I really enjoy the simplicity of the Mac user interface so I did some customizing. I hope that it will help users that are looking for ideas on a better way to organize their KDE desktop.
1. I moved my most often used icons to the bottom panel so I can avoid wasting time browsing through Kmenu to find programs. Since these programs are now readily visible, I have room for some lesser used programs on the "Favorites" tab of Kmenu (e.g. Ksnapshot, Gimp).
2. I moved the digital clock to the center of the panel and added an analog clock to the center of the desktop. The trash bin is now to the left of the digital clock and the system tray to the right.
3. I got rid of the folder view on the desktop. I moved my home folder to the panel which can be used to launch Dolphin. Quick Access is next to it, which works much like Finder in Mac OSX but without having to fully open Dolphin.
4. I moved the task manager above the panel so minimized windows will hover over it for easy access. I changed the task manager settings to not group tasks and to show only minimized windows.
5. I like having the calendar visible rather than clicking the digital clock to view it. The Plasmoid on the top right is the LCD weather station.
6. I am using the default Vista font Segoe UI from my Windows partition as the default system font. It provides a crisp, clean look.
7. The desktop theme is called Bare Naked, which gives the transparent effect.
8. Lastly, I am using a Mac wallpaper I found on the web. Any wallpaper will work nicely.
Once you get your KDE arranged to your personal tastes, you can backup the ~/.kde directory. If you mess something up you can always restore this folder to go back to your previous state.
Also, for anyone who is curious, my distribution is Kubuntu 9.04 with the latest KDE update, 4.3.2 from the Kubuntu Backports PPA. My laptop is a Dell Vostro 1510. My desktop PC is a Dell Dimension 4600.
1. I moved my most often used icons to the bottom panel so I can avoid wasting time browsing through Kmenu to find programs. Since these programs are now readily visible, I have room for some lesser used programs on the "Favorites" tab of Kmenu (e.g. Ksnapshot, Gimp).
2. I moved the digital clock to the center of the panel and added an analog clock to the center of the desktop. The trash bin is now to the left of the digital clock and the system tray to the right.
3. I got rid of the folder view on the desktop. I moved my home folder to the panel which can be used to launch Dolphin. Quick Access is next to it, which works much like Finder in Mac OSX but without having to fully open Dolphin.
4. I moved the task manager above the panel so minimized windows will hover over it for easy access. I changed the task manager settings to not group tasks and to show only minimized windows.
5. I like having the calendar visible rather than clicking the digital clock to view it. The Plasmoid on the top right is the LCD weather station.
6. I am using the default Vista font Segoe UI from my Windows partition as the default system font. It provides a crisp, clean look.
7. The desktop theme is called Bare Naked, which gives the transparent effect.
8. Lastly, I am using a Mac wallpaper I found on the web. Any wallpaper will work nicely.
Once you get your KDE arranged to your personal tastes, you can backup the ~/.kde directory. If you mess something up you can always restore this folder to go back to your previous state.
Also, for anyone who is curious, my distribution is Kubuntu 9.04 with the latest KDE update, 4.3.2 from the Kubuntu Backports PPA. My laptop is a Dell Vostro 1510. My desktop PC is a Dell Dimension 4600.
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