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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>it looks really kool....</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=dejamuse@yahoo.com href="mailto:dejamuse@yahoo.com">Jeff</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=testing@lists.pcbsd.org
href="mailto:testing@lists.pcbsd.org">testing@lists.pcbsd.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, July 25, 2009 9:22
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [PC-BSD Testing] KDE's new
Plasma netbook interface shines in smallplaces</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<H2 class=news-item-title>KDE's new Plasma netbook interface shines in
small places</H2>
<P class=news-item-teaser>A new Plasma-based custom KDE desktop shell is
designed to deliver a better user experience on netbooks and other
devices with small screens. Ars takes a look at the prototype to see how
it compares to the conventional KDE desktop environment.</P>
<P class=news-item-teaser><BR></P>By <A
href="http://arstechnica.com/authors/ryan-paul/">Ryan Paul</A> | Last
updated <ABBR class=datetime title=2009-07-24T09:20:00-06:00>July 24,
2009</ABBR> - Ars Technica<BR><BR><BR>
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<DIV style="WIDTH: 640px" class=news-item-figure>
<DIV class=news-item-figure-image><IMG
alt="KDE's new Plasma netbook interface shines in small places"
src="http://static.arstechnica.com/assets/2009/07/netbook-newspaper-thumb-640xauto-7233.png">
</DIV>
<DIV class=news-item-figure-caption>
<DIV class=news-item-figure-caption-text>KDE Plasma Netbook shell</DIV>
<DIV class=news-item-figure-caption-byline><A
href="http://www.notmart.org/index.php/Software/Update_on_this_netbook_thinghie">Marco
Martin</A> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=news-item-text>
<P>The Linux platform is beginning to gain mainstream acceptance on
low-cost netbook devices. The growing popularity of netbooks presents a
major opportunity for the open source operating system, but it also
comes with some challenges. One of the most significant problems is that
much of the open source software that is available today for the desktop
is not designed to deliver an optimal user experience on small
screens.</P>
<P>Linux distributors and application developers are exploring alternate
user interface concepts that will work well at low resolutions without
compromising productivity. There is also a clear need to boost usability
as netbook devices are broadly intended for the regular consumer market.
The KDE desktop environment has recently gained a new specialized
netbook interface that leverages the strengths of KDE's unique Plasma
technology. Ars tested it on Kubuntu to see how it compares to the
conventional KDE desktop experience.</P>
<H2>About Plasma</H2>
<P>Plasma is a versatile framework that provides the underlying
infrastructure of the KDE desktop shell. It hosts several core parts of
the user interface, including the panels, desktop icons, and launchers.
Plasma's rich architecture encourages a clean separation between
functionality and presentation. The presentation layer is resolution
independent, which gives it an advantage on devices with unusual screen
sizes.</P>
<P>The individual desktop widgets that make up a Plasma-based
environment are called plasmoids. They communicate with Plasma's data
engine backend to retrieve information which is then displayed to the
user. Plasmoids are placed in "containment" objects which control how
plasmoids are organized on the screen. Users can have multiple Plasma
"activities," which each have their own sets of containments and
plasmoids. Plasma's modular approach is advantageous because it makes it
much easier for developers to build a custom desktop experience without
having to completely reinvent the wheel.</P>
<P>The KDE netbook interface consists of custom Plasma containments and
a special theme for KDE's KWin window manager. A slim panel at the very
top of the screen provides access to the Plasma activity switcher and
displays notification area icons. The environment has two activities:
the Newspaper activity, which shows informational plasmoids, and the
Applications activity, which serves as a launcher.</P>
<H2>Newspaper containment</H2>
<P>Unlike the desktop version of KDE, the netbook interface doesn't
allow plasmoids to be arbitrarily rotated and placed in the desktop
space. The Newspaper activity has a special containment that organizes
plasmoids into columns and has scrollbars to permit overflow. As the
name implies, it is modeled after a newspaper layout. When the newspaper
containment is in editable mode, which can be toggled by clicking the
Plasma icon in the bottom-left corner of the desktop, users can click an
drag plasmoids to rearrange their order in the layout.</P>
<P>The newspaper containment is designed to work with the growing
assortment of plasmoids that are used today on regular KDE desktops. For
example, there is a calendar, a weather widget, a Twitter interface, a
todo list that synchronizes with Remember the Milk, an RSS tool, and a
messaging notification display that will show you incoming e-mail and
instant messages. I tested many of these in netbook interface's column
layout.</P>
<P>The newspaper containment feels a lot like Internet dashboards, such
as iGoogle or Netvibes. It makes a wide range of information immediately
accessible in a manner that is well-organized and easy to navigate. The
current implementation still has some bugs, however, and needs
additional refinement before it will be ready for widespread use.
