What woodsmoke thinks an "activity" "should" do.

[woodsmoke]

James147

Could you please expand on this a little?

so long as the application supports sessions (which allot of applications do)

woodcurioussmoke

[james147]

Does it? I couldn't get this to happen (it's a while since I've played with them though).

It did when I last played with it.

Limited interaction and control over activities (via keyboard shortcuts, mouse hotspots, menu items etc) is for me the most serious current limitation of activities. I'm sure this will improve though.

Yeah, though there are hooks for keyboard shortcuts, just non set by default. Setting them makes switching between them nicer.

Edit: Actually at least kde 4.8 and later have Meta+tab and Meta+shift+tab for next/previous activities assigned by default and meta+q to bring up the activity display.

[SecretCode]

doing so start/stops the applications associated with that activity

Does it? I couldn't get this to happen (it's a while since I've played with them though).

What I would like to see is a better way to interact (start/stop/switch between) with them as well as better application level support like that of the power management.

Also, I would like to see better integration with virtual desktops... I don't see much need for both and wouldn't mind merging the two concepts (possibly as an optional option).

Limited interaction and control over activities (via keyboard shortcuts, mouse hotspots, menu items etc) is for me the most serious current limitation of activities. I'm sure this will improve though.

[james147]

This sounds very similar to what the activities in kde already do... although their UI and the way you interact with them is abit annoying atm.

Applications can be assigned to an activity (much the way they can be to virtual desktops) but unlike virtual desktops applications can be aware of what activity they are in (although currently not many applications take advantage of this, the only one I can think is the power management feature in kde 4.8 allows you to set different profiles for each activity).

You can also start and stop activities and doing so start/stops the applications associated with that activity. The only difference here from what you said is you can have multiple activities running at the same time (which makes switching between frequently used ones quicker).

As for opening documents and web pages, activities can already do this so long as the application supports sessions (which allot of applications do) in the same way the kde already opens applications when you login that where previously running.

What I would like to see is a better way to interact (start/stop/switch between) with them as well as better application level support like that of the power management.

Also, I would like to see better integration with virtual desktops... I don't see much need for both and wouldn't mind merging the two concepts (possibly as an optional option).

[SecretCode]

It reminds me of a feature in OS/2, back in 1994 or thereabouts (sometime when I was working at IBM, anyway), called "work areas". When you launched a "work area", the documents and apps you'd placed in it would all reopen.

I agree with most of your description of what activities should do - except that I don't think it should necessarily be related to a disk folder. (Which is the most common use of the word ... if you mean a more general kind of container that's fine.)

[woodsmoke]

I originally posted this in the thread about "tabs" but thought I would make it a thread for discussion,

The idea may not be feasible at all. But...

This is "kind of" what I thought would happen when one used an "activity":

I thought that one would :

a) choose or create an "activity" and it would be in a "folder", possibly and one could tag it "aardvark".

b) One would have in the "folder" some kind of "menu" which woud allow one to

i) choose one or more "applications" such as a wordprocessor and GIMP to be "in the activity".
ii) "tag" or "label" various documents with a label such as "aardvark". Tag or label various images as "aardvark".
iii) "save" a browser with one or more web pages open to "aardvark".

c) Then, when one logs in one sees the "run" box automatically open, one types in "aardvark" and the folder automagically appears on the desktop, with the documents and images already open and ready to be worked on from the last close of the folder.

d) when one closed the folder all items were automagically saved.

That, to me, is what I thougth the "activity" would do and may be, indirectly, what is being discussed in the tabs and brainstorming thread

just a thought.

woodsmoke

PPS: here is a " typical" article about what "acitvities" "do", it is all about what the activites "could do" and there is much talk of placing widgets and a small mention of folder view. But basically the present "activity" to me is a "virtual desktop" that has various "clickable stuff" on it or widgets. This is different from what I mention above.

One would have to "open" the documents manually, individually, same for images, same for browser.

http://maketecheasier.com/use-kde-pl...ies/2010/09/01