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This idea is a part of my vision to make the KDE desktop more effective. It is inspired by Meego Harmattan and Gnome 3.

Rationals:
- A desktop workspace is usually covered of windows. The plasmoids are usually hidden, so not very usefull.
- Users rarely click on the "show desktop" icon to see informations provided by plasmoids.
- The "show desktop" icon is less known by users than the K icon.
- The browsing of the applications in the KDE menu (kickoff) requires many clicks.
- The quicklaunch plasmoid and the "show a launcher when not running" feature of the KDE taskbar decreases the interest of Kickoff's favorites panel. In order to access to the applications, the user must do an extra click or a movement to skip the favorite panel.

Solution:
- Show the plasmoids at the same time as the KDE menu, ie. when the user clicks on the K icon. This way, users can see the informations provided by the plasmoids at the same time as they search an application.
- Put the menu on the desktop instead of a panel and use the extra space to make it more effective. Provide a direct access to the installed applications.

I propose to create a new workspace divided in 3 columns.

The left column is used for display an application launcher (and eventually the desktop folder). This launcher shows categories. When a category is opened, applications of this category are displayed on a grid.
A prototype of this launcher can be downloaded here: https://gitorious.org/dal

The right column can be customize by users. It contains plasmoids that display different informations: the weather, calendar events, twitter, facebook, rss feeds etc

The central column is empty by default and is filled with window previews when the present effect is triggered (ie. when the user clicks on the K icon).



This mockup illustrates the workflow presented in this idea.

bugs:
A new workspace divided in three columns
A new present effect allowing interactions with the desktop