I have some Rows setup under System Settings > Desktop Behavior > Virtual Desktops.

Each Row has one Desktop under it (can you also explain the concept of rows vs desktops?). The first row desktop is called "Desktop 1". Each subsequent row's desktop is called "New Desktop".

I can only remove each desktop with an icon on the right side, and nothing else.

Is there a way to rename them? I need a simple count (1, 2, 3, etc). Existing default names don't help much (I have the indicator displayed when switching between rows/desktops).

Also: are there any improvements available for the desktop layout indicator? A long time ago when I was using Compiz I remember I had a much more useful indicator, I don't remember precisely but it may have shown a preview of each desktop windows.

Is there a way to have a dynamic number of rows/desktops (like in Gnome shell)?

First of all: see the red text in my signature...

System Settings -> Workspace -> Workspace Behavior -> Virtual Desktops: If you hover on the individual Desktop, there is a pen icon on the right that allows you to rename the desktop.
The rows can be set individually, you can also choose just one row if you prefer. I have 4 Desktops, 2 in each row, named to my needs.

I thought I saw my config being pulled automatically in my user profile, but I guess I've seen it wrong I can't find it now, maybe it was on bugs.kde.

I'm on:
KUbuntu 19.10
Plasma: 5.16.5
Qt: 5.12.4

My settings path seems a bit different, but I get to the Virtual Desktops in the end:



I only see a Remove button, and nothing else to do when I hover a Desktop.

That's why I didn't think to include versions info, it seems it's like that by design, and I'm missing some concepts knowledge here.

When I was setting up the Cube and other desktop animations I saw that it only worked if I added more rows. I could add more desktops but I didn't see any ways of activating them, or using them.

I'm new to KDE, I'm a long-time Gnome shell user, with a bunch of KDE apps of course

____________
BTW Amarok has been my favorite player for years, I'm sad to see it's been replaced.

Do you happen to have any insight on this: Does it make sense that GIMP won't take a screenshot if KWin is down? I was able to take the screenshot with Spectacle, including the correct pointer shape I could only do that with GIMP before.

I wonder if your theming is missing or otherwise hiding the Edit icon? Perhaps try mousing over a little bit to the left of the Delete icon, and see if the tooltip shows, as it does in my image, else try switching to a different theme and see if it shows there. If the icon is missing or broken, you might be able to click where it is supposed to be, and rename the desktop.

@claydoh wow yes that was it!

I can hover over that area next to the remove icon and I can see the tooltip for Rename! And I can click there and activate the Edit mode. So the icon is there, only invisible.

I was hovering over the desktop name, trying to highlight it or F2, I completely missed to test that area on the right, because I couldn't see anything there.

I'll need to find out which part of themeing is controling this and find a better one.

Do you know which level that is on? I noticed a lot of other usability problems on KDE theming, I didn't expect it to be so fragile. For example the order of the buttons, is that Application theme level, or general level, or Workspace theme level?

Is there anything I can do about the cases that I noticed aren't good? I can adjust existing themes if there's a tutorial on how it works.

Just a guess, but I think it's probably the Icon theme (missing the icon for editing); though you can also try switching the Application theme to see if one of the others always displays the button backgrounds (suggest to try out some of the more "primitive" ones like CDE, Windows or Motif).

Thank you airdrik yes, it was the icon theme.

I wouldn't expect Humanity or Ubuntu-Mono-Light to have that problem.

mihaela-prkos wrote:Thank you airdrik yes, it was the icon theme.

I wouldn't expect Humanity or Ubuntu-Mono-Light to have that problem.

Not really surprising, as those are not native Plasma made themes.

I chose Humanity to make it easier for me to transition from GNOME. And I thought it was a professional and polished icon theme that wouldn't have icons missing.

Why include them as a choice if it's anticipated they won't work well together?

There's a lot of overlap between made-for-plasma and made-for-gnome icon themes, with many icon themes supporting both to varying degrees. It isn't really cut-and-dry whether a given icon theme fully supports one or the other desktop without examining the theme or trusting if the author indicated that it works for one or the other or both.
So for the most part you just need to try different themes and see which ones fit and suit your tastes the best.

re-naming 'virtual desktops' is MISSING in 5.1x, period.
You can, as I've had to, edit ~/(dot).config/kwinrc changing default names ('number=4' or 'Name_4=New Desktop') to what ever..
here is my desktop section:

Code: Select all

[Desktops]
Id_1=[id removed by me]
..
Id_4=[id removed by me]
Name_1=System
Name_2=инет
Name_3=media
[rename default]
Number=4
[to what you want]
Name_4=фото
Rows=2

Save and Restart computer/kde session
Landis.