KDE developer Nate Graham, the same person who recently said they may become the "Windows or Android" of the FOSS world is back again with more thoughts - this time about keeping it simple.
The Plasma desktop is pretty darn powerful, that's for sure and it has a massive amount of customization options for practically every little thing. For many people this is great, however it can also have a detrimental affect on the experience by new users and users less comfortable with computing. So what's the answer? Graham thinks they need to keep things simpler out of the box.
Pictured - KDE Plasma on my own desktop.
What this doesn't mean is Plasma is going to get "dumbed-down". Sounds like they're not going to be targetting people in the lowest category of computing skill with their thinking. Noting that they would likely never be happy with KDE and that "GNOME and ElementaryOS can have those users".
Instead, the plan sounds like it's more a case of ensuring every part of Plasma comes with sane defaults "Essentially we need to fully embrace Plasma's motto of 'Simple by default, powerful when needed' [for] all KDE software, not just Plasma".
As an ending note, Graham mentions how some of this is already happening like "our simple-by-default Kirigami apps gaining power and customization opportunities, and our powerful-by-default QtWidgets apps gaining better default settings and a streamlined appearance".
What are your thoughts?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Last edited by devland on 30 November 2021 at 4:06 pm UTC
Mohandevir Nov 30, 2021
Quoting: Liam DaweWhat this doesn't mean is Plasma is going to get "dumbed-down"
Are you talking to me?
Seriously, I was referring to SteamOS "custom KDE interface", from what I read, that might be dumbed-down (really look forward to see what Valve means by "custom KDE"). I don't expect stock KDE to be "dumbed-down", but sane defaults can't be a bad thing. I even proposed the idea of a "dumbed-down" fork of KDE, in the other thread:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/11/kde-developer-thinks-they-will-become-the-windows-or-android-of-the-foss-world/comment_id=214078
Last edited by Mohandevir on 30 November 2021 at 4:23 pm UTC
Kallestofeles Nov 30, 2021
Quoting: KallestofelesMaybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.
Running it daily for many, many years.
Don't know what you're talking about.
OR, it can also mean burying options under many sub menus which is the opposite of better UX -- you trade some things being frustrating with everything being mildly frustrating when you do that.
Unfortunately both of these methods, with the first being the more popular of the two, are becoming increasingly popular -- especially among younger developers I've noticed. Better UX is always a good thing, but I remain skeptical as often times these kinds of moves can be... the opposite of that.
ssj17vegeta Nov 30, 2021
Quoting: EikeQuoting: KallestofelesMaybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.
Running it daily for many, many years.
Don't know what you're talking about.
Although I too have used KDE for like five years now without looking back, it is far more unstable than other DEs. I have installed it on three different machines (Kubuntu), and I still get frequent crashes with Dolphin, the plasma dashboards or even sometimes software I didn't even know were running (like the Bluetooth applet which I since deactivated). I never had such issues with Mateo or LXDE.
I'm not complaining though, the overall experience is really good and KDE really suits my tastes ! But still, yes, I wouldn't call it "perfectly stable". Or is it my distro (Kubuntu) ?
Last edited by CatKiller on 30 November 2021 at 4:50 pm UTC
Sane defaults matter for sure, and having to change numerous things to make that experience feel identical to what's expected isn't a great start.
CyborgZeta Nov 30, 2021
I don't like to do a lot of customizing, and I like things simple, but I DON'T want what something like GNOME offers.
Quoting: KallestofelesMaybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.
Exactly that.
Used it for last 5-6 months..while it was mostly stable and working fine, there were loads of small annoying issues and bugs and sometimes updates changed some settings or moved things around.
Switched back to MATE for now, but surely will be checking back to KDE in the future, cause i liked the overall experience minus the annoying issues.
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