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I don't know if you think like me, but when I compare KDE with other operating system, On KDE, some application looks bigger, with a lot of space unusable... I don't know exactly where my feeling come from... But judge by yourself :


http://liquidat.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/nepomuk-kde-dolphin-integration-with-rating.png

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUEvKr5PEO4KG2WopZoJGDrHoYSNQNHnclZG-0Tp49s0eTYB9C&t=1

http://img.nattawat.org/images/opl9uvaakaitoge7xc2h.jpg

In this example, as you can see, Dolphin looks unshiny! I don't know exactly why, but it may come from the layout! There are to many frame and layout spacing.

In comparaison, here is the perfection of elegance in KDE application :
http://img.clubic.com/03E8000003953364-photo-kde-4-6.jpg
No left/right margin , It's perfect for eyes!

So, it should be nice, to update layout for some application or directly from style. Designers should not be scared of redesign kde Application.

The image you first linked to is not the default style and design of KDE widgets. Please change your widget settings to Oxygen and window decoration to Oxygen (note you can remove margins in window decoration settings).

You can find all of these options in System Settings.

I have to agree. Dolphin is (at least optical) bad designed.
When the devolpment of dolphin started, the goal was to create a simple and lightweight file-browser. Regarding to the functions this goal is reached (in comparison to konqueror or krusader). But optically dolphin looks very chubby and static. Especially if you open the places dock and the file-preview dock at the same time. In this case the file view is in the middle, surrounded of program (program background color). So you get the feeling of looking through a knothole.

Here are some screenshots (with oxygen-theme :

http://www.opensuse-lernen.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hyperconverter3.png
http://wiki.kubuntu-de.org/images/KDE4-Dolphin-Symbole.png
http://www.muylinux.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dolphin-kde4.jpg

So, how to solve it? Hmm difficult, since I'm no designer. But at least I want try to give some proposals which could be discussed.

1. Make the background-color of docks changeable:
To have docks in the same background color like the normal background color of apps results in a feeling of having a big heavy program. For example, if you open dolphin with 2 docks (left and right side) on a system with a low resolution (maybe netbook) nearly the whole screen is grey (background color).
Compare such a case with explorer (win) or finder (OS X). In these file-browsers the sections where you can see the places or the file preview are not in the same backround color like the tool bar or the status bar.

2. Organize the docks in a way that they not looking like they were surrounding the file view
Point 1 should maybe help to get this realized a bit. But maybe it would also help to have a full length statusbar (not only under the file view).

I don't know if brainstorm section the right place to discuss this because there will be many suggestions which don't belong to dolphin development alone (maybe oxygen or kde core code is affected to this) but on the other side I don't know where I could publish this critic/proposals)

Finaly this post shouldn't defame any dolphin developers or desingers. It's just a try to get dolphin better.

You know you can drag and drop panels, right?

Yes I know. But why should I do that? When I drag the file-preview dock from the right to the left side both docks share the same space and I have to scroll. It may be a little optical benefit but usability is decreasing.

trebor wrote:
...

So, how to solve it? Hmm difficult, since I'm no designer. But at least I want try to give some proposals which could be discussed.

1. Make the background-color of docks changeable:
...

The Bespin style has a (hack) option to force dolphin's panels to use the "normal list-view" style - that is they use the same background color as the file view. Try that and see if it has the effect you want.

2. Organize the docks in a way that they not looking like they were surrounding the file view
...

(as TheBlackCat pointed out) you can rearrange the panels - stack them vertically on top of each other, or stack them as tabs, covering the same area (how often do you actually interact with more than one panel at a time, anyway), or you can leave them floating wherever on the screen.

trebor wrote:Yes I know. But why should I do that? When I drag the file-preview dock from the right to the left side both docks share the same space and I have to scroll. It may be a little optical benefit but usability is decreasing.

How would you have things rearranged other than what is available by rearranging them yourself?

The Bespin style has a (hack) option to force dolphin's panels to use the "normal list-view" style - that is they use the same background color as the file view. Try that and see if it has the effect you want.

