widget dashboard discussion

[woodsmoke]

Hi

I did not want to steal the other thread from dmeyer (What Widgets/Plasmoids would you Like )so I started this.

It is to be assumed that I do not know all the ins and outs of the dashboard, so I actively request that other people post their information.

a) quoting from ....james147:

The widget dash board is a place you can put widgets on like the desktop, but it will display over applications so you don't need to minimise windows to use widgets. It can share the widgets that are on the desktop, so when you open it it will show the same widgets that are on you desktop or you can configure it to show its own independent widget set.

b) It took quite a while for me to figure out that one does not "see" the widgets/plasmoids "in" the little box when the widget dashboard is activated.

c) "The" widget dashboard is ALL of the semi-transparent thing that overlays the desktop when the widget desktop is activated.

d) The dashboard can be activated by ctrl-F10 or it can be activated by adding ANOTHER lol widget to the desktop from the normal add widgets in the (former) cashew.

e) First do this:

Kicker/System Settings/workspace behaviour/workspace and change:

show desktop widgets

to:

show an independent widget set

f) activate the widget dashboard however you like and you will see an "overlay" of the whole desktop.

That COMPLETE overlay "is" the dashboard.

The little box at the top is not "the" dashboard and does not display linkable icons in it.

g) right click on the "overlay" and select add widgets and add any widgets you wish.

h) added widgets go "into" the "overlay" and not onto the "desktop" as one, this author included, normally has done.

j) when one clicks the "x" on the dashboard box at the top, the "overlay/dashboard" disappears and one sees the normal desktop.

One can also hit ctrl+F2 again, or esc and it will also disappear.

k) activation of the dashboard re-displays the dashboard/overlay and one can interact with the widgets, or see them, as in a clock etc.

l) one is supposed to be able to change the appearance of the overlay/dashboard by right clicking on the overlay/dashboard and then "desktop dashboard settings".

However, this apparently only works if one does NOT have compositing turned on.

I cannot get the desktop dashboard settings to do anything, that may be to compositing being turned on, or it may not be presently functional. If anyone has information about this please feel free to post such.

So, what is the "function" of the activity dashboard?

It is to clear the desktop of the "clutter" that is caused by having widgets thereupon!

Again, if anyone has additions, comments, or knows of errors in this post please post them.

woodsmoke

[james147]

So, what is the "function" of the activity dashboard?

It is to clear the desktop of the "clutter" that is caused by having widgets thereupon!

1) to give you access to your desktop widgets without needing to minimize all your windows (the dash board appears over other windows)
2) to give you access to widgets you don't want on your desktop
3) to give you more space to place widgets
4) anything else you can think of

[woodsmoke]

thanks james147

If you had not mentioned it, I would probably never have even realized it is there.

You may not have noticed that, in an edit, I refrerenced your post if you posted before the edit.

thanks again!

woodsmoke

[dmeyer]

Yeah plasma is full of all these hidden gems. There really should be an A-Z of KDE4 Plasma-Desktop which could really highlight all these gems. I've even met people who don't use krunner because the default shortcut is poor and that the command rather than task orientated interface seems so useless. I have just a few good krunner runners, task orientation, floats in the middle of my screen and mapped to Alt+Space and its an amazing productivity tool.

Heck, even nepomuk is incredibly powerful when you figure out how to use it. Akonadi has finally matured to the point of being awesome. Arghhh drives me nuts that KDE is full of this amazing stuff and people are unaware of it.

My one friend even used to use Gnome3 just because he felt the overview was so good but then I showed him desktop grid and he's changed to KDE4.

[woodsmoke]

Thanks for the comment.

I have always been intrigued by the "desktop grid" but never could seem to get it to work.

woodsmoke