I temporarily renamed the ~/.kde directory so Trinity would create a new
profile directory.
Beauty is always subjective, but I think Trinity should change some of
the
old die-hard KDE defaults. As you mentioned previously, Trinity is now
the
upstream source, not KDE. You now are the man. Be bold. Be different. :)
I agree for the most part, but we must be careful not to be bold and different in the KDE4 style. ;-). Sometimes minor changes are OK in small quantities between releases, but usually large, sweeping changes will start alienating the types of users that are interested in this project.
So here are some thoughts about the default Trinity desktop.
- As you seem keen on changing references from KDE to Trinity, you
might
want to consider a new splash image. Likewise for your side image in the
K-Menu.
Done. Thank goodness for the GIMP!
- I always found the KDE-Classic Icon Theme somewhat unpleasant. The
Crystal SVG icon set is popular and cleaner.
Agree; it looks like the default is already set to crystalsvg in the code though?
- I never understood the blind acceptance of four virtual desktops.
Most
new users will appreciate two.
Sorry; I don't agree here. I can't imagine life without four desktops (and I have two 21" screens per desktop)! While this usage case may be a bit extreme, this feature is still a major productivity enhancer compared to Window$/Mac, therefore I think it should be emphasized as much as possible. Also on a more practical note, IIRC other Linux DEs use four desktops by default.
If you want to create a separate default for Slackware that could be done quite easily; I do that for the stock "cartoon" version of Kubuntu each release.
- With only two virtual desktops, the Small panel can be used as a
default.
Same with four; changed.
- Digital clocks are geeky. Just choose Plain as the default.
Agree; changed.
- Change the default desktop icon text to non-shadowed, white.
Not sure on this one; the non-shadowed icons blend in to certain desktop wallpapers and this may confuse users over time. Any thoughts from other list members?
- Get rid of the bouncing mouse cursor. :) Yeah, I mentioned that
already. I'm making a not-so-subtle point. The thing is obnoxious. Stupid,
Dumb. Irritating. Annoying. Childish. Unprofessional. I greatly
appreciate
any distro I test where the devs have changed the default mouse pointer
to
Non Busy. And quite a few devs have done that too.
Fully agree; I thought I already got rid of it though?
- None of the desktop device icons are enabled. You went through the
effort to create many new useful icons, so why not add them and set enable
Device Icons as the default?
Agree; changed.
- I don't understand the fetish and dumbing down with the default view
in
Konqueror with icons. Set the default view to Tree View, and Show Hidden
Files. Treat users like adults and not kids. :)
Sorry, disagree. I like the intuitive icon view myself, and even by their name, hidden files are supposed to be hidden! ;-) I can see too many "oops, I just dragged and dropped my .<critical system file> who knows where and now I can't use my computer" type complaints cropping up.
- A bug: when I select the desktop Web Browser Device Icon, I receive
an
error message: Unknown host default.browser. The message box has an OK
button but the message box disappears by itself in about 1.5 seconds. Insufficient time to actually read without repeating the process a few times.
Fixed.
- A bug: Selecting the My Documents Device Icon results in an error
because the ~/Documents directory does not exist. I personally would get upset if any software created such a directory on my system. On the other
hand, I think when a person explicitly enables that device icon then
such
a directory should get created. No, not quite. I think when a person
enables that directory a pop-up should appear asking for the path to that
directory. The default would be ~/Documents, but the user can change the
text in the popup text box. I don't consider that a feature request needing to be added after your feature freeze. I consider this behavior a
bug.
Fixed; the shortcut now queries XDG for the documents directory path.
- I'm glad you selected to display both software names and
descriptions
in the K-Menu. I always empathize with new users and they need both.
Flip
a coin, but I prefer Description (Name) rather than Name (Description).
My
belief is that most people are looking to solve a task and a description
first helps toward that goal. Especially since so many developers have given their apps names that provide no clue to the apps purpose.
The problem is that descriptions can change; e.g. become more descriptive. Change the first letter in the description and the user has to hunt through the entire list to find the same application again.
- So you added the option to use a Kickoff style K-Menu. Nice
programming touch. Really! You'll never see me use the Kickoff though.
I'm
just too old to change some habits. :) 14. Place the Exit/Lockout applet buttons on the default kicker. Many
people use the buttons and they provide a familiar method to exit for new
users.
Agree; changed.
- Trinity did not create a new ~/.kde3 directory, but honored $KDEHOME
and created a new ~/.kde!
I hope this helps!
Sure does!
Update kdelibs and kdebase to SVN revision 1176514 or above, recompile both, and re-test everything. I believe I have repaired most of the bugs, including the Klipper icon (thanks to your latest message regarding applet mode, which allowed me to reproduce the bug here).
Let me know if anything fishy shows up in testing, or if I forgot to address an issue!
Thanks,
Tim