Hi everyone. After reading this blog some time ago (http://vizzzion.org/blog/2015/02/killin ... one-right/) I started to think about the "cashew" and why people want to disable it. I personally never use it. It just sits in my corner, and remains untouched. However, since its purpose, according to the article is to reduce the amount of hidden features, I think it could be improved and turned into a useful tool.

The problem:
- Several very useful hidden features in Plasma. For example krunner, yakuake (it's an application, but I use it so much that I wish it were a default part of plasma), activities*.
-The cashew doesn't provide an easy way to interact with those, thus falling short on its goal.


*Activities are not hidden. Most distros include by default a plasmoid on the panel to access them. However, the way we access them is not optimal. We click on an icon on the panel and a big bar on the left side of the screen pops up, regardless of the position of the widget on the panel. It could be on the right edge of the panel and the bar would still pop up on the left. It's the only thing that works this way in plasma AFAIK. When you click on any other plasmoid, there is a "popup" (don't know what to call it) appearing directly from the icon. This is a very logical and expected behaviour.

A possible solution/enhancement:

-Extending the cashew so that activities, krunner, and maybe apps like yakuake are accessible from it.
-Maybe even providing a way to add new entries to the "cashew toolbox".

It could look something like this:









https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing

This could be another idea:





https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing

Initial reaction:
I like it! That's an awesome idea!

A more reflected reaction:
While I like the idea, isn't this going to make the cashew even larger? And while the new functions seem useful, they will only be available when the desktop area is visible. Unless we're gonna make this an always-on-top thing?

Final thoughts (for this post):
Isn't the essence of this idea to turn the cashew into a mini-always-there-panel? Isn't this just another angle on the idea of only showing the cashew if all panels are already removed?

The idea is good, and the mockups look sweet, but I think this is the same discussion as before: Can we hide the cashew unless all panels have been removed?

veqz wrote:Initial reaction:
I like it! That's an awesome idea!

Thanks!

A more reflected reaction:
While I like the idea, isn't this going to make the cashew even larger? And while the new functions seem useful, they will only be available when the desktop area is visible. Unless we're gonna make this an always-on-top thing?

Yes, it would make it slightly larger, although I would argue that the functionality could be worth it. When windows cover it, there is always keyboard shortcuts like we have now, but it probably could be set up to appear on hover (?)

Final thoughts (for this post):
Isn't the essence of this idea to turn the cashew into a mini-always-there-panel? Isn't this just another angle on the idea of only showing the cashew if all panels are already removed?

The idea is good, and the mockups look sweet, but I think this is the same discussion as before: Can we hide the cashew unless all panels have been removed?

To me it seems clearer that the cashew affects desktop configuration if it is on its own. It could have the added benefit of removing right click menu entries like activities. Especially if it gets expanded in this way I fear it could clutter the panel too much. If it actually has useful functionality I don't know if it would bother people to have a little box in a corner. That said, I'm not against integrating the cashew with the panel. I'm just pointing out possible difficulties. I'm also fine with my idea not being implemented at all. It's just that, an idea for further discussion to try and solve a current issue.

veqz wrote:Initial reaction:
I like it! That's an awesome idea!

A more reflected reaction:
While I like the idea, isn't this going to make the cashew even larger?

It is not any larger than having it out of the corner when it displays the word "Desktop", for example. There could also be the option of still having it stuck in the corner as a cashew.

What I don't like is that it don't look like a panel or a plasmoid. but go ahead.

andreas_k wrote:What I don't like is that it don't look like a panel or a plasmoid. but go ahead.

True, although the current cashew doesn't look like a plasmoid or a panel either.

I think cashew should display, when mouse are in corner. Once clicked, there should be also option called "click".

I believe the cashew belongs in the same category as the activities bar, and krunner. They are not widgets or panels. It could be integrated into the panel, although if we consider the cashew a different element, that doesn't make much sense to me. I believe we should be able to move it from corner to corner, like now, and that the elements it interacts with should adapt to its position on the screen. But I don't think that there is anything to gain by not placing it on a corner, and it would make it harder to keep consistency with my proposed ideas. Also, I think there should be an option to display/hide the current activity name.

Since I don't want to spam this thread with images I'll just post the links to the mockups:

Cashew:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing

Krunner:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing

Activities:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing

Yakuake:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing

I like that idea. Give it some functionality that it really needs if the intention is to maintain it.
I would create an option to make it invisible unless invoked by a macro (Ctrl-F, or Superbar-F for example), or by hovering over it.

veqz wrote:Initial reaction:
Final thoughts (for this post):
Isn't the essence of this idea to turn the cashew into a mini-always-there-panel? Isn't this just another angle on the idea of only showing the cashew if all panels are already removed?

The idea is good, and the mockups look sweet, but I think this is the same discussion as before: Can we hide the cashew unless all panels have been removed?

