The first few desktop icons which I placed on the desktop were normal. Now when I try to make a desktop icon it has no handle (the handle with options for move, resize & settings). I can place them on the desktop; however, I can not resize them. (Although I can resize them from the original desktop by going to the folder view settings; they still do not quite look like the other icons. Instead of having the green plus sign & red minus sign; they are simply black & white plus/minus signs within a small circle. Also, if I place a new icon on my main desktop then it shows up on both icon desktops in the activity view even when there is already one. I don't want to delete the original ones on the one desktop where they did not disappear from as they are normal with handles. (I clicked to have different widgets on each desktop so I could have different wallpaper. Also, clicked show widgets as I thought that meant to share them.) The normal ones appear to be originating from a different location/file. (I am unlocking icons & unlocking widgets. At first they were disappearing; that's when the problem started. What am I doing wrong?

I am using the KDE 4.8 desktop on the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. There are other desktops installed such as the unity, Xfce, & Gnome. Could this be the problem? Can you help fix this problem?

This is because you have switched to using Folder View. These previously created icons are actually independent applets - which is why they can be freely rotated and resized.

Unfortunately i'm not sure if it is possible to create separate applet icons with Folder View in use.

Are you saying that if I changed from folder view then all of my desktop icons would have the handles for resizing & etc? Don't I have to be in folder view to be able to set my own wallpaper & be able to place icons on my desktop?

Both the Folder View and Default Desktop layouts allow you to set a wallpaper. Note that if you change to Default Desktop though, all the icons you have at the moment which can't be resized / rotated will need to be added back to the Desktop though (you can use Dolphin to browse to ~/Desktop and drag them from there though - so shouldn't take too long).

Thank-you. I did do that. I don't recall if I lost any desktop icons though. They are normal now & can be resized & etc.

However for some strange reason when I did this some of the items listed in the right click menu on desktop disappeared. The menu for icon settings and the refresh desktop. There was only one activity which did not lost those menu items. Was that suppose to happen? I did add the widget icon task manager to my panel; however, it does not offer the selection settings for how to arrange icons on desktop or to lock & unlock icons. Can I add these back to my right click desktop menu?

Yes, this was supposed to happen. There are two modes of operation at play here - and only one of them supports the refresh desktop, arrange icons and lock icons settings.

The "Default Desktop" layout does not display anything by default - only the icons which are explicitly added to it. As such, the icons must be manually arranged, and it can only be locked by locking the widgets globally.

The "Folder View" layout displays the contents of a given folder, ~/Desktop by default. As such, it is able to arrange icons for you, as well as offer independent locking - but you can't resize icons.

Thank-you. Let me just make sure I am understanding this correctly.

In other words, I can't have it both ways; there is no current view that will support placing icons with resizeable handles on the desktop and having the full right click menu which offers icon place settings and refresh. Am I understanding that correctly?

While we are on the subject of desktop icons, I have another question. I have noticed that only widgets not application icons can be place on the folder (widget), panel or shelf. Is that correct? Every time I have tried the icon goes under the folder, panel or shelf. (This can't be done right?) So is there a way to say place a web browser icon on a side panel. When I try it always goes to the bottom panel. Is there no way to specify which panel that you want the web browser icon to go to?

You're correct that you can't have it both ways, yes. You can however change the size that all desktop icons use in the Folder View layout, in Desktop Settings > Display.

In terms of application icons in the panel - you certainly can have this. It is supported in one of two ways:
1) You drag the application from Kickoff's Application area to the panel - it will make a space allowing you to drop it in place.
2) With the application open, right click on it's entry in the Task Manager and tick "Show a Launcher When Not Running".

Thank-you finally got it to do.