KDE 4.0.0 has been released on January 11th, after a number of delays; the months preceding the release, the KDE developers tried very hard to downplay expectations. KDE 4.0.0 was just the first release in the KDE 4 series, and such, should not be seen as the best possible representation of the KDE 4.0.0 vision. So, when I installed KDE 4.0.0 on my Ubuntu Gutsy installation last Friday, I knew what to expect: KDE 4 Developer Release 1 (yes, I am a BeOS guy - how did you know?). Read on for a few quick first impressions.
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Member since:2005-06-29
Typos fixed, thanks guys.
Erm...
http://www.osnews.com/img/19159/shot.jpg
And none of those can be altered in KDE 4.0.0 (or in 3.x for that matter). Obnoxious.
Edited 2008-01-13 21:45 UTC
Member since:2005-09-21
http://www.osnews.com/img/19159/shot.jpg
And none of those can be altered in KDE 4.0.0 (or in 3.x for that matter). Obnoxious.
Oh yeah, completely didn't notice. Probably because they're mostly in configuration dialogs that I really don't make a habit of looking at very often. I agree that the configure dialog page titles really don't need to be bolded. Nothing to get furious about, but different strokes I guess..
Member since:2005-10-02
Member since:2005-07-06
The menu IS fixed size, though the size is configurable. For people who have gotten used to a menu that expands to fit the contents the use of a scrollbar is awkward. Perhaps studies have shown it to be better, but it makes it inconsistent with all previous experience for users and with application menus.
The menu style and transitions are a matter of taste, not science. Studies may have shown that this menu is better. I will not argue the veracity of the conclusions in either direction. The fact is that for many the new menu is far from an optimal user experience. Spatial browsing was also found to be more efficient yet met with much resistance when Gnome introduced it as you may recall.
Member since:2005-09-21
Well, partly. The style may be partly taste, but the value of fluid transitions has been quite extensively studied. A transition done right is always easier to understand than a sudden change (which can induce change blindness).
Member since:2005-08-28
Member since:2007-03-29
...and it never really became popular. Ubuntu at least has made the good old browser mode default and not without a reason. Actually, I forced myself for some time to use spatial mode as everyone hyped it as the next big thing being sooo much more usable. However I never really felt comfortable with windows that offer not even an address bar, so when I saw that Ubuntu defaulted to browsing mode it came as a relief.
Quite possible the new menu replacement may suffer a similar fate, being ignored or replaced by distributors.
am I the only one, or is the original kickoff in OpenSuSE 10.3 really so much more usable than the derivate found in KDE 4? Actually, when testing OpenSUSE I was surprised to find that I actually liked SuSE's kickoff, basically because how it integrates the type ahead search.
Member since:2006-05-25
I tend to agree with Thom's criticism of the Kickoff menu. This is the first thing I disable every time I install OpenSUSE. The last time I really did try and almost got accustomed to it. But I was still struggling to hit the right tab and to find the right program category. Scrolling sideways in a menu seems to be some very intricate way of torture. It was such a relief going back to something sane (Tastymenu) that I won't probably touch Kickoff again anytime soon. Let's just hope that the alternatives are ready before 4.1 ships.
Member since:2006-01-28
Thanks to your post, I just discovered tastymenu and it is a thing of beauty. I can't understand for the life of me why that is not the default menu in every kde installation.
I am hoping that this is just due to a lack of visibility of the project. Does the project have a web site?
If any of its developers are around, I hope that they provide an implementation for KDE4. I really like where kde4 is going, but I also dislike Kickoff.
Member since:2006-02-04
"but on my desktop at work it flies (Geforce 7900 so nothing special). Works so much better than Compiz ever did."
I have a Geforce 6600 GT.I compared Kwin to Compiz, Compiz(I installed compiz plugins only) is obviously faster, take tab swithing on Konqueror for example, it takes 0.5 sec to respond to the mouse click.
"I used it a lot in 3.5, but in 4.0 its just too buggy."
I agree, selection of all the text in a <textarea> from buttom up is annoying.
Edited 2008-01-14 03:14 UTC
Member since:
2005-09-21
Thom is having a bad day I guess..
Where are these bold fonts? I don't see any in my install. Dolphin has the current directory in bold.. I can't see anything else. Kickoff doesn't have any bold fonts. And just because you don't like it doesn't mean its unusable. It has had some fairly extensive usability testing, which may not be the be all end all, but its worth a lot more than personal opinion. Also the menu is not a fixed size, and animation in transitions is not confusing, it helps you figure out what is happening (lots of studies have been done on this, look up visual momentum).
The funny thing is, the one thing you praise (Krunner), I think is far worse than it could have been. Anyone that has used Launchy (on windows) knows that as far as keyboard launchers go, Krunner is bottom of the barrell. Luckily krunner will be very very different in KDE 4.1.
Also, try the "Obsidian Coast" color scheme. I think it looks absolutely fantastic.
As for KWin. It is definitely better on a fast computer. I had to turn it off on my laptop and the EeePC, but on my desktop at work it flies (Geforce 7900 so nothing special). Works so much better than Compiz ever did. Compiz has fancier effects, but its buggy as hell, and the traditional window manager features are mostly missing.
I agree with you on Konqueror. I used it a lot in 3.5, but in 4.0 its just too buggy. I hope they replace it with a webkit based browser soon. Otherwise Firefox 3 is pretty decent as well.
Also Okular is fantastic. It still has some bugs but it's already way better than any other PDF/document viewer I've ever used. Same for Gwenview.
Overall I'm happy with KDE 4.0. Plasma is buggy, but I wouldn't trade it for 3.5 already.