kde 4: some considerations, 1 question

[jankushka]

i like kde4.

considerations...
i can finally get rid of that useless "menu bar", "main panel", ... whatever it's called.
i would like to be able to place windows' title bars on the sides, rather than on the top.
screen sizes are going (have gone) wide (4:3 -> 16:10 -> 16:9).
placing title bars on the sides would save some room on the screen.
i understand it might not be straightforward, but i think it'd be worth looking into it.

question...
kde4 doesn't have a "show desktop" feature like kde3 had.
i've seen posts on this issue and bugs submitted, too.
of course, the graphic widget isn't a replacement for ctrl-alt-d.
nor is a replacement the ctrl-f9 windows toggling thing.
or the ctrl-f something for the dashboard .
i don't know what this dashboard is for, but the dashboard is not the desktop.
people (obviously) miss this feature.
and i do too.
how do i create a ctrl-alt-d shortcut to it?

cheers

[dibl]

Yeah, you can get used to KDE 4 -- the more it gets developed, the better it will be, I'm sure.

I agree with the window titles on the side suggestion, but I don't think you can do that yet. A "window decorator" like Kwin or Emerald could do that, if an option were written for it. Of course you can put the panel & task bar on the side of your wide screen, same as KDE 3.5. It helps a little.

"Show Desktop" is gone, in KDE 4 -- "Desktop" remains as a directory under /home/user, but graphically it is just a reserved place (widget/plasmoid) on the KDE 4 screen. I like to keep my screen un-cluttered, so it's less of a change for me than for folks who are accustomed to keeping everything on their screen.

I haven't figured out replacement for the key combos either -- and you have to be a little mindful about that if you run Compiz, as it has its own settings for such things, and you can get messed up between Kwin and Compiz. :)

[jankushka]

hi dibl.
thanks for your reply.



I agree with the window titles on the side suggestion, but I don't think you can do that yet. A "window decorator" like Kwin or Emerald could do that, if an option were written for it.

that's what i meant.
consider coding this option.
it might not be all that simple, though...



Of course you can put the panel & task bar on the side of your wide screen, same as KDE 3.5. It helps a little.

i have never used the task bar.
and kde4 also finally lets me get rid of the main panel.
totally useless for me.
i don't use either of them... ;D
i tend to avoid using the mouse if not necessary.
alt-f2 and alt-tab are better tools for me than kmenu, the task bar and the mouse.



"Show Desktop" is gone, in KDE 4 -- "Desktop" remains as a directory under /home/user, but graphically it is just a reserved place (widget/plasmoid) on the KDE 4 screen. I like to keep my screen un-cluttered, so it's less of a change for me than for folks who are accustomed to keeping everything on their screen.

i don't keep anything on the desktop either.
i only have the system tray.
which i would like to be able to access quickly when i need it.
the "show dashboard" brings up everything, except the system tray.
it could be a bug or something simply not working properly yet.
i don't know.
but there's a "show desktop" widget.
i just would like a keyboard shortcut to it... ;D

[kubicle]

kde4 doesn't have a "show desktop" feature like kde3 had.
i've seen posts on this issue and bugs submitted, too.
of course, the graphic widget isn't a replacement for ctrl-alt-d.
...
how do i create a ctrl-alt-d shortcut to it?

You should be able to add shortcuts to widgets manually (no UI for it yet), check Mr. Plasma's (aseigo) post on the kde-forums:
http://forum.kde.org/showthread.php?tid=6332

[jankushka]

thanks kubicle.
tried manually configure the bloody thing as per aseigo's instructions.
but did not succeed...
after stopping plasma, i added the show desktop plasmoid.
which added the following bit to the rc file:


...
[Containments][1][Applets][33]
geometry=187.207774408073,963.207774408073,65.5844 511838531,65.5844511838531
immutability=1
plugin=showdesktop
zvalue=108
...


to which i manually added:


...
[Containments][1][Applets][33][Shortcuts]
global=Ctrl+Alt+D
...


restarted plasma, but...nothing.
ctrl-alt-d does nothing.

plus...
when i log out, the shortcut is deleted.
the rc file bit now reads as follows:


...
[Containments][1][Applets][33][Shortcuts]
global=
...


i must admit i don't understand the logic of these config files.
so, i don't know what i'm doing.

it'd be nice if i were able to get this working.
but it's really not a big deal...for now.

thanks again.

[kubicle]

Well...after your post I tried it myself...and couldn't get it working (I did get a Show Desktop shortcut option in SystemSettings, but the shortcut did nothing). Don't know if it's specific to the 'Show Desktop' applet or a general issue with manually setting applet shortcuts (wasn't inspired to test further :P). I can live without it though (at least for now the show dashboard shortcut meets my needs)

[jankushka]

i'm not particularly inspired, either.
i'll wait.
thanks anyway.