I know. An the bespin hack is really good with the bespin version since the headline "places" have the same font height like the breadcumb navigation. But it's a hack and it affects only the "list-view"not other docks and not the dock as whole. Shouldn't it be better to solve such things at the root and not with a hack?

(as TheBlackCat pointed out) you can rearrange the panels - stack them vertically on top of each other, or stack them as tabs, covering the same area (how often do you actually interact with more than one panel at a time, anyway), or you can leave them floating wherever on the screen

I don't know how to stack panels as tabs but this is not my point. In my (!) oppinion with the default settings of dolphin and of oxygen the file view looks like surrounded of panels and I have made two suggestoins how this could be maybe solved.

I have made to very simple mockups:
This is the traditional look of dolphin
http://i52.tinypic.com/2ivgv35.jpg

here the mockup of a suggestion for a new layout
http://i52.tinypic.com/1zzqpth.jpg

In the last mockup there is a huge working scope. That way dolphin don't look so heavy like default style. Also the headings of the panels are in one row with the breadcumb navigation and have the same font height.

some general annotations: I don't want to discuss in the way "there is a hack in one theme which get near to one of the things you have suggest". A hack is a hack, or in other words: a workaround of something which doesn't exist in the main code (or is not good implemented).
I've published my first post because I thought dridk were right but didn't get the deeper point.That's why I wrote some explanations to something which could be the problem together with some proposals. Nothing more nothing less.

I mentioned the hack to see what your opinion was of the results of the hack. If that is the result that is wanted then an option could be added to Dolphin to (in a non-hackish way) allow switching between the styles (I personally prefer the panels to use the window background color rather than the view background color - other's opinions may differ).

As for stacking the panels as tabs - when you are dragging the panels around if you drag the mouse to the middle of one of the panels it should highlight the whole panel (rather than just the top/bottom half). Drop it there and you will get tabs.

Unfortunately the images in your latest post are blocked at work so I can't comment on them at this time.

I do agree that putting the panels on both sides of the files view does cut off a lot of the viewing area. I'd imagine that most of the time people only care about one panel at a time so it would make sense to have them stacked as tabs by default, and then when people want to see more than one panel at a time they can rearrange them.

I mentioned the hack to see what your opinion was of the results of the hack. If that is the result that is wanted then an option could be added to Dolphin to (in a non-hackish way) allow switching between the styles (I personally prefer the panels to use the window background color rather than the view background color - other's opinions may differ).

Yes, the bespin hack is similar to my proposal. But the bespin hack only change the backgound color of the "Places" panel.
If the background color of docks/panels should be changeable depends of course on the personal preferation. My personal argument for changing the background color of panels is that the main visible scope of an app shoudn't be background otherwise you get the feeling of an dialog window with some forms in it.
Dolphin is not the only program where I got this feeling but in dolphin I recordnized it extremely.
But of course I agree, the perceptions and preferations differ.

As for stacking the panels as tabs - when you are dragging the panels around if you drag the mouse to the middle of one of the panels it should highlight the whole panel (rather than just the top/bottom half). Drop it there and you will get tabs.

Thank you for the advice. Is there a solution to select the diffrent panel tabs with keyboard shortcuts?
Maybe there should be also a button/shortcut to hide/unhide this panel (with all tabs), because now you can only hide/unhide the seperate panel tabs.

trebor wrote:...

As for stacking the panels as tabs - when you are dragging the panels around if you drag the mouse to the middle of one of the panels it should highlight the whole panel (rather than just the top/bottom half). Drop it there and you will get tabs.

Thank you for the advice. Is there a solution to select the diffrent panel tabs with keyboard shortcuts?

It looks like those keyboard shortcuts aren't currently available. There are shortcuts to open/close individual panels, but not to switch which panel is visible when they are in tabs. Suggest new request.

Maybe there should be also a button/shortcut to hide/unhide this panel (with all tabs), because now you can only hide/unhide the seperate panel tabs.

I agree - suggest new request (manipulate tabbed-panels as single panel or as individual panels).