17 Sep
2010
17 Sep
'10
9:18 p.m.
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.
1. 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!
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. With only two virtual desktops, the Small panel can
be used as a
default.
Same with four; changed.
5. Digital clocks are geeky. Just choose Plain as the
default.
Agree; changed.
6. 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?
7. 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?
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
15. 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