Two simple questions....

[chicken]

Hello peeps. I am a KDE newbie, having used Gnome until this week!


1. Fullscreen by default?

I'm running 10.04 Netbook, but I've downloaded the standard KDE environment. With the Netbook version, all of the applications are fullscreen by default, with a little tool on the panel to close the app if you want to. This is really useful if you have a netbook, as I do
Now on the standard environment, I can't seem to achieve this. There must be a way of changing the defaults, but I can't find it..... I thought I had, in System>Look and Feel>Appearance>Windows........

2. Transparent widgets?

Also when I was using the Netbook environment, the widgets were transpaent. (e.g. the clock was a clock face, not a clock face within a semi-opaque square.) I liked that, and I can't now find a way to replicate it.


Many thanks to all those who might help!

Until then, Ahoy!

[Snowhog]

Re: Two simple questions....

1. Fullscreen by default?

System Settings > Window Behavior > Window Behavior > Advanced > Window Tabbing Placement to Maximizing (this if you are running KDE 4.5.1)

2. Transparent widgets?

This is a function of the Desktop Theme being used. Oxyzone provides a very nice transparent analog clock for the Desktop.

[Chopstick]

Re: Two simple questions....

A while ago I noticed that some of the transparent desktop effects don't work or are simply not transparent, when there is a problem with your video driver. I'm not sure if that's the problem, but maybe you check the driver version and try using the proprietary driver if you are not already doing this.
I'm not sure if that helps...
- Chopstick

[chicken]

Re: Two simple questions....

Thanks guys, very helpful.....

@Chopstick: I don't think this is the issue, as the Netbook environment was working with no problems, and also my current theme (Oxyzone ) displays with about 50% transparency.

Thanks for the tips Snowhog.... but I realise that wasn't quite what I was after. The windows are already maximized. What I need, is to switch off the borders on windows by default. I can do this manually each time, by using the window menu>Advanced>No border. Any ideas how I can achieve this?

Otherwise, I'm enjoying KDE, it's like living in the future!

[Snowhog]

Re: Two simple questions....

Still doable.

Start any KDE application. Right-click on the title bar and Advanced > Special Window Settings... > Preferences and check No border and in the drop-down select Force.

[chicken]

Re: Two simple questions....

Thanks Snowhog! That worked a treat, although I found that <b>window settings</b> didn't seem to work. I used <b>application settings</b> which seemed to give the same dialog, but for some reason remembered the setting.

Yay for the future!

[Chopstick]

Re: Two simple questions....

so on my system when the battery is low (it's a laptop) the hardware acceleration is suspended. When that happens a lot of widgets loose their transparency (the task bar e.g.), but some remain transparent.
I suppose those that are fairly static and are not redrawn, remain as they were... or some that only need transparency for a static background probably use a different rendering method.
But if your taskbar is transparent you are right, then that is probably not the issue.
Are you sure the widget is supposed to be transparent?

[chicken]

Re: Two simple questions....

Hey


When I installed Netbook Remix, the area around the clock (and other widgets) was/were transparent.

I've now added the full desktop, and even though I have the same themes, the opacity seems to have changed!

Before
[img width=400 height=234]http://cwis2phar.webs.com/snapshot2.jpg[/img]


After
[img width=400 height=234]http://cwis2phar.webs.com/newscreen.png[/img]

[Chopstick]

Re: Two simple questions....

You have a very creative desktop...

The area around the clock would be the background of the widget.

I have sort of reproduced your problem, I think: when I played around with themes in System Settings > Appearance > Style > Workspace, I found that when I switch from "Air" (which looks like your "Before"-pictrue) to "Oxygen" (which looks like your "After"), some widgets (e.g. the weather widget) virtually loose their transparency, but some just change the design a bit. But moreover I also found that when I switch back to "Air", nothing changes, and I'm still in the relatively dark "Oxygen" theme...
This seems to be a bug, but restarting helps get things back to normal ("Air" in my case).

I'd say the reason some widgets change their transparency is simply the way they are created/written and how this interacts with the theme; so it's a problem with the particular widget and not with KDE itself.

Choptick

[kubicle]

Re: Two simple questions....

When I installed Netbook Remix, the area around the clock (and other widgets) was/were transparent.

plasma-netbook installs (and uses) a slightly modified desktop theme ("air-netbook"). It uses a fully transparent image for widget background (background.svgz). You should get transparent widgets by selecting air-netbook theme (or you can customize your own)

so on my system when the battery is low (it's a laptop) the hardware acceleration is suspended. When that happens a lot of widgets loose their transparency (the task bar e.g.), but some remain transparent.
I suppose those that are fairly static and are not redrawn, remain as they were... or some that only need transparency for a static background probably use a different rendering method.

Some themes include "opaque" versions of (some of) the graphics that are used instead of the regular graphics when desktop effects are disabled.