9 ms·

This week in KDE: polishing the System Tray and more

58 points by jrepinc 7y ago

jsjddbbwj 7y ago
Polishing is something the KDE taskbar desperately needs. Glad to see it happen.
- neilalexander 7y ago
  That mouse pointer in particular. It is hideous and distracting.
  - weare138 7y ago
    You can change the mouse pointer in KDE.
    - jsjddbbwj 7y ago
      Defaults matter.
    - aliswe 7y ago
      Just wanted to point out that this kind of response puts off many would-be users of any software.
      - weare138 7y ago
        I honestly don't see how the default mouse pointer in KDE is hideous or distracting. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Kubuntu_18.04_KDE_5.12.7-el_Screenshot_20190306_221603.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Kubuntu_... https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.12/kdeconnect.png https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.12/kdeconnect.png
        aliswe 7y ago
        Never seen it before so tbh it looks kinda .... Obese?
hexo 7y ago
Did they already add "turn off all animations and needless movements, fades and transparencies" option? I guess not, and I'd really appreciate it. KDE would became useful for me again. Seriously, I've booted live USB on thinkpad x240 and there was some current KDE running. For a few minutes I thought there was something very wrong with laptop, but it was KDE making feel core-i7 like lowend celeron. It makes me wonder if authors use that environment on very high-end machines exclusively. Also "start menu", sorry for the naming, feels like unstoppable carousel to me (those sliding tabs). All this is a pity because I really do like QT for development, but unstoppable animations are no-go
- Arnavion 7y ago
  >Did they already add "turn off all animations and needless movements, fades and transparencies" option? Yes, ~10 years ago.
  - michaelmrose 7y ago
    This highlights the difference between defaults and options. Options that would solve a users problems often go unused leaving the user with a negative opinion. Maybe as part of first run it ought to set a default useful based on current performance. It might also be worthwhile to think about how it degrades under pressure. Is it possible to notice frames dropped or delayed and degrade more gracefully.
    - simion314 7y ago
      I think there are some blacklisted video cards. I assume is is not as easy as you think to write the code that detects the perfect thresholds where animations are smooth all the time. I would like to assume that most KDE users are competent enough to at least google the answer on how to turn the animations off and desktop effects too (I mean somehow they installed a KDE distro finding a checkbox should be much easier).
      - michaelmrose 7y ago
shmerl 7y ago
How is the progress of subsurfaces clipping bug in the Wayland session? It takes a really long time. Is there any public info on the progress?
- Vogtinator 7y ago
  Do you mean https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-54888 https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-54888? That's a Qt bug, not in KDE software.
  - shmerl 7y ago
    No, I mean this one: https://phabricator.kde.org/T10530 https://phabricator.kde.org/T10530
andrew_xor_andy 7y ago
In my personal experience, I've found KDE to be technically more interesting than Gnome, but Gnome to be better designed in terms of user experience. I wish Gnome could match the power/performance of KDE, or KDE could match the user friendliness and visual consistency of Gnome...
thesimp 7y ago
I've used Kubuntu as a normal every day desktop for some time and there are two simple annoyances that popup in my mind: - when I get a notification in the systray that there is an update I click on it but nothing happens. Then I have to click on the Update Manager which also presents itself in the systray as having an update to start the actual update process. Why can't the program giving the notification be started directly from the notification popup window? - the restart/shutdown dialog is infuriating!. When I click on restart or shutdown I get presented with a full screen overlay in which I have to click again on restart or shutdown. Ok: I understand the need for a confirmation. But the click area is very sensitive and I you accidentally just outside of the icon area you will be dropped back to the desktop. ARGH! Why do UI designers always think that everyone has some sort of FPS aiming capability with the mouse and can repeatedly click with pixel accuracy?
- viraptor 7y ago
  I agree the UI for the second point is annoying. There's a workaround though: The option you wanted is preselected. You can press enter and get the action you wanted without a mouse.
- emilsedgh 7y ago
  * Your first issue is resolved lately. * I get your frustration. I personally just open up krunner and type 'reboot' or 'sleep' and press enter.

