I know thi sis mockup by Nitrux but i think this is good solution for Kde and good design

My idea is simple
I thought about how it could be implemented by default, without revolutionizing the interface, I thought of an "activity devoted to this, but perhaps it would be even better if it could work as Yakuake, F12 or another key dedicated to make it appear and disappear from the desktop, with animation-down menu.
You could also improve the appearance of rss feeds, similar to Metro Style or similar to the HTC Blinckfeed, this would be very useful and similar to the pull-down menu of Android.
Crazy idea?
What do you think?

Sooo, did you really use this setup and tested it on usability, flexibility whatever? Or do you just like the design on the picture?

Because such designs often make a nice impression on screenshots, but in real life usage they can be utter cra.p, sadly

Nuc!eoN wrote:Sooo, did you really use this setup and tested it on usability, flexibility whatever? Or do you just like the design on the picture?

Because such designs often make a nice impression on screenshots, but in real life usage they can be utter cra.p, sadly

I've only seen the pictures, but I think it's something Nitrux Os, this maybe Uri Herrera can say something more. I have not tried it, and I thought well I coem to use it, in fact why I proposed something like Yakuake, or as a drop-down menu of Android, that is always hidden but that appears when you want a key, as well as being very beautiful it would also be very useful
This of course, just an idea starting to change how you think is best

A few thoughts:

* weather needs to be configured before it can be displayed; also I generally find "current temperature and weather" to be close to the most useless information you can present, especially in this size
* RAM / CPU / Storage displays are also too prominent -- they're not that interesting
* Social media I don't use much, can't judge this
* Having mail and recent documents listed sounds like a good idea, same with the todo list. Just give them more space maybe.

Greetings!

As one can see from scummos' comment, information needs are a very individual thing. Some people want big weather widgets (though I guess those are only so popular in screenshots and demos because they both look nice and show information people can easily recognize), others find them useless. Some do a lot with social networks, others don't. I, for example, have CPU, RAM, network and disc activity monitors always visible on my desktop, whereas others may only look at them very rarely.
Therefore, for this, a default configuration can only be a suggestion, which then has to be adaptable by the user.

Actually, we already have something very similar in Plasma Active. It's called "Widget Strip" and it's an application which just shows a containment in which you can place Plasmoids (Plasma widgets).
With that, you could recreate what lazyIT suggested (though it would have to be tweaked a bit to allow more freedom in layout than it does right now, and it would have to be made so that it can be brought up with a shortcut. That's all doable with the technology we have, though.

One thing I've been thinking about, wouldn't it be possible to install Plasma Active as another form of Plasma Desktop environment? I know I did a half-baked-google for it a while back and struck out, but does anyone know?

The mockup is simply to show "Well the Dashboard can show this much information", by default it wouldn't display everything all at once, that should be configurable by the user.

Another thing is that there's stuff like CPU, RAM, Weather information in it because I don't like widgets on the desktop, to me a clock is as much as a widget on a desktop should be and I would rather have them in a central place with other information like that than have them cluttering the desktop. And this is why there's a separator in the middle, the left side is for widgets and the right side for notifications/recent documents.

To understand the whole UI all the screenshots must be taken into account to bring context.

I don't like widgets on the desktop

Ain't that the truth...

Widgets are a brilliant idea to create flexibility but they are also something that plays merry hell with everything else. But, and this can't be stated strongly enough - they are a liked feature and as such nothing that can just be swept away. BUT considering the flexibility of Plasma wouldn't a secondary desktop layout based on your mockups Uri be possible? We could, in theory even make a desktop version that is hard-set in a certain way (essentially "choose this if you like, but it will be set like this" thing to minimize stuff breaking with all the flexibility)

jensreuterberg wrote:

I don't like widgets on the desktop

Ain't that the truth...

Widgets are a brilliant idea to create flexibility but they are also something that plays merry hell with everything else. But, and this can't be stated strongly enough - they are a liked feature and as such nothing that can just be swept away. BUT considering the flexibility of Plasma wouldn't a secondary desktop layout based on your mockups Uri be possible? We could, in theory even make a desktop version that is hard-set in a certain way (essentially "choose this if you like, but it will be set like this" thing to minimize stuff breaking with all the flexibility)

Well the Plasma Next screenshots I've seen are very much like that, I mean, no widgets and simple interfaces.

