I recently had one of those very busy days just full of managing a variety of files, documents, and talking with people. As the day passed I realised how much KDE SC had helped in organising what I was focusing on. It's that great feeling where you have a product or service in front of you and you feel as though you're really maximising your use of it. It really made me want to share the little features that just create the awesome environment.

- The virtual desktops.
Though I realise some don't see the use of them, I don't think I'll ever be able to use another computer without them. Keeping sets of programs off a desktop and in its own little compartment (I have 4) and being able to switch between them is something that really adds that "spacial" kick that Plasma's "activities" have always failed to deliver in.

- Tabbed windows
A genius of a feature, it allows me to group together related documents with chat windows or file managers with other smaller apps. I cannot believe I've actually used it so much - now if they were simply displayed differently in the taskbar to show their grouped nature it would make all the difference.

- Always on top
I added this button next to the standard "close, minimise, maximise" and I must say it's a lifesaver. Reading through some online documentation and trying out code in an editor ... simply put the editor as "always on top"! What makes it special to other DEs is that there's a button for it I can place on the window decoration.

- "aero snap" window tiling
I think there's a window tiling feature in 4.5 I haven't tried out yet (always loved ratpoison when going remotely via NX) this Win7-born feature is extremely useful when referring to 2 windows simultaneously. One on the left half, another on the right ... it just feels natural.

- Dolphin's tabs, split windows, and built-in terminal
Originally I didn't find it very intuitive (was the behavior changed?) but now I must say it's great. It saves so much time and allows me to easily drag and drop between sections. I've never actually used this feature so much until that day and now I definitely think I'll be usin- no, _needing_ it more often. I would also love to show my appreciation to the "show in groups" + "sort by filetype" mode which I use all the time, the built-in terminal (yakuake is great too!), and the little "Information" panel which gives that preview. I don't think there's a single other file manager on other platforms which even comes close to how amazing Dolphin was on that day.

Those were the main lifesavers. However I'd like to note that there were a few things which I still haven't been able to find a place in my workflow for. For example plasma widgets and activities.

I'd love to hear about those little KDE features that add to your workflow. As you can see, 4 of the above really can only be experienced within KDE (virtual desktops being the exception).

So, how does KDE make your day?

Activities. Now I can set programs to be only on one of them (though they're still in the taskbar - bug?) so as I switch workflows I keep the right tools open.
Quick tiling (aka "Aero Snap") is useful when I review research papers.
Virtual desktops. Lots of them!
Dolphin's terminal and Yakuake. Always handy to have a terminal there.
Kate. I use it a lot especially when I need to substitute with regexps of a certain complexity.

One word: flexibility.
Some time ago I was working on one big project that needed several files and folders, many of them remote connections through fish protocol, opened at the same time (I was running simulations on a remote server, so I had several scripts opened, several folders to copy and move the resulting data, several programs to analyze the data and select parameters for the following round...): in that situation virtual desktops was a salvation.
Now I'm simultaneously working on several small projects. Each time I need only a few files and folders opened, but they are different for the different projects so Activities is now the salvation.
Also, there are some small tools that I use only randomly, but when I need them I need them really at hand: qalculate plasmoid and the spell checker (I write on Spanish, Italian and English quite often). I put both plasmoids on a small autohide panel and assigned a keyboard shortcut to them.
Runners are also a BIG THING: I use FS runner to quickly open any file on selected folders, just by typing the first characters of their names; the web shortcuts are also a time saver (just type wp:<search term> on krunner and konqueror will open on the right wikipedia article)... there is nothing like kde4

einar wrote:Activities. Now I can set programs to be only on one of them (though they're still in the taskbar - bug?) so as I switch workflows I keep the right tools open.

Er a stupid question, but how do you that?

You need trunk, first and foremost. Then it's a matter of right clicking on the window decoration (or using alt-F3) and selecting "Activities".

You can do these things with many good WMs, e.g. FVWM, Openbox ...
- The virtual desktops.
- Always on top
- "aero snap" window tiling

FVWM provides you with these, too:
- Activities.

