It may be widespread terminology now, but I think "Virtual Desktops" is an absolutely terrible name which does not describe the functionality in Plasma 5 accurately. A better name for this feature would be "Multiple Workspaces".

Firstly, there are problems with the word "Desktops". When you select to add another "Desktop"(sic) you do not actually add another desktop at all! Whilst you may have added a new workspace (i.e. a new set of arranged windows), there actually still is only a single Desktop (in Plasma the latter is either as a widget dashboard or a folder view pointing to ~/Desktop). When you add a "new desktop" (sic) in Plasma 5 there is still only one set of widgets, and only one ~/Desktop folder. The set of windows which I have called a "workspace" is a completely separate concept to the "Desktop" and it makes no sense that these two completely separate concepts to have been conflated.

Secondly, the word "virtual" has little descriptive meaning. Surely, all computer desktops are "virtual" anyway? What makes having workspace 2 more "virtual" than workspace 1? Simply calling it "Multiple Workspaces" has a much clearer and more descriptive meaning than "Virtual Workspaces".

Also I think the following system setting would be better named "Workspace Behaviour":


And why is there a setting called "Desktop Effects"? What have these effects got to do with the "desktop" in particular?:

Why not call that subsection just "Effects" or, more specifically, "Graphical Effects"?

Hmm, "Virtual Desktop" has been the word for that though for 20 years now. Changing it has similar implications like changing the "Save" icon to not display a floppy disk any more, in my personal opinion ... it makes it much harder to find for all the people who already know the old name.

scummos wrote:Hmm, "Virtual Desktop" has been the word for that though for 20 years now. Changing it has similar implications like changing the "Save" icon to not display a floppy disk any more, in my personal opinion ... it makes it much harder to find for all the people who already know the old name.

I realise the terminology has been around a while, but it is an extremely confusing name that is using the same word "desktop" to refer to a completely different concept altogether. Perhaps in other implementations there may have been more than one actual desktop (i.e. the desktop as pointed to by ~/Desktop on normal DEs - see how ambiguous this has made the word "desktop"?) , but that is not the case in Plasma 5.

I think "Multiple Workspaces" is a pretty self-explanatory (vs. your example of an icon which isn't as straightforward as text). Existing users would still have the "Virtual Desktop" "Pager" (also a strange name -- already non-standard and Plasma-specific!) widget controls on their panels in exactly the same place (there is usually just an icon with no text by default in many distros), so the user would not generally be interacting with a control that looks any different, with the only noticeable difference being the tooltip and configuration strings (usually accessed by right-clicking on this "Pager" panel widget).

A main advantage in changing it is that it becomes less confusing to new and future users (including those yet to be born) -- remember the vast majority of computer users will not have used "virtual desktops" at all, with it being generally considered a "power user" feature (cf your "save" icon example which virtually all computer users need to be familiar with). I know I would certainly disable "virtual desktops" if I were to install Plasma on my relatives' machines (which I intend to do once the state of polish is enough ) as it is just too confusing. "Power users" also tend to keep up with changes in computing.

20 years may be a long time in computing but in the grand scheme of history it is not very long.

I've seen the term "workspace" refer to a space inside a particular application - Eclipse, for example, uses the term. Changing the term 'virtual desktops' would introduce ambiguity and cause great confusion. Everyone knows what a virtual desktop is.

aunrau wrote:Everyone knows what a virtual desktop is.

That's a rather bold statement to make. I doubt most computer users, or any of my relatives would know what it is, as it's a minority power-user feature. Every time I look at this feature after not using for a while I have to check myself whether indeed there are actually multiple desktops or not (there are not).

aunrau wrote:Changing the term 'virtual desktops' would introduce ambiguity and cause great confusion.

No it wouldn't as it would be a distinct new term which actually describes the functionality literally. "Virtual desktops" doesn't describe the feature at all. Plasma is already multiply ambiguous with itself by describing what is normally pointed to by ~/Desktop as a "Desktop", the environment as a "Desktop" and this completely unrelated feature as "virtual desktop"!

aunrau wrote:I've seen the term "workspace" refer to a space inside a particular application - Eclipse, for example, uses the term.

My term was actually "Multiple Workspaces" which is a different term altogether. "Workspace" is a term already used by Plasma, so if your example were so confusing then that would already be the case. I think the user can distinguish between the context of a term when used in the Plasma System Settings and a term when used in the window of a 3rd party application. It is more important that Plasma is not ambiguous with itself (which it is).

On the one hand I like the idea to rename Virtual Desktops to Multiple Workspaces.
On the other hand, there seems to be a push toward using Activities instead of Virtual Desktops for workspace management. As currently implemented Activities manage not just windows but also desktop widgets/icons/backgrounds, sessions, files (i.e. you can have files associated with different Activities, and virtual folders are provided which list them); intending to make each Activity its own distinct workspace (session), with Virtual Desktops just being extra real estate for your windows within an Activity.

Perhaps (Multiple) Workspaces might work as an alternative/new name for Activities? (possibly with another name chosen for Virtual Desktops). This may have been discussed a few times before in the forums.