However, one of the reasons why I posted the mockup, is that in reality, it seems to me one of the best examples of applied design in Plasma, ch emi suggests that even if it were feasible it all together, making sure the 'idea of how many Plasmoids current, with a touch of good design could be much better than now.
Also, I'd add, all the exceptions that I read above, which of course, this hypothetical panel may be configured to mount, with the most diverse, ch, and the user can choose according to what you prefer. There are some menu in full screen, I can think of a Homerun ch econ can design might include some of these things. In addition to the social part of this you could set up directly from the KCM Online Account, Or even you could show the contacts of the most widely used Thelepathy etc..

Uri_Herrera wrote:The mockup is simply to show "Well the Dashboard can show this much information", by default it wouldn't display everything all at once, that should be configurable by the user.

Another thing is that there's stuff like CPU, RAM, Weather information in it because I don't like widgets on the desktop, to me a clock is as much as a widget on a desktop should be and I would rather have them in a central place with other information like that than have them cluttering the desktop. And this is why there's a separator in the middle, the left side is for widgets and the right side for notifications/recent documents.

To understand the whole UI all the screenshots must be taken into account to bring context.

Yes, that's pretty much what I meant (sorry if I didn't explain it clearly)! So, was this just a mockup of an idea or have you already implemented it (and if so, with which technology)?

jensreuterberg wrote:One thing I've been thinking about, wouldn't it be possible to install Plasma Active as another form of Plasma Desktop environment? I know I did a half-baked-google for it a while back and struck out, but does anyone know?

No need to strike it out, since that's exactly the plan! Plasma Next already has the technical capabilities to easily swap out Plasma Desktop / Active / Netbook / Whateverwecomeupwithnext depending on e.g. whether your convertible is in laptop or tablet mode. The only reason why this isn't possible yet is that Plasma Active hasn't been ported to Plasma Next yet, but as soon as that will be done, you will be able to switch between them at runtime!

colomar wrote:Yes, that's pretty much what I meant (sorry if I didn't explain it clearly)! So, was this just a mockup of an idea or have you already implemented it (and if so, with which technology)?

It's a mockup (so far), though this is a redesigned mockup of a previous idea for the Dashboard. It should be doable with QML.

The design at the beginning would probably make more sense if you are dealing with a menu like Ubuntu's that drops down and takes a bigger section of the screen. But having something like that by default would probably seem impractical. What about people who like seeing their wallpaper? Others that want their desktop free of information? others that want to add different widgets? I think the better approach would be to present a very stripped down desktop that offers possibilities to be changed.

anditosan wrote:The design at the beginning would probably make more sense if you are dealing with a menu like Ubuntu's that drops down and takes a bigger section of the screen. But having something like that by default would probably seem impractical. What about people who like seeing their wallpaper? Others that want their desktop free of information? others that want to add different widgets? I think the better approach would be to present a very stripped down desktop that offers possibilities to be changed.

Just FYI, this is the complete gallery (http://deviantn7k1.deviantart.com/gallery/46012410). The desktop only has a panel visible, the widget selection should be configurable like I said in the posts above.

It should be mentioned that I've mulled around the same ideas personally.

The issue right now is that for good or ill - Plasma is very configurable and every distro tend to ship it as-is with every extension under the sun turned on by default which hardly was the idea.
Within that lies an issue with use cases - from a design perspective assuming a desktop is "for everyone" essentially means the same as saying "it's for no one" and trying to cater equally to both power users as casual uses means that you've simply made everything that much more complex for casual users and haven't empowered power users at all since they are capable of handling rc-files etc.

Now for Plasma that's brilliant. Thats half the idea - "here have a massive toolbox". But when that toolbox is included in every version of Plasma (and I consider for example Plasma in Linux Mint to be one version, Plasma in Kubuntu another, Opensuse, Fedora another etc) this becomes an issue in the class of the "KDE vs Plasma" debacle. For those of you not up to speed on that it's the issue that Plasma is the desktop that is being made by us - the KDE community and not the whole KDE-experience as it where.

What Uri's mockup is is a brilliant example of what Plasma CAN be. Same as projects like KlyDE these are projects that push everything forward.

Personally (and this is me as me not me as project lead) I would love to, once Plasma Next is out the door - really dig in deep with "what the desktop could be". Basing the desktop on ideas like use cases where you aim not at "everyone" but specific user groups. Because this is what design is - not just adding new things but more importantly deciding whats NOT to be added and whats to be removed.

But for me - that will come some time in the future in which case I hope that the same lovelly energy found in these forums can be applied to that project.