-1

I've just used kde 4.2 (no updates, just kubuntu 9.04 default version). Right there i see the relation (or lack of it) between activities and virtual desktops very annoying. You must use activities if you want to have custom backgrounds (can't be done if you only use the virtual desktop system) but then there's no easy-to-use activity switcher (similar to desktop pager, and don't tell me you consider the activity bar a good replacement). Anyway, according to other posts it seems there's something like a link between virtual desktops and activities under development (partially integrated in SVN i think).

So the point is:
Once you have (for example) 4 virtual desktops the goal would be to have a set of activities (at least 4, of course) to establish each time. You can define.. 6 or 7, but there you will have only 4 active, one per virtual desktop. And of course if you use the ctrl + mouse wheel option to zoom out you will see only the "active" activities. This is the easy way to handle it.

Of course the best option would be merging both concepts in one (that's what i've called "virtual activities"). With this you can keep your cube looking as usual (4 sides, with "trully independent" desktops on each one, this is where kwin goes in), and with a "virtual activity" switcher also showing thumbnails of all "virtual activities". If you combine this with the activities' pool and a "virtual activities" manager (you can create activities, and even profiles (basically defines a set of 4 "active" "virtual activities") so you also can load a concrete profile at startup or change it easily) you get what i want.

I know there are a few ideas here, but i think you need to see the whole scenario to understand what i'm looking for

Regards

So if I've understood you, this is what you want:

1. Merge virtual desktops and activities. There'll be no way to separate them.
2. Have a activity switcher similar to pager.
3. Allow one to create a set of activities. You can then easily switch between different "sets".

Is this correct?

As for (1), you can archive the same thing by linking activities with desktops (as you noted). There will be a GUI for this in KDE 4.3.

By merging those two, you lose some functionality. What if someone just wants one desktop? Or there could be a person who has two monitors, and would like to switch the activity on one monitor but not the virtual desktop (since that would change the windows on the other screen too).

If you link virtual desktops and activities, you can change the activity with pager. If you have an idea on how to improve the current activity switcher, please post it as a separate idea.

As for (3), you'll be able to group activities with Plasma's Zooming User Interface (outdated page, but might give you an idea of how it could work). I don't think it'll work the way you suggested, though.

According to your idea, would the number of virtual desktops/activities be defined in each set, or will you simply get empty desktops if you have more virtual desktops than the set?

Please formulate your main idea to make it easier for users to understand what they're voting for. It'll also help us moderators to know if the idea already is implemented, has been done or won't be fixed etc.

Thanks for taking your time contributing to the community!

1. Merge virtual desktops and activities. There'll be no way to separate them.

You have 4 virtual desktops, but 10 activities "defined", so your desktops will have one of your activities linked. Want to switch the activity for a virtual desktop? Fine, do it. For example, at startup you had D1/A1, D2/A2, D3/A3 and D4/A4, but now you link D3 with A7. That's it, now A3 is inactive.
Of course you lose some functionality. In fact this tricky behaviour is just a way to reduce the complexity of the solution. A few questions here:
- What are the differences between both concepts? I mean, the activity groups a set of plasmoids, just trying to allow the user to switch between two tasks (maybe you were managing your files, but now you want to check www news, so probably your desktop needs will change, and this helps you a lot). But then you also switch from one (set of) app(s) to another, just like a virtual desktop does.. I really think both represent almost the same.
- Why can't I have a cube (assuming you have 4 sides) showing my activities? Probably because it should force a dependency between plasma and kwin, and that may be a bad idea in terms of code. Then i'm forced to use 2 really different control schemes, when I really want to do almost the same in both situations. You may call it a "context switching".
- Don't you like an intermediate solution, keeping the virtual desktop system as is (no kwin changes needed), but separating "active" and "inactive" activities? You'll have just 1 activity per virtual desktop at a time, but i don't see the problem here.

2. Have a activity switcher similar to pager.

You have your 4 "active" activities, and plasma can have a thumbnail of it. Then you can switch quickly (in the end having the same aspect as the virtual desktop switcher at kde 3.5.x). Want to change the activity from one virtual desktop (or forget it, mark one of those 4 as inactive, and reactivate #8 )? Launch the activities manager, and choose one of your activities. You can also save current/new config in a profile (maybe current, maybe a new one). Of course right here this manager will also have activities thumbnails, so it should help you to know who is who.

3. Allow one to create a set of activities. You can then easily switch between different "sets".

Set/Profile/Whatever. The name really doesn't matter. The goal? Easy switching, easy to manage, and a system that even allows you to load a certain profile/set at startup. Want to load certain config? Fine, go to $HOME/.kde/..../Autostart (or whatever name it has now) and there add a call/script that launches something like this:
activities-manager -load-profile "My preferred config"

I hope this helps a bit

Regards

Then 1. is pretty much implemented already, isn't it? You'll be able to link virtual desktops and activities in KDE 4.3 (you can already in 4.2.x, but that requires you to change a config file).

2. It sounds like you just want a better switcher for activities. As for an "activity manager", that would be Plasma's ZUI (the thing you see when you "Zoom out").

3. As I said, I don't know if this is planned.

I still don't get your main idea. If you want 1., well, that is already pretty much implemented (unless you see a problem with the implementation), with the exception that they'll be linked, not merged. 2. and 3. are separate ideas, and you should clearly state the idea to avoid confusion.

1. I tried to manually modify the config file (as suggested in another post) but it didn't work (black screen, not working). But if this "link-mode" will be in 4.3 then that's enough for me.

2. Not only switching. My point makes sense if you make the difference between active and inactive activities (that is, you have more than 4 activities defined, but not all them are currently being used). Then the activities' pager may show a combo in order to change the activity linked to the current virtual desktop. There you should see all the set of available activities, and it could be interesting to know which ones are currently active (that may help).

I'm sorry, this point was poorly explained on my previous post, i know. And i haven't put this part into another post because it would be hard to explain without all the other stuff.

3. Makes more sense if you understand the goals of 1 & 2. That's the only reason to keep it here instead of creating a new post. Again i think all those ideas make much more sense together.

Regards

Marked as Invalid as per request.