Plasma 5.21 Application Launcher

[claydoh]

With the shiny new Plasma 5.21 being just released, users will notice a brand new Application Menu.



Now, normally this would not be any sort of concern here, but I just realized that this item essentially has not changed in layout and functiinality sine 2008, when KDE4 came out.




So I have a suspicion that there will be a yuuuuge number of people howling over this radical, senseless change in the coming months
Now, when KDE 4 came out, we did have the option to switch to the old KDE 3 style cascading menu, which we still have today as a built-in alternative.
We don't have the option for the previous style for Plasma 5.21. Well, not as an included option at least.
Luckily, this can be added back via an addon Plasma widget called Legacy Kickoff, so it can be added to become an Alternative option via the right click menu on the launcher icon.

I am not sure how I feel about the new launcher. I have been continuously using KDE since KDE 2, circa mid 2000. I am sort of used to the gradual and not so gradual changes and UI tweaks. But 13 years is a long time.
I am not sure if I simply don't quite care for the new menu layout, or I simply have been using the same layout for over a dozen years now and have a certain muscle memory.

30 seconds in, and my mind is going : 'Favorites on the right side is just WRONGGGGGGGgggg!!! " right now
I will get over it I am sure.
I find myself slowly moving to using alt-space more and more these days anyway.

[Beerislife]

I just got the update but haven't looked at the new menu. I'm a fan of the Application Dashboard!

One weird thing though...

My Panel is set to 40 pixels high and now the icons in the Panel Icons Only Task Manager are huuuuuge! I just gave the Panel another pixel and they're still huuuge! I might remove Task Manager and rebuild it!

[jlittle]

Now, when KDE 4 came out, we did have the option to switch to the old KDE style menu, which we still have today as a built-in alternative.
We don't have this for Plasma 5.21. Well, not as an included option at least.
Luckily, this can be added back via an addon Plasma widget called Legacy Kickoff, so it can be added to become an Alternative option via the right click menu on the launcher icon.

Thank you for that heads up. I'll at least postpone the rage till the widget doesn't work.

(I tried hard to use the KDE plasma menu, but found myself making mistakes, forgetting whether to hover or to click, and losing context very frequently. Even the "application dashboard" with its full-screen-ness I find more usable, but silly on anything larger than a laptop screen. Maybe the new version will be usable.)

[Sothis6881]

So I have a suspicion that there will be a yuuuuge number of people howling over this radical, senseless change in the coming months
Now, when KDE 4 came out, we did have the option to switch to the old KDE 3 style cascading menu, which we still have today as a built-in alternative.
.

Being one of those people from the moment I saw the first screenshots , I was happy to read on the announcement that the KDE Store already has the Legacy Kickoff available.

[Bings]

I don't use the default launcher, I use the "application menu" alternative. I think I have tried that new one already as there is one currently available as an addon... I think. I also like the dashboard, now I installed on a family member's computer. I actually think the dashboard should be the default because it matches modern devices more and it makes more sense to focus your application selection in the middle of the screen rather than always going to one corner. Though I use the application menu, as I said because the first pc I owned myself had Windows 98 and don't you dare try to move my buttons!!

[Don B. Cilly]

I quite like it actually. First thing I thought was, What. They added useless (well they are, a bit, you get bigger ones with right-click on desktop, Leave shutdown buttons and in so doing - I thought - made my History one disappear.
I liked the Hist... then I realised it's under Places, and it has even more options. Not too bad.
The panels under places could be a bit more customisable - they pretty much aren't at all - but I guess they will be soon enough.

[Beerislife]

I don't see the point of having Places within the App Menu, I always add a Places widget to my Panel, so there's less clicking! Umm, I'm going off in search of a Shutdown Panel widget now...

[claydoh]

Actually, I don't know if the previous menu has this (probably is, and I never noticed), I will need to check, but I do like the per-Activity options for the Favorites menu. Quite handy for me.