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Mandrakelinux Default Desktop Discussion


mousematt
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very nice arctic! Nuvola is beautiful, clean and clear (easy to understand what the 'suggestive' meaning of the icons). It has certainly improved since the last time I saw it. Only, when you add an application, are there enough available icons to choose from (and enough variety among them)?

 

As for window decoration, Plastik is excellent, among the best and most usable decorations there are. Also take a look here: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=13969

 

I don't really like the transparency (makes it less clear to find the minimize/maximize/close buttons), but I do appreciate you can 'guess' from the symbols (+ , - , x ) what each buttons will do.

 

The "Grover" WinDec, at http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=6094 , also seems very usable.

 

Also note that the default browser should ideally also have the same icon set.

 

As for color schemes, I dunno. Maybe it would be interesting to take the color scheme for BlueCurve?

 

About the wallpaper: I think it is better than before, but I think it can still be improved.

 

Also, what does the submenu 'desktop' in your bookmarks (in the kicker) lead to, actually?

 

Oh, and maybe it would be interesting to add a 'help' button to the taskbar? And how about an icon for the Instan Messenger, or would that be overkill?

 

Next, I think MandrakeUpdate service should be loaded at startup and put into the system tray by default.

Edited by Darkelve
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I know kde has always been associated with being the most like win for the n00bs, but is it necessary to have titlebar buttons that are so, so, so XPish?

 

Bluecurve has already been done, which is what the menuitem image wants to look like.

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Guest Adriano

I think the icons on the desktop should be symbolic links to the real folders, and these should be placed under /home/user (The current way is real folders in /home/user/Desktop. Longer to type for a geek. The best thing could be to just equate /home/user with the desktop, but good luck convincing everyone of this.

 

I like what you did with the task bar, especially the clock. Icons there look great, very clear

 

Icons in the Konq toolbar seem too "toyish" to me (I dislike the Win XP Luna interfase, too).

 

For the background: maybe emphasizing areas in the desktop by darkening them and adding a border? I'll try and do a mockup to show what I mean.

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okay, here is an updated picture, trying to add your ideas/comments:

http://mandrakeusers.org/index.php?act=Att...ype=post&id=952

 

now, i have to say some stuff about it:

1. the nuvola icon set is almost complete, has 11 mb size and over 600 icons. there are only very few (and rarely used) icons missing and dave (www.icon-king.com) is working on the last icons for the 1.0 (final) release. now he is at 1.0 beta1. the icons in the browser are part of the theme, so there can't be done anything against this "childish-look", but they are nonetheless easily identified and that is important. big plus: there is a nuvola-theme for firefox available. :)

 

2. i added a help-button to the kicker. adding more icons would be an overkill imho.

 

3. i also set the desktop to .desktop, thus hiding it. it was unneccesary to show it in the home folder.

 

4. i realigned the icons on the desktop, thus matching the listing in the home-folder and the kicker-folder access.

 

5. changed style and windeco to plastic with 11 pts nimbus-sans font. i gave all alternatives a try, but plastic will do best of all those available. the color was changed to a brighter blue in order to give it some contrast to the background. other color suggestions? B)

 

6. made a new wallpaper that looks a bit more like a mixture of the mandrake 9 and mandrake 10 wallpapers. i hope this one is more to your liking. :D

 

so, please add your comments.

 

p.s.: developing this thing is real fun imo. :)

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Nice, nice, nice... :) I must say I can imagine developing it is fun... it is real fun being able to discuss it in this thread as well.

 

Couple of remarks:

- I notice your bookmarks now have a '/tmp' entry ?

- The wallpaper is really nice.

- The Window Decoration is cool, but does it have to be this color? It looks too much like Xandros looks by default and I do not think it is meant that way. I propose using a darker color, like #3B508A . I don't know how that will go with the BG though.

 

Edit: well, to be honest the colors are nice, even though it *does* resemble the Xandros default Window Decoration a *lot*.

 

As for everything else... it looks to me this'll be a winner! :D

 

Oh yeah, is there no way to replace the 'K' menu button by something else? (even if you do not change that in the screenshot, I want to replace on my own system)

Edited by Darkelve
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uh.. it looks like xandros? :lol: funny coincidence. i will try it with your color suggestion. and... the tmp folder ... i dunno, why it is there again... will have to check out if hiding the tmp folder automatically creates a new one.

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Yeah, see here:

 

Business desktop:

http://www.xandros.com/images/screenshots/...ess_word_ss.jpg

 

Home desktop:

http://www.xandros.com/images/screenshots/..._xandros_ss.png

 

Edit: bah! there is an Internet Exploiter icon on the Xandros desktop - blasphemy! :mr-green:

 

 

Oh yeah, and maybe put an icon for MandrakeUpdate in the systray or on the desktop? Isn't it important people have the latest updates?

Edited by Darkelve
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maybe put an icon for MandrakeUpdate in the systray or on the desktop?

i thought a lot about this, but i have come to the conclusion that your everyday work should not consist of updating your system. especially for a business desktop, i think it is important that these things should only be accessable to the administrator and not to the common user. placing it on the desktop would imho be irritating for most users. so, i think it should be left in a menu-entry where the admin has all his important tools grouped together.

 

edit:

adriano:

-I like the way GNOME splits the task bar between an applications bar at the bottom and a menu bar / tray at the top. Even if it means my 1024 x 768 screen looks a bit crowded.

this can also be done in kde without big effort. it can be an advantage but if business wants to have a working desktop, i think there should be as much space available for placing your apps on the desktop. the upper/lower taskbar does look nice, but wastes some precious space imho.

 

the tmp folder will be recreated if hidden. thus you would have a /.tmp and a /tmp folder in /home. :huh:

Edited by arctic
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Hmmm... about the update icon you are right I think. But why have an option to open something in a console then?

 

'Regular' users in a business environment have no use for a CLI (should not have it), should they?

Edited by Darkelve
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good question... maybe they should, but the average user won't use it, i guess. this is also the reason why i eliminated the console button from the kicker. :D

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There are some great ideas in this thread

 

I've just uploaded my first mock-up of a revised desktop. I've followed a number of arctic and DarkElve's suggestions.

 

It's available for viewing here

 

 

I've changed the toolbar layout in konqueror so it is more intuitive and less cluttered. I'm still using the Galaxy Square decoration. I agree the Plastik design is very user friendly: but Xandros, Lycoris and Linspire (development edition) all agree too!

 

A Mandrake desktop needs to be unique as well as exceptional IMHO.

 

I have used an "out of this world" desktop rather than a more normal plain blue default. SUSE and Microsoft both ship desktops with pictures of green fields and mountain streams. I think desktops need to be more than just blue... this might be a good way to be "different".

 

Let's keep this thread going... some great ideas certainly live here.

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i like the way you put all icons on top of the screen. good idea. but the wallpaper... well i get the idea... mandrake galaxy -> galaxy wallpaper. good start, but i think the wallpaper is too dominant. and there is still the problem of licensing... hm... maybe we find a wonderful "galaxy" wallpaper for this.

the clock is a bit ugly in the digital version imho. i prefer the "plain look" as seen on my screenie above.

and: we DEFINITELY need another splash-screen. the splash is so damn ugly.... how about a splash extra for root in shining bright, crystal-style red?

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