Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 1st Jan 2013 18:19 UTC
I tend to believe that the best interfaces have already been made. Behaviourally, CDE is the best and most consistent interface ever made. It looked like ass, but it always did exactly as you told it to, and it never did anything unexpected. When it comes to looks, however, the gold standard comes from an entirely different corner - Apple's Platinum and QNX' PhotonUI. Between all the transparency, flat-because-it's-hip, and stitched leather violence of the past few years, one specific KDE theme stood alone in bringing the best of '90s UI design into the 21st century, and updating it to give everything else a run for its money. This is an ode to Christoph Feck's Skulpture.
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RE[3]: Comment by Licaon_Kter
by Thom_Holwerda on Wed 2nd Jan 2013 10:31
in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by Licaon_Kter"
Member since:2005-06-29
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RE[4]: Comment by Licaon_Kter
by Licaon_Kter on Wed 2nd Jan 2013 10:55
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by Licaon_Kter"
Member since:2010-03-19
0.2.4 is from 29 Dec 2010 and there are 2 dozen fixes added in the mean time. The kde-look.org page does not have any Debian packages available anyway ( try to download them I dare you 
).
This said all my other points stand since I need to build it from source anyway. 
And I'll add 2 more since I started KDE4 just to test this:
1. (using Atelier ) the button style is not applied to the KDE StartMenu nor to the Systray menu, although strangely it's applied to the task list applet.
2. I found that the "KDE 2" window decoration fits the style better than the default Skulpture one.
Edited 2013-01-02 10:57 UTC
RE[3]: Comment by Licaon_Kter
by anda_skoa on Wed 2nd Jan 2013 11:10
in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by Licaon_Kter"
Member since:2005-07-07
1. PREFIX is by default /usr/local and KDE does not look there for styles;
You can easily add any additional prefix to $KDEDIRS.
By default that is unset but of course OSV or admins could have chosen to set it to a list of paths already.
2. style files are installed in PREFIX/share/apps instead of PREFIX/share/kde4/apps;
I am not sure it has to be kde4/apps for all prefixes, I think this is just the path chosen for prefix /usr and maybe not even on all distros.
kde4-config --path data
shows share/apps as the path for the local prefix here.
3. latest branch named five does not build ( /skulpture.h:25:34: fatal error: QtWidgets/QCommonStyle: No such file or directory ) and I do have libqt-dev; anyway master branch is ok.
Is that libqt-dev Qt4 or Qt5? The latter being needed to compile Qt5 code (branch is called "five", QtWidgets is a module in Qt5).
RE[3]: Comment by Licaon_Kter
by pepo on Wed 2nd Jan 2013 16:47
in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by Licaon_Kter"
Member since:2009-06-19
RE[4]: Comment by Licaon_Kter
by Licaon_Kter on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 03:27
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by Licaon_Kter"
Member since:2010-03-19
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 11:39 UTC
"The key takeaway we've reached (after two less than 24 hours playing with the iOS 7 Beta release) is this - every App must consider even basic updates to its UI to survive in a post-iOS 6 world." Great. Telling developers to update their entire application - user interface and behaviour alike - to target a look and behaviour that isn't final yet. Seems like potential for a lot of wasted work here.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 11:32 UTC
"Overall the app is really basic, and designed for on the go editing. Microsoft says it's not planning to create an iPad version, noting that tablet users can utilize the Office Web Apps instead. We'd like to see some additional options for editing, including more clear options for text formatting and the ability to insert and change images, but it's a solid attempt for something you're only really going to use for editing in emergencies." A resounding meh can be heard from all over the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 19:39 UTC
"Today, most people are using modern browsers that support the majority of the latest web technologies. Better yet, the usage of legacy browsers is declining significantly and newer browsers stay up to date automatically, which means the leading edge has become mainstream. Given these factors we've decided to retire Chrome Frame, and will cease support and updates for the product in January 2014." Eh.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:45 UTC
The Next Web: "First of all, many of the new icons were primarily designed by members of Apple's marketing and communications department, not the app design teams. From what we've heard, SVP of Design Jony Ive (also now Apple's head of Human Interaction) brought the print and web marketing design team in to set the look and color palette of the stock app icons. They then handed those off to the app design teams who did their own work on the 'interiors', with those palettes as a guide. We've also been hearing that there wasn't a whole lot of communication between the various teams behind say, Mail and Safari. And that there were multiple teams inside each group that were competing with various designs, leading to what some see as inconsistencies in icon design. Those may well be hammered out in days ahead." What. Reminds me of how Microsoft does (used to do?) things.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 11:43 UTC
"The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has introduced a joint motion against software patents. The resolution urges the German government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs. In the resolution, the Parliament says that patents on software restrict developers from exercising their copyright privileges, including the right to distribute their programs as Free Software. They promote the creation of monopolies in the software market, and hurt innovation and job creation." After New Zealand, we now have one of the most powerful economies in the world moving to ban software patents for all the reasons smart people have been outlining for years. also: "The government should also push to ensure that software is covered by copyright alone, and that patent offices (including the European Patent Office) stop granting patents on software." Germany is not a country the EU can ignore. Very good news, this.More News »
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Member since:
2010-03-19
Because I don't know where else to get it from since:
1. the kde-look.org version is pretty old ( 0.2.4 );
2. I don't have something like "KDE Get New Stuff" for Styles in my panel ( but I do have one for: Colors, Icons, Emoticons, Mouse, Plasma Themes, Decorations, Splash, etc ) and this is Debian Sid 64bit BTW;
3. the git build should always work, right?
Wrong, the git build does not work by default:
1. PREFIX is by default /usr/local and KDE does not look there for styles;
2. style files are installed in PREFIX/share/apps instead of PREFIX/share/kde4/apps;
3. latest branch named five does not build ( /skulpture.h:25:34: fatal error: QtWidgets/QCommonStyle: No such file or directory ) and I do have libqt-dev; anyway master branch is ok.