58 points by jrepinc 7y ago

jsjddbbwj 7y ago

Polishing is something the KDE taskbar desperately needs. Glad to see it happen.

neilalexander 7y ago
That mouse pointer in particular. It is hideous and distracting.
- weare138 7y ago
  You can change the mouse pointer in KDE.
  - jsjddbbwj 7y ago
    Defaults matter.
  - aliswe 7y ago
    Just wanted to point out that this kind of response puts off many would-be users of any software.
    - weare138 7y ago
      I honestly don't see how the default mouse pointer in KDE is hideous or distracting. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Kubuntu_18.04_KDE_5.12.7-el_Screenshot_20190306_221603.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Kubuntu_... https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.12/kdeconnect.png https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.12/kdeconnect.png
      - aliswe 7y ago
        Never seen it before so tbh it looks kinda .... Obese?

hexo 7y ago

Did they already add "turn off all animations and needless movements, fades and transparencies" option? I guess not, and I'd really appreciate it. KDE would became useful for me again. Seriously, I've booted live USB on thinkpad x240 and there was some current KDE running. For a few minutes I thought there was something very wrong with laptop, but it was KDE making feel core-i7 like lowend celeron. It makes me wonder if authors use that environment on very high-end machines exclusively. Also "start menu", sorry for the naming, feels like unstoppable carousel to me (those sliding tabs). All this is a pity because I really do like QT for development, but unstoppable animations are no-go

Arnavion 7y ago
>Did they already add "turn off all animations and needless movements, fades and transparencies" option? Yes, ~10 years ago.
- michaelmrose 7y ago
  This highlights the difference between defaults and options. Options that would solve a users problems often go unused leaving the user with a negative opinion. Maybe as part of first run it ought to set a default useful based on current performance. It might also be worthwhile to think about how it degrades under pressure. Is it possible to notice frames dropped or delayed and degrade more gracefully.
  - simion314 7y ago
    I think there are some blacklisted video cards. I assume is is not as easy as you think to write the code that detects the perfect thresholds where animations are smooth all the time. I would like to assume that most KDE users are competent enough to at least google the answer on how to turn the animations off and desktop effects too (I mean somehow they installed a KDE distro finding a checkbox should be much easier).
    - michaelmrose 7y ago

shmerl 7y ago

How is the progress of subsurfaces clipping bug in the Wayland session? It takes a really long time. Is there any public info on the progress?

Vogtinator 7y ago
Do you mean https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-54888 https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-54888? That's a Qt bug, not in KDE software.
- shmerl 7y ago
  No, I mean this one: https://phabricator.kde.org/T10530 https://phabricator.kde.org/T10530

andrew_xor_andy 7y ago

In my personal experience, I've found KDE to be technically more interesting than Gnome, but Gnome to be better designed in terms of user experience. I wish Gnome could match the power/performance of KDE, or KDE could match the user friendliness and visual consistency of Gnome...

thesimp 7y ago

I've used Kubuntu as a normal every day desktop for some time and there are two simple annoyances that popup in my mind: - when I get a notification in the systray that there is an update I click on it but nothing happens. Then I have to click on the Update Manager which also presents itself in the systray as having an update to start the actual update process. Why can't the program giving the notification be started directly from the notification popup window? - the restart/shutdown dialog is infuriating!. When I click on restart or shutdown I get presented with a full screen overlay in which I have to click again on restart or shutdown. Ok: I understand the need for a confirmation. But the click area is very sensitive and I you accidentally just outside of the icon area you will be dropped back to the desktop. ARGH! Why do UI designers always think that everyone has some sort of FPS aiming capability with the mouse and can repeatedly click with pixel accuracy?

viraptor 7y ago
I agree the UI for the second point is annoying. There's a workaround though: The option you wanted is preselected. You can press enter and get the action you wanted without a mouse.
emilsedgh 7y ago
* Your first issue is resolved lately. * I get your frustration. I personally just open up krunner and type 'reboot' or 'sleep' and press enter.