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It would really be nice for me if there was an option in the widget configuration menu of the clock to allow it "always on top" and to set the opacity.

I could then move it out of the way and free up some taskbar space by removing the digital clock.

Why can't you just use "show dashboard"?

Show Dashboard is a bit intrusive.

It requires a click to start and then to end it, I had to go all the way to the cashew and click then hit hide dashboard.

A lot of work to just see what time it is. Sort of like stopping all work, pulling out the cell phone, and then putting it away again, and trying to get back into the flow of work. Not an impossible task, but annoying long term.

Always on top features are actually useful for different tasks - rss feeds, stock tickers, etc. I only need a clock, but when my desktop is full of open windows, and if I could have a nice clock sitting on top of any unused window's area, that would be ideal.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts.

Well I can see how some may want it, but personally I wouldn't stand to have a widget that's always on top. It takes up screen space and blocks mouse clicks in that area for windows underneath it. Basically I don't think many people would use plasmoids this way.

For now you could use plasmoidviewer to achieve this, e.g.

Code: Select all

plasmoidviewer clock

Then set the window to always on top, maybe remove window borders and change opacity.

The bad thing is that you'll get a white background if the widget doesn't fill the whole window. I remember seeing a screenshot where this had been fixed, but I can't find it anymore.

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plasmoidviewer --list

lists all applets it knows.

You can also make an autohiding panel with a clock, so that you can just move your mouse to the edge of the screen and have a clock show up.

Like this:

It's good to see there are different choices, but none of them actually provide the functionality I would like - an always on clock that doesn't take me any work to find the time.

Looking through the list of plasmoids, I see plenty of opportunity for an "always on top" type option.

Of course, I have no idea what it takes to code this functionality in. Just that it seems useful. As for screen space - there are many 'unclickable' areas on my desktop - word processor borders, Konsole text output, even in browser windows. Depending on the person/use, even the hardware monitors might be useful.

The plasmoidviewer option also comes up with a non-elegant clock, which tends to disrupt the desktop for me.

And since the "always on top" would be just an option, the user is free to select and unselect it as needed.

Widgets can be a great addition to the desktop, but once the desktop is covered, it takes effort to get at them.

I just noticed this website has the exact same feature for the "reload" and "back" buttons too.

On the bottom of the page in "always on top" mode. It is a duplicated functionality, but it is interesting.

Yes the "always on top" mode seems to work for me, thanks for the hint!

suplero wrote:
And since the "always on top" would be just an option, the user is free to select and unselect it as needed.

Sorry, but this argument won't work. You can't just include every little option to satisfy all users.

The plasmoidviewer option also comes up with a non-elegant clock, which tends to disrupt the desktop for me.

What do you mean with "non-elegant"? As said, I think the opacity white background has been fixed (or at least that there's a fix somewhere).

Widgets can be a great addition to the desktop, but once the desktop is covered, it takes effort to get at them.

You have keyboard shortcut, and you can also add a widget on your panel to show the dashboard. Windows can also be covered by other windows, but you can raise them again by clicking on the taskbar or Alt+Tab, right?

I understand that every option can't be included, which is why this is just an idea.

Non-elegant is when it comes up as a normal square window - with the border around it, and the buttons which doesn't quite fit with the whole plasma desktop motif. The clock is round inside a square box, leaving borders and background - yeah, I know that is picky. But also in the sense that the clock itself always shows the generic clock theme. I would like it to match the desktop theme clock. Even when I try different themes, I always get the same standard clock. That may be due to my distro, so maybe that might be a separate problem for me.

As for getting access - I think that is another personal behavior. For me, I don't like to work to see the time. I'm guessing a lot of people don't - and that's why the digital clock is standard in the taskbar, and never gets covered. The time is always there.

I prefer analog clocks, and the taskbar isn't really the place for an analog clock.

I can't really express why the always on top feature for an analog clock is a strong preference for me, but I can suggest an experiment.

Remove the digital clock from the taskbar, and create a clock widget on the desktop. Keep the desktop like this for a while, and see how getting access to the time with a widget feels.

Anyone who likes efficiency will soon find that keyboard shortcuts, show dashboard, etc, take a significant amount of work [depending on how often the clock is looked at] and become annoyed at not being able to just "look" at the time.

suplero wrote:I understand that every option can't be included, which is why this is just an idea.

Yes, sure. We'll see what other users think of this idea.

Non-elegant is when it comes up as a normal square window - with the border around it, and the buttons which doesn't quite fit with the whole plasma desktop motif. The clock is round inside a square box, leaving borders and background - yeah, I know that is picky.

I understand how you feel. As said though, the big problem is the white background - if it could be transparent (I still haven't found the blog post where I think I saw this), you could get a floating clock. KWin allows you to remove any window border (right click on window title -> Advanced -> No border).

But also in the sense that the clock itself always shows the generic clock theme. I would like it to match the desktop theme clock. Even when I try different themes, I always get the same standard clock. That may be due to my distro, so maybe that might be a separate problem for me.

You can specify the theme with --theme <name>.

I wasn't too clear on that. For example

plasmoidviewer --theme carbon clock

still shows the standard clock.

Every theme I try shows the standard clock for me. I have all the themes installed, but the command doesn't work for me. That may be a distro problem though.

thanks

Try

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plasmoidviewer --theme Carbon clock

instead.

And some good news, I finally found what I was looking for. The reason I didn't find it before is because it wasn't in a blog post. Grr..
Anyway, here it is: http://reviewboard.kde.org/r/1291/

What do you think about this solution? If you're happy with it, I'll mark this idea as Done when the patch has been accepted. Otherwise (if you want an option in the GUI, for example) I'll let this idea be.

actually that would work, but I can't seem to figure out how to do what they are talking about. Is there code somewhere yet? or just a discussion?

I think it would be interesting to see if anyone else wants the GUI as well...

thanks for the case-sensitivity tip too.