tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5317236015572973172.post7395268908542937825..comments2023-08-08T11:51:41.540+02:00Comments on Cornelius' Blog: The Space-Time Continuum of KDE's ActivitiesCornelius Schumacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07307631039358655025noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5317236015572973172.post-33253543466657117732015-04-06T09:46:48.583+02:002015-04-06T09:46:48.583+02:00First, let me agree with you that naming is import...First, let me agree with you that naming is important. However, I do not think that a time dimension is the right methaphor in the context of KDE activities.<br /><br />Your suggestion to view and visualize KDE activities as groups of virtual desktops sounds interesting. However, I would like to raise to issues:<br /><br />1. I do not believe that it makes the concept easier to grasp. Actually, I had to read your description twice to make sure I understood it correctly. I think KDE Activities are, as implemented at the moment, quite easy to understand. I believe, that not the concept is confusing but the name "activity". Particularly since GNOME people use the term "activity" for a different concept. Personally, I'd rather call KDE activities "workspaces" or maybe simply "spaces" (People should not confuse it with the kde workspace package). I definitely think, we should use a spatial and not a time-based metaphor.<br /><br />Let's also keep in mind, that it is a power user feature and maybe not everyone has to use it (I typically configure one KDE activity and one virtual desktop when I installing a system for normal users. This is OK for most people and Windows users have lived like this for decades ;-)).<br /><br />2. Treating KDE activities a groups of virtual desktops as you suggested may remove some of the flexibility a KDE user currently has. In fact, I fear it would defeat the whole purpose of why I am using KDE activities.<br /><br />I heavily rely on the virtual desktop pager. And for me it is important that the desktop pager only shows information from the current activity. A desktop pager showing all virtual desktops from all KDE activities woud be to large for me (in my case 3x6=18 Virtual Desktops). Additionally, your suggested model does not allow it to share some windows across multiple KDE Activities (e.g. the browser). So please do not change the current implementation just to make it fit some mental model.<br /><br /><br />Background information:<br />Let me quickly explain how I use virtual desktops and KDE activities.<br /><br />- Virtual desktops:<br />I use virtual desktops to spatially organize the program windows I often need (most windows are maximized).<br />Consequently, I know extactly, If I want to switch to program X, I have to go one virtual desktop up/down/left/right instead of keep pressing ALT-Tab till the correct windows shows up. So virtual desktops give me the advantage of having a spatial alignment of my windows.<br /><br />- KDE Activities<br />As most people nowadays, I do not shut down my computer regularly. I just suspend to RAM (which finally works reliably under Linux). I also keep most programs running all the time. Consequently I have all my important programs neatly aligned in virtual desktops every time I open my laptop computer.<br />Since I have many projects, I have quite a number of programs I constantly use (e.g. 3 IDEs: Eclipse, Android Studio, MonoDevelop). I would need plenty of virtual desktops and switching would become cumbersome (e.g. going one desktop to the right and 3 up).<br />KDE activities allow me to separate my different projects/tasks/activities. So I have separate KDE activities for Android, Java and C# development.<br />The virtual desktop pager then shows me only the virtual desktops that are relevant for the current "activity" and hides the programs, which are unnecessary for the moment. I can, however, still quickly change between my activities. So KDE activities allow me to group my virtual desktops into what I would call virtual workspaces.<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5317236015572973172.post-4883756247724915132015-04-04T18:52:44.116+02:002015-04-04T18:52:44.116+02:00Completly agree: that plasmoid has the perfect wor...Completly agree: that plasmoid has the perfect workflow of activities.<br />No need for the exhubertant ui ( although very nice ), but the functionality is all there.<br /><br />Expecially the: Activity -> virtual desktops handling.<br /><br />Currently what is missing is the virtual desktops belonguing to an Activity, in a sense that an activity can have different amount of virtual desktops.<br /><br />I have a very perfect usecase for this: listening music, i just need the folder plasmoid for the music dir and one virtual desktop.<br /><br />For working, i need at least two or three virtual desktop to manage editors, konsole, web browser.<br /><br />The "activity per desktop" usecase is also valid and handy ( some can prefer one or the other and none is wrong ).<br />The main issue with KDE4, was the it allowed both of them, but neither was fully functional.<br /><br />One use case that i never saw mentioned was dashboard per activity, where the widgets would not be placed on the desktop, but on the dashboard. ( the dashboard is so handy but so underused ! )<br /><br />By the way, i am one of those " dont even consider a desktop a real desktop if it doesnt have activities "Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03703139779350168221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5317236015572973172.post-32274690215435525842015-04-04T17:53:35.140+02:002015-04-04T17:53:35.140+02:00From the WorkFlow Project times....
https://forum...From the WorkFlow Project times....<br /><br />https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=226&t=101078<br /><br />http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/WorkFlow+Plasmoid?content=147428<br /><br />psifidotoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11341350856050881261noreply@blogger.com