Last year I expressed that it would be good if KDE worked better with Apple-like options like a main menu for programs. I do not know why most programs do not use KDE's option for that, but really each should pass its menu to the main GUI interface which should also have a few basic ones like 'file,' 'edit,' 'help.' The GUI could keep a few basic options in these like 'new,' 'open,' 'close,' 'save, 'print;' 'cut,' 'copy,' 'paste,' 'KDE help.'

Menus usually move when you move the mouse, but some people do not like that. Emacs shows what you open in a menu in one if its text boxes. I like mouse menus, but some menus one may want to keep open. That is why there are Firefox plugins that have several menus or links in the the bar and each section.

Otherwise one has to start an entire new program--even just for file management (which could use a sidebar as a side part of the taskbar without any fancy effects)--to even open a new file. A reason for having an interface is so you can open any file without having to make movements for it. Having to still use the keyboard or mouse more just to open a file in a program makes it have the inefficiency of when you have to do that in a console.

Many GUI OSes have main menu options to find a file and also start a new file of some type with a program there. Then when they do that in the file manager that annoyingly (except maybe the better menu of MacOS) pops up you have an option to open the file. It is not far-fetched to just combine these options. The main GUI bar--or panel as KDE calls it--should be able to be like an editor and file manager allowing you to access any file immediately instead of just going through a chain of actions from it that do the same thing anyway.

MSIE (maybe copying someone) integrated File Manager into its interface. Then NetCaptor (and then Mozilla) integrated tabs into its. Then Firefox (etc.) integrated the plugins and RSS toolbars and sidebar into its. A GUI should be like that: its main panel should allow both text (Apple-like and file-manager-like) and icon (like on the desktop, which KDE does) menus and the opening into itself of any program which should pass menu options to the GUI.

KDE does much of this already, but it can do more. It has a 'run' option, and Konqueror (or maybe now Dolphin) may open some programs (PDF ones?) within it. However there is no GUI-based reason for the panel and konqueror/dolphin to be separate, though I know there are some programming reasons. KDE should allow or even have the option to enforce Apple-like menus and with that make konqueror/dolphin part of the panel. It is something worth beating M$ to in GUI design.

Maybe all KDE needs to do to have more programs open within a file manager is to make them start with no borders and be dependent on the file manager for where to move their edges.

I am just an artist and old DOS programmer who prefers to focus on math & OS/hardware programming but who values a GUI as usable as these topics.