IMHO, Ideally, creating icons to launch an application on a panel should go like this:

*) Dragging it from start menu to panel makes the launcher icon there
*) Dragging it from file manager to panel makes the launcher icon there
*) Dragging it from one panel to another should be easy, smooth, and WORK.
*) Right clicking on a panel has some easy option "add launch icon" where you can choose any icon that exists in the start menu
*) Right clicking on a launcher icon should provide options to change the image, application location, description, etc... (this works on some, on others not, in KDE, depending on which inconsistent widget is used in the panel).

None of the above properly works. Furthermore, I find the following problems with adding icons:

*) The start menu has an option "Add to panel" at each launcher icon, BUT, this adds it to the WRONG PANEL for me, and doesn't provide any option to choose which panel!
*) Dragging from start menu doesn't work.
*) Confusingly, the panels have two different ways of having launch icons: A widget called "Quick launch" that is extremely confusing, not handy at all (can't even edit options of a single launch icon to change it), and, loose icons. Neither of them is handy.
*) Depending on which type of launcher icon it is, sometimes it can be moved with the left mouse button, other times it requires to use the confusing "Panel Tool Box" mode to be able to drag it around. In KDE 3.5 it was middle mouse dragging. So it requires always a lot of experimentation in KDE to discover how to move them around again in this or that variant.

I think KDE needs to do some work to make this much handier and consistent.

In KDE 3.5 it worked perfect.

Aardwolf wrote:*) Dragging it from start menu to panel makes the launcher icon there

Works here.

*) Dragging it from file manager to panel makes the launcher icon there

Works.

*) Dragging it from one panel to another should be easy, smooth, and WORK.

It works, but I agree that it could be smoother.

*) Right clicking on a panel has some easy option "add launch icon" where you can choose any icon that exists in the start menu

I disagree. Why should icons be treated differently from other widgets? Having the Quicklaunch widget provide this option is fine though, since that's what it's for - showing icons. The panel can hold all kind of widgets.

Oh by the way, this is just my personal opinion - it doesn't necessary reflect what the developers think.

*) The start menu has an option "Add to panel" at each launcher icon, BUT, this adds it to the WRONG PANEL for me, and doesn't provide any option to choose which panel!

It adds it to the panel where the start menu is, no? I haven't tried this option much, but that's what I would expect.

*) Dragging from start menu doesn't work.

It does, at least in >= 4.4. It works like other widgets, so unlock your widgets first and try to drop on an empty space (i.e. not on the taskbar or similar widget).

*) Confusingly, the panels have two different ways of having launch icons: A widget called "Quick launch" that is extremely confusing, not handy at all (can't even edit options of a single launch icon to change it), and, loose icons. Neither of them is handy.

Well, the same applies to the desktop: you can have icon widgets, or Folder View widget(s) to display icons. You can even set Folder View as you desktop type.

I agree that it's confusing at first, especially if you think of icons as something special. Try to think in this way: everything on the desktop/panel is widgets. So how can we have icons? Simple. Either we have a widget that displays the icon picture (and possibly name), and do something when clicked. Or, we can have a widget that can "contain" icons, such as Folder View and Quicklaunch. And that leads to the next statement...

*) Depending on which type of launcher icon it is, sometimes it can be moved with the left mouse button, other times it requires to use the confusing "Panel Tool Box" mode to be able to drag it around. In KDE 3.5 it was middle mouse dragging. So it requires always a lot of experimentation in KDE to discover how to move them around again in this or that variant.

If you want to move a widget on the panel, you have to access the panel toolbox first. But the panel doesn't particularly care about what happens "inside" a widget. For example, tasks in the taskbar can appear and disappear without you having to access the panel toolbox first. You can even order the tasks if you use Sorting: Manually in the options.

In the same way, you can move around icons inside the Quicklaunch widget. However, if you want to move the actual widget, you have to use the panel toolbox. Makes sense?

Makes a bit of sense indeed, once you know the things behind it...

I wonder why dragging from one panel to another, and start menu to a panel, don't work for me though.

Do drag it from the panel, you have to click on the panel toolbox first (you want to "move" the widget, right?). However, I just tried this, and it seems to be dropped on the desktop automatically. You can drag it from there to the other panel, but again, this could be much better in my opinion.

Which start menu do you use? I tried to drag from Kickoff, the default application launcher in most distros, and it worked fine. Try to drag to an empty panel if it still doesn't work.

Hans wrote:

Aardwolf wrote:

*) Confusingly, the panels have two different ways of having launch icons: A widget called "Quick launch" that is extremely confusing, not handy at all (can't even edit options of a single launch icon to change it), and, loose icons. Neither of them is handy.

Well, the same applies to the desktop: you can have icon widgets, or Folder View widget(s) to display icons. You can even set Folder View as you desktop type.

I agree that it's confusing at first, especially if you think of icons as something special. Try to think in this way: everything on the desktop/panel is widgets. So how can we have icons? Simple. Either we have a widget that displays the icon picture (and possibly name), and do something when clicked. Or, we can have a widget that can "contain" icons, such as Folder View and Quicklaunch. And that leads to the next statement...

I just searched quite a while for how to add a "Launch App Icon" to the panel, and i finally ended adding a app from the menu and editing it to have the icon and command i want.

Then i stumbled over this thread.

There is one "Quick launch" Widget, but the description says "Launch your favourite Applications". This is clearly not what i want.

There is a "Favourite App Launcher", a "Launcher to start Applications" (with Favourite Apps on the first Page) a "Traditional Menu Based Application Launcher" (where Favourite Apps are in a submenu on the bottom).

I looked for something like "Button", "Icon", ... for launching one single / specific / custom App.

After reading the above 2-3 times i did try this "Quick launch" thing expecting i would have mistaken the Launch your favourite Applications" thing and realized that i have not. this is a nice thing tough and i will maybe use it but what i looked for was the "Launcher to start Applications" which i assumed would be the new Kickoff-Style Application Launcher ... (Which leads to the question: where is the Kickoff Style Application Launcher if this is not it?)

The kickoff-style application launcher is just called "Application Launcher".

Leaving all explanations aside about internal workings and technical reasons for there being multiple ways to add icons.

Just look at the user standpoint.

I want to easily have an icon to launch an application in my taskbar. Why is it so hard and confusing in KDE 4? It wasn't hard in 3.5, and it isn't hard in Windows.

Simply opening the Application Launcher and dragging the desired application to the panel should be sufficient.