Why are you restricting it to one panel?  Having several panels by
> default with different sizes and shapes for different sets of items
> might be at least worth considering.
>
> - It might be worth looking into merging the pager and activity
> manager.  A side benefit might be that we can get thumbnails on hover
> with the pager.
>
> - It might be worth re-visiting whether the current default
> application launcher is optimal.  Launchers like lancelot and raptor
> have some interesting ideas, and I have seen some other ideas batted
> around as well (such as an application launcher using a grid view
> instead of a list view).
>
> - If you are looking for appearance ideas, this has some interesting
> ones:
> http://icey-net.deviantart.com/art/Ubuntu-Concept-Design-FULL-158871634
> Some stuff is good, some stuff isn't as good, but it might be helpful.
>  I especially like the lights underneath the applications in the task
> manager.  It actually looks a lot more like plasma with smooth tasks
> and lancelot launcher than anything that has ever been in Ubuntu, but
> the artist is apparently unaware of KDE.
>
> -Todd
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Plasma-devel mailing list
> Plasma-devel at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/plasma-devel
>
>


-- 
H: Who is Watson without Sherlock Holmes?
G: Watson was a genius in his own right.

My personal blog: http://polentino911.wordpress.com/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/plasma-devel/attachments/20110131/6b0a31cc/attachment.htm 


More information about the Plasma-devel mailing list