@samhain:

I didn't use any of those WMs you mention. Now, what about the other features that were mentioned? Possible?
And most importantly, are all of those possible inside only one of those WMs?

Sorry to say, they are possible. Especially in FVWM you can build virtually anything that KDE has. If it's not built in, you can script it, it's fairly simple.

But sessionmanagement is the thing that KDE is/was outstanding

Scripting... you are kidding me. This topic was about simple to use yet usable workflow, not the usual power user stuff.
Of course you can do anything you want with scripting, everywhere.
So, if it isn't possible without scripting, but build in and ready to use we can talk further.

All of the things I mentioned are in the default config (without the need to use any config tool).

Scripting is the way to configure FVWM. OpenBox has a GUI configtool, as KDE. So we compare the default config of KDE with the default configs of other WM/DE? Wher's the point it that?

> Of course you can do anything you want with scripting, everywhere.
Nop, I'd say that is not true. Especially KDE4 has tight limits on the workflow.

Ah yes, I specifically mentioned virtual desktops being the exception. As for the "always on top", it is of course a feature in all DEs and WMs I believe, but what I was emphasising was the ability to have a dedicated button for it in the window decoration. As for aero snap, I know tiling WMs do tiling, but I didn't know others natively had support for the "aero snap".

Sometimes it's hard to get information on what WM/DE provides what feature and how does it actually work. Most of this is caused by a non-consitent nomencatur.

e.G.:
"aero snap" = tiling
"activities/desktop" = "desktop/pages"
"focus follows mouse" (KDE4) != "focus follows mouse (KDE3 and anyting non-KDE4)

room for confusion

The only concept that I know of that is really unique to KDE is Activities, in the sense that each activity gets its own set of plasmoids (which that is only because plasma is KDE-only). Other window managers have had all of the other features for a long time.
Window tabbing - Fluxbox has it, and I'm sure it wasn't the first
Dedicated button for keep above - Most don't provide one by default. Some (like E17) require adding the button to the theme used by the Window manager. I think that FVWM allows you to add it for any theme.
Aero snap - Few WMs have more edge actions than just change desktop. One can argue that this is just a tiling feature, but WMs either do tiling or don't do tiling - there aren't any (that I know of) that allow you to switch between the two. There are WMs that allow setting key and mouse bindings to maximize vertically and horizontally (as well as full maximization), which can be used to simulate the maximize to half-screen.
Multiple destkops - Few are the WMs that Don't have this feature.

airdrik wrote:The only concept that I know of that is really unique to KDE is Activities, in the sense that each activity gets its own set of plasmoids (which that is only because plasma is KDE-only). Other window managers have had all of the other features for a long time.

As well have KWin have them long time. Actually since the beginning the KWin has been kept as most feature rich window manager what has been available. There are only few things new in KDE SC 4.5 version what KWin got.

Window tabbing - Fluxbox has it, and I'm sure it wasn't the first
Dedicated button for keep above - Most don't provide one by default. Some (like E17) require adding the button to the theme used by the Window manager. I think that FVWM allows you to add it for any theme.

Window tabbing is the new feature. But it is not something what avarage user would want. It is done for power users who really want to have something like it. But KDE Apps has used tabbing lots long time so the WM tabbing feature has not be needed so much. Still good to have such now.

Aero snap - Few WMs have more edge actions than just change desktop. One can argue that this is just a tiling feature, but WMs either do tiling or don't do tiling - there aren't any (that I know of) that allow you to switch between the two. There are WMs that allow setting key and mouse bindings to maximize vertically and horizontally (as well as full maximization), which can be used to simulate the maximize to half-screen.
Multiple destkops - Few are the WMs that Don't have this feature.

The Snapping is not unique from Windows so it can not be called as "Aero Snap". As you as well say, it has been available longer. KWin has allowed maximisation in different directions long time. The functions just has been "hided" to shortcuts what are typically not so easy to find.

Virtual Desktops are one of the basic features in Unix desktops. Altough there are the few what does not support them, but most does. That is the feature behind few decades and beginning of the KWin.

What KDE SC 4.5 really does is bringing more polishing how to access the features.