KDE Neon 5.18 - Tips

I've recently installed KDE Neon 5.18 and I've been amazed by the overall interface simplicity and, out of the box everything works like a charm, until we start our Firefox and start being annoyed by how huge it seems the default title-bar on it, or when after we've installed Kontact we've start to feel a bit claustrophobic with it's default layout of messages preview. Also we always had to do some fixes and tweaks to improve our usability on KDE itself.

Well, here I'll share my tips on how to configure KDE Neon 5.18.

Feel free to share your own tips too.

• Firefox

No Title-Bar
Well, I do like the title bar on the other applications. I just don't like it on my Firefox and also on VSCode, but this last one has an option to disable the use of the default title-bar and Firefox don't has one, which it's a shame.


UPDATE: As pointed out by itzikiap, Firefox does have an option to not use the default title-bar of the system, it's located within Personalize option, at the bottom:





BUT FEAR NOT! We have an incredible KWin Script which can be installed with a few clicks:


As you may have noticed on the image above, I have installed the marvelous "NoBorder Firefox Maximized" made by Chris Holland, which hides the title-bar when Firefox it's maximized. Here goes the steps to install this KWin Script:

1. Search for KWin Script through the Application Launcher & execute it.
2. Click on Get New Scripts...
3. Search for NoBorder Firefox Maximized.
4. Install it and close the window.
5. Now active it by marking the box of the script (just like the image above).

Issue when trying to set it as Default Browser:
If you've noticed on Firefox's settings that it shows that Firefox isn't your default browser (despite the fact that actually, every link or html file clicked opens on Firefox by default), you're not alone! It's an issue with the variable GTK_USE_PORTAL that is used by Firefox at some point on it's execution, but I'm not fully aware of what it does but at least there's a way to avoid this issue.

We can force Firefox to start without setting GTK_USE_PORTAL. To do so, one must edit the following file:

Code: Select all

/usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

And on the first Exec line within the file, you have to add env --unset=GTK_USE_PORTAL, in order to execute Firefox without this variable being set. So the line on the file must be like:

Code: Select all

Exec=env --unset=GTK_USE_PORTAL /usr/lib/firefox/firefox %u

After that you must logoff or reboot and then, try setting Firefox as the default browser again.


Extensions:
Now It's important to install some extensions in order to improve our Firefox experience. I suggest you to install the following extensions on your firefox:

• Close Tab Button Quantum
  This extension add a close tab button for your browser, it'll be useful to close tabs without the title-bar
  
• Plasma Integration
  It provides integration with KDE Plasma, so it's a good idea to have this one installed.
  
• Facebook Container
  This extensions gives Firefox the ability to work with Container Tabs, despite the fact that automatically will provide an isolated container for everything related to Facebook. This aims privacy against Facebook's eye.
  
• uBlock
  Of course, we also need to install some Ad Block and for me uBlock is one of the best out there.

• Plasma

Change the Applications Launcher:
The Applications Launcher is a bit large for my taste, so I've changed to use the Applications Menu alternative, which is just simple. Kinda buggy sometimes but that's fine by me!



To change it, you must:

1. Right Click on the Applications Launcher icon.
2. Click on Show Alternatives.
3. Switch to Applications Menu.

Close Applications with Middle Click:
Middle click on browsers close tabs, and it has become a standard to close everything presented like a tab, just like the applications under the plasma Task Manager.



To set the action of the Middle Click to close applications shown on Plasma's Task Manager, you must:

1. Right Click on Plasma's Task Manager.
2. Click on Behavior.
3. Choose the action of "On middle-click" to "Close window or group".
4. Click on "Apply".

Virtual Desktops:
One of the greatest features that every linux/GNU GUI interface provides is the possibility to enable more than one Virtual Desktop. I usually work with at least 3 virtual desktops. By default KDE only provide one, but if you wish more you must enable it. To do so you must:

1. Search for Virtual Desktops under your Applications Launcher.
2. Add as many virtual desktops as you like by just clicking on the plus button.
3. Click on apply.

• Keyboard Shortcuts

Print Screen:
Every once in a while I have to print screen something and usually I just need some portion of the screen, not the entire thing! So I manage to configure the action of my print screen to "Capture Rectangular Region" which triggers the mouse to select a region that I would like to print.

It's possible to achieve it under the Spectacle shortcut configuration:


As you can see above, I have configured:

• Launch Spectacle: Ctrl+Print
• Capture Rectangular Region: Print

• Kontact

Layout Adjusts:
Kontact was a big surprise. I have used Thunderbird and Evolution for a long time but, I have never used a tool which provides everything that I need in such a great design. But I do not enjoy the layout that previews the message, it's just a terrible layout. Give me liberty to choose my messages! Like that:



To achieve this layout you must:

1. Click on Settings
2. Click on Configure KMail...
3. Go to Appearance >> Layout.
4. Set "Never" under "Show Favorite Folders View"
5. Set "Do not show a message preview pane" under "Message Preview Pane"

Actually, Firefox does have the option to remove the title bar, it's in toolbar customize.

It would be more useful to set the topic of a Tip in the title, a general thread with miscellaneous tips is not a good idea, as it makes searching harder.

itzikiap wrote:Actually, Firefox does have the option to remove the title bar, it's in toolbar customize.

Oh my! I did not have noticed that option before, thank you so much for the share!

Mamarok wrote:It would be more useful to set the topic of a Tip in the title, a general thread with miscellaneous tips is not a good idea, as it makes searching harder.

First of all, thank you so much for the answer! You're right, well I'll keep that in mind for the next one then (much because I did not find out how to change the title for this topic). In fact I was going to post this in a webpage but I think that this is the best place to talk about KDE and meet the community! Also, It's nice to contribute, even if it's just a small topic.