[PLASMA 5] Opacity, can we add that ?

[Grahm]

I use 20.04. I am quite happy with the default Kubuntu DE. There was some discussion on Reddit where they say that it is possible to add Transparency to Application Launcher, Dolphin etc. I would like to try that if it won't tax the memory and CPU much.

It would nice to know where I can add transparency and whether it is going to be hard on resources. Thanks.

[claydoh]

Link to the discussion?

more opacity = more solid -- less transparent

making something less transparent would more likely reduce GPU usage a little, I'd think, depending on how the rest of the desktop is themed.

[Grahm]

Can you please change the title from Opacity to Transparency ? Looks like I was too sleepy.

I found a global theme which does menu and taskbar transparency. It looks nice. I tried Kvantum for Dolphin transparency. But the whole body is getting transparent. I was hoping to apply transparency only to the sidebar. So I switched it off. Not sure whether I can make the sidebar alone transparent. Thanks.

[Snowhog]

You can do that. Go to your first post, click Edit Post and then click on the Go Advanced button. That allows you to edit the Title.

[Grahm]

Thanks. I tried " Thread tools " hoping to find that option.

I think this was the Reddit discussion I saw last day

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kubuntu/com..._and_discover/

[Snowhog]

Read/follow what I said.

[Schwarzer Kater]

There are some possibilities concerning transparency in KDE System Settings:
-> Workspace Behavior -> Desktop Effects -> Appearance -> Translucency -> Configure…

[Grahm]

Thanks @SchwarzerKater

I will try

Update :

I tried that. But no effect on Application Launcher or Taskbar.

[Don B. Cilly]

I have a little Panel transparency button that should do that.
V 0.2.0 works with Plasma >= 5.18.

[Grahm]

Thanks. If I may, what does Kvantum do actually ? Does it change the window transparency alone ? Or can we extend it to the Application Launcher Menu as well ?

The main reason I am asking is that I am happy with breeze. Much better to have blur + transparency in Application Launcher Menu and Panel related area. So that I can switch off 3rd party theme.

[jlittle]

This is the responsibility of the theme or the "plasma style" or some such; you might find one that does something like what you want. In my quest for a dark theme that's functional (and so *not* anything like Breeze) I stumbled on a transparent panel.

Under the hood it's all qml and css. I've tried tweaking the css, with some results, but that's a treacherous path...

[Grahm]

I tried some tweaks. I got through a couple of qml tweaks as well. I thought I will let the themes go if there is any native way of doing this. Nice to learn more about Plasma. Thanks.

[Schwarzer Kater]

How to make the K-Menu, and panels, transparent

… now I was curious how to make my K-Menu (slightly) transparent!

There is no option in KDE System Setting for this, indeed - therefor you have to do it by hand:

1. If they are not already there, create the according plasma and desktoptheme directories in your /home-folder:

$ cd /home/.local/share
$ mkdir plasma plasma/desktoptheme

2. Make a folder with the name of your new, personal Plasma Theme and put a link to the colour scheme in there, which you want to use for it (e.g. I linked mine to /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-dark/colors).

3. The next step is to create a metadata.desktop file that contains the informations about the transparency of your K-Menu (and all of your panels, as they are automatically affected, too!):

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Milky Way

Comment=Breeze Dark Milky Way by Schwarzer Kater

X-KDE-PluginInfo-Author=Schwarzer Kater
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Email=dummy@dummy.org
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Name=Milky_Way
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Version=0.1
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Website=
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Category=
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Depends=
X-KDE-PluginInfo-License=GPL
X-KDE-PluginInfo-EnabledByDefault=true
X-Plasma-API=5.57

[COLOR=#000080][ContrastEffect]
[/COLOR][COLOR=#696969]# defaults in Breeze = true / 0.2 / 0.4 / 1.7[/COLOR][COLOR=#000080]
enabled=true
contrast=0.2
intensity=0.6
saturation=1.7

[BlurBehindEffect]
[/COLOR][COLOR=#696969]# default = true[/COLOR][COLOR=#000080]
enabled=false[/COLOR]

If you want maximum transparency, set both [ContrastEffect] and [BlurBehindEffect] to false.
Values below [ContrastEffect] are ignored, if it is set to false, as far as I can tell.

Feel free to experiment! :-) Here is some additional information about Plasma Themes:
https://techbase.kde.org/Development...Theme_Metadata

4. Now you can choose your new Plasma Theme in KDE System Settings -> Appearance.



PS: As stated in the link to KDE TechBase above, [BlurBehindEffect] can only be modified since KDE Frameworks 5.57 and later.

PPS: I made the experience that every time you change any values for [ContrastEffect] or [BlurBehindEffect] you have to log out and in again for all of the changes to take effect in combination - just switching to another theme and back does not work for all changes to take place.

[Grahm]

Thank you. Feels like god's hand of help. I have almost given up on this.

I used the Light version. Looks like Blur still works even if we set Contrast=False.

X-KDE-PluginInfo-Author= KDE Visual Design Group
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Email=kde-artists@kde.org
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Name=Way
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Version=1.0
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Website=https://plasma.kde.org
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Category=
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Depends=
X-KDE-PluginInfo-License=LGPL
X-KDE-PluginInfo-EnabledByDefault=true
X-Plasma-API=5.0

[Wallpaper]
defaultWallpaperTheme=Next
defaultFileSuffix=.png
defaultWidth=1920
defaultHeight=1080

[ContrastEffect]
enabled=false
contrast=0.2
intensity=0.6
saturation=1.7

[BlurBehindEffect]
enabled=true

For better effects ( too much transparency ), I used Keepin theme's background.svg and panel-background.svg . It helps control the colour, noise and transparency value. Now I have a variant of included theme with blur and transparency.

[claydoh]

I completely forgot to mention some tweakability in the blur behind the transparency, via Desktop Effects, namely the...... Blur one, which has some sliders to play with. Sometimes the Contrast effect can change the look of anything relating to text here as well.