i have spent a bit of time toying around with a new default panel setup, just because the current one is so truly bad. currently it looks something like this:
as you can see, handles are faded out (now that they actually work perfectly in all situations, something they didn't in previous releases), bookmarks and quickbrowser are replaced in the kmenu and the only app buttons are for file and web browsing ... i haven't gotten to the clock font issue yes, nor can i default certain system tray icons to hiding (since that would require new translated strings) and i can't enlarge the default menu entry size to 32px since that doesn't give enough room vertically even on 1024x768 for everything (even with frequent apps turned down to 3) and our 22 pixel icon coverage is pathetic so many of the icons end up getting scaled which looks like crap.
note to self: make plasma configurations easy to alter and less rigid with "can't"s.
and finally, i think i was just confronted with one of the lamest error dialogs i've seen in a long time whilst dragging a new bookmark to the sidebar in gimp's file dialog:
so not only does it appear to be using an external process (fork/exec'ing?) to change a file permission (?!) but the text select caret won't go away because i highlighted the text one. of course, clicking the Add button works, just not DnD. i'm amazed. it's these types of things that make me detest using the gimp.
update: DnD now works, but i can't remove any bookmarks anymore. *sigh* a feature limited bookmarks sidebar isn't rocket science, people.
second update: i wonder who thought mortal humans might benefit from the text in that error dialog? 'mode', 'waitpid' ... huh()?
so why not use krita, you ask? because it offered it's own entry in the lame error dialog contest today:
if your app fails to do something it ought to be able to, please give some hint as to why. this dialog gives me 0 ability to start trying to fix the problem without getting neck deep in the code.
back to gimp torture it is then. =(
(fwiw, i'm using gimp 2.2 and the latest version of krita from svn. because i'm using a dev version of krita, the png loading problem could be a local issue to my build but without more information in the error msg i really don't know; maybe i should try running it from a konsole and see if any more useful information appears there. not that i should have to, but...)
update: after an svn up and rebuild of koffice, krita opens png files just fine again.. wooooohoooo! =)
9 comments:
I don't know about the changes to the application launch buttons, Aaron. Whether or not this ought to be the case, a new user is still certain to have many of their questions answered with instructions for the console. Making that harder to find is not going to improve anyone's experience. (And konsole is not easy to find in the K Menu! It's not under "Utilities" and it ends up being under "System" which seems rather random.
Also, the vast majority of users never change the defaults; but if something annoys them, it is far easier to remove a panel button than to add one. So without the "Show desktop" button, most users would probably never know of its potentially useful functionality, since they're not going to dig through the add applets dialog looking for things.
I think it's a better idea to leave those two on by default.
konsole was removed in a previous release (3.4 i believe) so that one is already done and gone. notice how many people missed it? ;)
those that need it often can put it back quite easily, since they generally know how to do these things.
and how many people need/use "Show Desktop"? esp by default?
I've had that waitpid thing in GNOME applications w/ SuSE 10, too. I think it may be a SuSE bug.
and how many people need/use "Show Desktop"? esp by default?
I use it all of the time. I would miss it quite a lot if it weren't there by default (of couse, I could enable it if given an option somewhere sane).
Hi,
Here's is my suggestion for a reasonably sane default (although I would remove a few things that are more specific to my use, see below):
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1824/taskbar5uj.jpg
From left to right:
KMenu
Home directory quick browser (would probably remove this although it is great for effeciency of open files)
Bookmarks (would probably remove this)
Konqueror, opens in home directory
Kontact
Show desktop (I disagree this is rarely used, it is very useful for accessing the desktop)
Desktops (2x2 layout to save space)
Taskbar
System tray (with frequently used things hidden like klipper and korganiser daemon, to save space and reduce clutter)
System monitor for CPU, RAM and network access (good for feedback but only for advance users)
Clock
I think the kicker looks much better with hidden applet handles and if it is set to small size. I really dislike the taskbar taking up a lot of room and I find it hard to locate task buttons on the 2 row task bar due to more changes in position when tasks are opened/closed. I have 5 tasks open in my screenshot (I reckon about 3 tasks are average) and there is plenty of room on it to place tasks and click on them. I just find horizontal task placement easier to track and much saner than the current default.
In addition, why do you imply that "show desktop" is not used and yet you've kept the "hide panel" button. This should really be removed in my opinion. It's clutter, I don't know anybody that ever uses it and it's confusing when users accidentally hide their panel. The panel contains all the important status information for the user; I can't see why it is a common use case to hide it.
I use the show desktop icon all the time, as well as the kontact icon. so please leave those two icons there.
I use the show desktop icon all the time, as well as the kontact icon. so please leave those two icons there.
Hi Aaron,
I just wanted to mention that I use the Show Desktop button all the time. BTW Thanks for all your hard work on KDE.
for any given feature there is going to be someone who uses it. that's not unexpected or surprising. but just because some use a feature does not mean it needs to be on by default or maximally exposed.
one can always add the show desktop button (or any other button) to the panel. this is simply about the default set.
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