I do agree with veqz here: Your idea basically turns the "cashew" into a small panel with a fixed set of Plasmoids.
While I do like the functionality, it makes more sense to me to realize it with the features Plasma already provides, instead of introducing a new one: The container should be a panel, and all elements in it should be Plasmoids. That way, users can do with at as they please. They can integrate the elements into other panels, they can add other Plasmoids to that panel in the corner any way they like, and they can move the panel to any position they like.

My suggestion therefore would be to turn the settings icon into a Plasmoid (which would be automatically added to the desktop if the panel containing it is removed) and add a new, narrow, auto-hide panel to the default setup which contains this plasmoid as well as the Search and Launch Plasmoid (which currently does less things than KRunner, but if I understood Vishesh correctly the plan is to merge the two anyway).
Did I miss some feature in your proposal which could not be realied with current Plasma panels and Plasmoids?

Having the "Cashew Panel" behave differently from other panels would introduce unnecessary complexity, as users would have to learn what that panel can do that others can't, and vice versa.

colomar wrote:

veqz wrote:Initial reaction:
Final thoughts (for this post):
Isn't the essence of this idea to turn the cashew into a mini-always-there-panel? Isn't this just another angle on the idea of only showing the cashew if all panels are already removed?

The idea is good, and the mockups look sweet, but I think this is the same discussion as before: Can we hide the cashew unless all panels have been removed?

I do agree with veqz here: Your idea basically turns the "cashew" into a small panel with a fixed set of Plasmoids.
While I do like the functionality, it makes more sense to me to realize it with the features Plasma already provides, instead of introducing a new one: The container should be a panel, and all elements in it should be Plasmoids. That way, users can do with at as they please. They can integrate the elements into other panels, they can add other Plasmoids to that panel in the corner any way they like, and they can move the panel to any position they like.

My suggestion therefore would be to turn the settings icon into a Plasmoid (which would be automatically added to the desktop if the panel containing it is removed) and add a new, narrow, auto-hide panel to the default setup which contains this plasmoid as well as the Search and Launch Plasmoid (which currently does less things than KRunner, but if I understood Vishesh correctly the plan is to merge the two anyway).
Did I miss some feature in your proposal which could not be realied with current Plasma panels and Plasmoids?

Having the "Cashew Panel" behave differently from other panels would introduce unnecessary complexity, as users would have to learn what that panel can do that others can't, and vice versa.

I'm all for reducing complexity. If it can be achieved turning the cashew into a plasmoid that would be great. I didn't realise that you could adjust panels this way. Which brings me to my next point: panel configuration is a little too complicated. It might be worth it to start a thread about it.

Possible difficulties/thoughts with the plasmoid route as things stand now:

-Unintuitive panel configuration

-Panel should automatically expand/contract as items are added/removed (if the default setup continues like until now with the cashew on its own)

-If widgets are unlocked and cashew is in the main panel, possible confusion between cashew and panel configuration.

- Search and launch is not on feature parity with krunner yet.

-When they are on feature parity, if search and launch is present, alt+space should toggle the widget, and not bring krunner up from the top of the screen.

- When clicking Search and launch, "krunner" pops up from it. IMO the desired behaviour would be that when you click on it, the widget expands into a search bar (inside the panel, like in some of my mockups).

-Possible difficulties keeping action/reaction logical. For example: the activities widget is on the far right edge of my panel. I click on it, and the activities overview appears on the far left. Ideally, the activities overview should react to the widget's location, so that we have a logical flow. I click on this icon, it brings this up right in the area my cursor is.

Now that I think about it, if we turn the cashew into a plasmoid, why not turn the activities overview into a plasmoid as well? That way we can place it wherever we want.



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSEgM ... sp=sharing


....And if Yakuake was turned into a plasmoid as well it would be awesome.

pedrorodriguez wrote:Now that I think about it, if we turn the cashew into a plasmoid, why not turn the activities overview into a plasmoid as well? That way we can place it wherever we want.

Interesting idea! Keep in mind, though, that the Activity Switcher can also be invoked by a shortcut. That, and there might be a ton of other things that have to be taken into consideration which we're not aware of yet. We'd have to discuss that with Ivan Cukic, who probably knows more about Activities than anybody else.

colomar wrote:

pedrorodriguez wrote:Now that I think about it, if we turn the cashew into a plasmoid, why not turn the activities overview into a plasmoid as well? That way we can place it wherever we want.

Interesting idea! Keep in mind, though, that the Activity Switcher can also be invoked by a shortcut. That, and there might be a ton of other things that have to be taken into consideration which we're not aware of yet. We'd have to discuss that with Ivan Cukic, who probably knows more about Activities than anybody else.

Of course. But if there is no technical difficulty, we could have a plasmoid for activities, one for the cashew and one for krunner. In case they are not present, that functionality would still be accessible via keyboard shortcut. If they are present, the keyboard shortcut should trigger the widget.