Seems if you make the panel bigger, the icons in the task manager start to match the size of the other icons on the panel. However, the icons do look stretched out. (But there seems to be a bug in the clock applet, where the time disappears after making the panel large enough... will report if I can make it show up consistently).

https://imgur.com/9Czp49q

You really like the win7 task bar that much? I guess what I was saying would be exactly like the the default task manager in Plasma 5, but without the words on running programs... Perhaps, the two task managers can finally be combined to give everyone what they want?

And wow, shortcuts on the original task manager do not seem to resize with the panel. Will file a report on that one later!

The default task manager is a bit different in the sense that the icons expand to icon+caption once you start the program? Can't test because I'm on the dark side atm. And yes, I do like the win7 taskbar that much. It was one of the reasons why I did not want to move to linux until I found the KDE icon-only-task manager.

Soukyuu wrote:The blue line could be replaced by a blue highlight, though not too saturated. Something like this?

I like this!

still no change?

https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/126373/

How do I change the color that ended up being chosen for that highlight background? I tried changing every blue color I found in the "color" menu in system settings, but the selection stubbornly stays blue nonetheless.

I normally increase the Task Manager height just so much that the system tray icons become two-rowed:

(some elements appear to be quite huge)

In this case I would find it visually more appealing if these task bar elements would change its size accordingly, e.g.:

(mockup)

gregormi wrote:I normally increase the Task Manager height just so much that the system tray icons become two-rowed:

(some elements appear to be quite huge)

In this case I would find it visually more appealing if these task bar elements would change its size accordingly, e.g.:

(mockup)

bug report?

andreas_k wrote:

gregormi wrote:I normally increase the Task Manager height just so much that the system tray icons become two-rowed:

bug report?

Which issue tracker is used for these kind of things?

https://bugs.kde.org/

Tracked here https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=358283

Related bug report:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=349411

For reference to anyone interested to have bigger icons on panel, read the latest comment of Eike in the above mentioned bug report:

There are no changes planned to this at this time - that's just a theme that needs fixing. The Breeze theme bugs mentioned in comment #7 got fixed since, I forgot to update the bug.

Can anyone tell me what lines of code need to be changed in theme to make icons bigger?

In my opinion there should be an option in task manager settings for this, as it was in Smooth task fork. I am sure it can be done. I suspect it is not done yet because developer don't give a damn about our complains. Default task manager in Plasma 5 could be much better if only developer wanted to make it as good as smooth task fork. I get angry when I realize that some personal preference of one person can have effect on the whole community of KDE users.
Yes, this is a complaint! I waited the whole frickin year for something to be done about it and no effect.

Eike, do you realize that most users are not programmers and they don't have time or skills to dig into each theme (every time they want to change a theme) to change code of the theme.
If now it is a theme issue then how about rethinking the premises of Plasma 5 theming from scratch.

Above all, it is not a problem of individual sense of what looks better, more beautiful but a problem of effective perceptivity of icons when user want to switch task. It is an important thing.

Does KDE care about accessibility issues? Some people are deaf and some have poor eyesight. Some people needs bigger icons to use computers effectively.

Edit:
I need to add that unlike in KDE4, for Plasma 5 there are no alternatives.

Unfortunately flupp is not keen on porting Smooth task fork to Plasma 5
Maybe if more people would ask him to do this. You can write here:
https://bitbucket.org/flupp/smooth-tasks-fork/issues/43/compile-against-kde5-fails

One more thing. I think it is a bigger issue than programming issue. It is also about how KDE is managed that for so long this issue wasn't effectively solved. User's voices were ignored. Shouldn't be such issues more widely discussed for example by opinion polls? After all every user "use" (look at) icons, so this is not a "niche feature" used by few.

Edit 2:
Can someone explain to me rationally why these pixel are left unused:
Plasma 5 Breeze Light Task manager
http://i.imgur.com/gB3qlUs.jpg

Plasma 5 Breeze Light Icons only Task manager
http://i.imgur.com/8WafAG3.jpg

Is it that difficult to do options:
http://i.imgur.com/5GrsYvI.png


Is it a programming sort of problem, developer lack of skills or lack of good will or they just like it and don't care? I don't understand this situation. I don't want to blame Eike, for sure I don't understand all nuances of programming Plasma 5, but hey were is KDE teamwork, were is discussion about it? Was it discussed at KDE meeting like Randa or something?

Edit 3:
I reported a bug for
regular Task manager
Bug 363878 - option to make icons bigger
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=363878

and Icons-only task manager
Bug 363879 - option to make icons bigger
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=363879

They are not about themes but precisely about task managers. No excuse for developers this time.

@apache: while I can understand your frustration about things being changed based solely on devs' opinion (like removing a feature that didn't work for the dev but worked for you and several others, for example), you shouldn't forget that this whole project is maintained by volunteers. This means that people work at whatever they want to work at. Which in turn means that if you really want to have a feature added, your best bet is to do it yourself, unless you are lucky and some dev shares your view on the matter. This is of course in stark contrast to the paid-for products, where you can expect something to be done (but usually get disappointed anyway).

Soukyuu wrote:this whole project is maintained by volunteers. This means that people work at whatever they want to work at.

But they don't do it for themselves? Do they? If anyone of them thinks that he/she do it for himself/herself it would be better if they keep for themselves.

I see it as a problem of KDE management. Lack of vision and coherency.

Besides KDE gets some sponsorship. Besides developers do it also to show their skills and be able to write about it on their CV's to get a paid job. That's why many projects are abandoned. Some of free software developers when they get paid job than they don't care any more about free software. So let's be realistic.

Perhaps developers should be more present on this forum, at least read it. This topic is old and I am not the only one that raised the issue.

And don't underestimate the fact that users need developers but developers need users to give feedback and ideas.

I am frustrated because I reported my fist bug against task manager, and you can see my intentions clearly because I wrote about options in other task managers. But it was reassign as a Breeze theme issue. I didn't understand what will be the consequence of this - that only Breeze will have a slightly bigger icons but without changes in task manager itself. Let's call it missunderstanding. I hope this time someone will add features to task manager.

But look at this
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=359077

Eike likes wide icon frames even on desktop icons and he says it. But why he decided that the way it was in KDE4 must be changed to his liking? If users have different preferences that means that there should be options. Options are what gives KDE the edge over other desktop environments.