I'm including screenshots because it's much easier to show what I'm talking about than to try to explain it!

Before upgrading to KDE 4.x (I'm now on 4.2), I had my taskbar highly customized and I want the same functionality now, but can't seem to make it work. Here's what it used to look like:



.

This next screenshot is of an entire desktop because I also have some non-taskbar related questions.

.



Okay, so my questions are:

[SOLVED] 1) How do I put menus on the taskbar? I'm lost without that functionality! The icons you see in my current taskbar (the second screenshot) are for SINGLE items, whereas the ones I pointed to in my old taskbar (first screenshot) were MENUS that each contained a bunch of single items. (EDIT: Solved thanks to TheBlackCat's suggestion #1c.)

2) I've deduced that right now we don't have separate wallpapers for each desktop, correct? Any idea when that will be put back? I HATE having each desktop's wallpaper the same because it makes it hard to distinguish which desktop I'm looking at.

3) I can't find a wifi signal strength meter like the one I used to have in my taskbar. Am I just not seeing it? I've installed every single wireless-related meter I can find in Synaptic but still don't have one like before.

Also, the one I have now ALWAYS displays at 50%--in KDE. If I switch to Gnome (which I don't like!), it displays at 100%.

4) I cannot figure out WHICH font setting to change to make the desktop names (in the pager) more visible. The only reason I'm using my current theme is because it's the ONLY one that displays the names at all, and they're way too faint.

[SOLVED] 5) I can no longer [automatically] arrange my desktop icons horizontally across the top--which is my preferred placement. Is there a setting I'm not seeing? (EDIT: Yes, there was a setting I wasn't seeing!)

6) I can't find a weather applet that resides in the taskbar--and doesn't take up a lot of room, like my old one.

7) How do I change the date format under the clock? I want it in MM/DD/YY format.

Whew! That's a lot of questions! :-O I'll be grateful for any input/guidance.

I don't know about all of your questions, but I should be able to help with some. Starting from the left:

1. To put menus on the taskbar, there are three options:
a. put a folderview on the panel. Have the folderview point to the folder you are looking for. If you want it to point to a program menu, use the "applications:" kioslave. A way to figure it out is to put the lancelot menu on your taskbar or desktop, then drag the menu you want from lancelot to the taskbar. A menu will pop up showing "lancelot part", "folder view", or "icon". Click folderview (clicking lancelot will not work). Note that there cannot be sub-menu within the menu you want, or else they will launch dolphin when you click on them. You can also launch dolphin or konqueror, get the editable location bar if you are in dolphin, then type "applications:" (no quotes) to find the folder you want. The advantage of this technique is you can change the icon.

b. put a lancelot part on your desktop. Drag the menu you want from lancelot to the part. Then drag the part from your desktop to your taskbar. The advantage of this technique is that it uses the lancelot no-click functionality. This also doesn't support sub-menus (yet). For some reason dragging directly from lancelot to the taskbar gives me an empty lancelot part, and I can drag from lancelot to a part already on the taskbar. Hence the more roundabout approach I suggest here. It may work better for you.

c. The ideal solution for me is to use quickacces, since it supports sub-menus and custom icons, but it does not support the applications kio slave so you can only use it with real file folders. It is possible to create your own folders with links to the applications you want, but this is a hassle.

2. To have a different desktop per folder, you can use the "per desktop activity" hidden option. Search the forum for how to enable the option, I don't know because I do not use it. It will be available more easily in version 4.3. I do not think the pager will display the desktop background no matter what you do. You could consider submitting a wishlist for this if there isn't one already.

3. Try "wifi signal strength meter", or "System Monitor - Network" and disable all but the wlan network you want. I am not sure what your original meter looked like so I can't say whether either of these are similar.

4. not sure about this one.

5. Are you using the folderview version of the desktop? You could always use the default desktop and make one wide folderview stretching across the top of the screen. I have a wide folder view stretching across the bottom in order to guarantee a horizontal arrangement.

6. Try the "weather forecast" widget.

7. Use the "Adjustable Clock" plasmoid. You can also set the "Date Format" to be the same as "Short Date Format" in personal-setting -> regional and language -> time and date, but this will affect the entire system and not just the clock

TheBlackCat, thank you so much for your very thoughtful response. I'm still looking it over, but wanted to report back that I solved #5--there WAS a setting I wasn't seeing! It's right there, plain as day, but since I had only just switched to 'folder view' yesterday, I guess I hadn't poked around with its settings enough before posting. Under Folder View Settings | Display | Arrange Icons there's a choice to display them left to right. Duh! :-O

I was incorrect, you can change the icon for the lancelot part as well.

Support for having individual menu sections is currently not available, even in trunk. You can have just your entire applications menu however. ( Application Launcher Menu > ALM Settings. set View to Applications )

It is possible, I did it. You have to use folderview or lancelot part but it is possible. The menu sections just can't have sub-menus, yet (I think the guy behind lancelot plans on implementing this).