Widgets that don't fit neatly into columns can be somewhat problematic.
Some widgets are stretched too wide or don't use enough vertical
space.</P>
<H2>Application launcher</H2>
<P>The KDE netbook developers believe that conventional application
launcher interfaces, like the one in the <A
href="http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/06/hands-on-with-the-ubuntu-netbook-remix.ars">Ubuntu
Netbook Remix</A>, misuse the desktop and don't provide enough
functionality. To improve on the concept and do more than just display a
static list of icons, the KDE netbook developers are repurposing
krunner, KDE's interactive query-based launcher.</P>
<P>The Applications activity has a "search and launch" containment that
behaves a lot like krunner, but is spread out across the whole desktop.
When the user types a query into the search box, the contents of the
containment will be populated with launchers that match the query. There
are many features that the developers plan to add as they flesh out the
search containment, such as a strip that will save the user's favorite
launchers.</P>
<DIV class=CenteredImage><IMG
src="http://static.arstechnica.com/netbook-sal.png"> </DIV>
<P>We really like the idea of using a search-based application launcher
directly in the user interface. We''ve explored the benefits of that
approach in previous articles, particularly in our latest review of
GNOME-Do. The manner in which this functionality is integrated into the
KDE netbook interface is intriguing and has some noteworthy advantages.
It boosts the discoverability of the query system by making it more
accessible to regular users rather than hiding it behind a keyboard
shortcut.</P>
<H2>Window management concepts</H2>
<P>The netbook environment uses some of the sophisticated window
management features that are facilitated by KWin's compositing
capabilities. Instead of displaying a task list, for example, the top
panel has a button that users can click to invoke KWin's "Show Windows"
feature, a clone of Apple's Exposé. The environment also uses a custom
KWin theme that saves screen space by eliminating window titlebars and
automatically maximizing all windows. A button with an "X" icon in the
top panel can be used to close the active window.</P>
<P>Artur Souza and Marco Martin, the developers behind the project,
introduced it to the KDE community in a presentation at the recent Gran
Canaria Desktop Summit. In a <A
href="http://blog.morpheuz.cc/14/07/2009/theory-behind-code/">blog
entry</A>, Souza says that the custom interface was well-received by the
KDE community and has already attracted some attention from hardware
vendors and Linux distributors.</P>
<P>"We want to create a new user experience on these devices. KDE is not
about a specific project anymore, it's all about the user experience:
starting on the desktop shell and going far away on social interaction,
media, etc," wrote Souza. "I really hope that the community and also
vendors can see the potential that we have in our hands and start
helping us on this journey and to believe that it's possible."</P>
<P>Marco, who also wrote a <A
href="http://www.notmart.org/index.php/Software/Update_on_this_netbook_thinghie">blog
entry</A> about the desktop summit presentation, has <A
href="http://www.notmart.org/misc/netbook-july2009.ogv">published a
video</A> that demonstrates the netbook user interface in action. You
can see the special containments and other features that are part of the
environment.</P>
<H2>Conclusion</H2>
<P>The KDE netbook project is still in the early prototype stage and
will not be ready for the upcoming KDE 4.3 release. Lead Plasma
developer Aaron Seigo has listed it in the <A
href="http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2009/07/plasma-in-kde-44.html">roadmap
for KDE 4.4</A>, which means it could be ready for users in January.</P>
<P>The prototype is an intriguing real-world demonstration of Plasma's
versatility and the strength of KDE's architecture. It's also a good
example of how creativity and innovation can move Linux beyond
traditional desktop paradigms and make it shine in small spaces. For
more details, check out Souza's <A
href="http://morpheuz.cc/netbook-paper.pdf">paper</A> about the project
and <A href="http://morpheuz.cc/netbook.pdf">presentation
slides</A>.</P></DIV></DIV><BR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
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