UI enhancement (KDE 3.1.3)

Various KDE 1.-4. Improvements

Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): Add the source-code for this project on opencode.net

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Description:

UPDATE:: Shadowed text patch for KDE 3.1.3.

This patch has been cleaned to contain only 2 files for kdelibs and kdebase.
It maintains binary compatibility with the original code so you don't have to compile everything all over again.

** I'd like to thank to all of you for your interest and contributions to this patch. **
Last changelog:

17 years ago

07 Aug: The download link contains patches to 3_1_3_RELEASE. Textar has already made RPMs for Mandrake beta (second shot).

14 Jul: the patch is in the CVS now, so the download is out of date until I 'll get around to backport it to 3.1 :)

23 Jun: new version with Bernardo's fix for kdesktop crashing.

20Jun: New patch (this time has 2 diff files: one for kdebase, one for kdelibs) . Also some code cleanup (less debug messages and some API docs).

Update 3
New patch created against a fresh copy of kde. 2 files. The config file shows an example of the default/selected configuration.

Update 2 :)
BIG THANKS to Bernardo for his algorithm implementation ("acurate" in shadowconfig)

UPDATE: 6:08 GMT> fixed nasty bug causing crash on bogus shadow thickness. Improved the size of the rendered shadow (some cutting off on the left handside was observed)

A configuration is provided via Background/advanced.

The user can add custom configurations to the predefined ones in kdesktoprc:
[CustomShadow]
ShadowNames=Name 1,Name 2,Name 3,Name 4
ShadowItem.1=
ShadowItem.2=
ShadowItem.3=
...

and use the shadowconfig program to generate the entry strings.

This patch does no longer include the kicker pixmap patch.

139 comments
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mononoke

18 years ago

are very useful, if people have got multiple desktops with diffrent (light/dark) wallpapers, or even if they just have got 1 desktop but changing their wallpaper like a slideshow.
i often got this kind of problem..
there are so many beautiful wallpapers, so this "shadowed-text" feature is already expected since a long time (in my point of view:).

another good idea could be, to generally handle each virtual desktop individually. so that people can set:

- diffrent text color,
- hide all icons on "this" desktop (presentation mode),
- mute sound on this desktop,
- etc.

...on every desktop diffrently.
how about this ?

thx

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equinoxe

18 years ago

OUCH!

imho per-desktop handling is a huge development task with relatively little usability gain. The halo should solve the different backgrounds problem elegantly enough.

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mononoke

18 years ago

sure, a kind of shadow is really nice, if there is "no" and i mean "no" speed decreasement using that. a diffrent text-color for example should not be so heavy..
my idea was, to provide the features that are already there for individual virtual desktops. just instances of something that is already implemented.
but of course, if that's really too much work and less usability, and the shadowed text is not too slow (if refreshing desktop, etc.)
that's more then ok :)

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mononoke

18 years ago

are very useful, if people have got multiple desktops with diffrent (light/dark) wallpapers, or even if they just have got 1 desktop but changing their wallpaper like a slideshow.
i often got this kind of problem..
there are so many beautiful wallpapers, so this "shadowed-text" feature is already expected since a long time (in my point of view:).

another good idea could be, to generally handle each virtual desktop individually. so that people can set:

- diffrent text color,
- hide all icons on >this

Report

mononoke

18 years ago

are very useful, if people have got multiple desktops with diffrent (light/dark) wallpapers, or even if they just have got 1 desktop but changing their wallpaper like a slideshow.
i often got this kind of problem..
there are so many beautiful wallpapers, so this "shadowed-text" feature is already expected since a long time (in my point of view:).

another good idea could be, to generally handle each virtual desktop individually. so that people can set:

- diffrent text color,
- hide all icons on >this

Report

mkone

18 years ago

I had been looking at my desktop the other time and had a nice wallpaper and the desktop didn't look right. On desktop's with a lot of colors, readability is very poor. That is what icons are therefore hey, but sometimes you have a mass of similar icons. This is a 'brilliant' suggestion, and if possible, if such a feature isn't there in 3.1, maybe this could be the thing they bulldoze into it, if only as an experimnetal feature turned off by default.

I wonder who voted against this proposal though. A further suggestion though. Maybe have a little function which determines the color of the 'halo'. Maybe just the complement of the color.

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equinoxe

18 years ago

Yes, I thought about having a complement function.

It would be an easy(er) implementation task than tweaking the c/center module to add this feature, and certainly more confortable for the user. On the other hand, i'll have to tweak the panel anyway to enable/disable the feature (there's no point having a halo on a black background :) ).

I'll try to implement a decent complement method and see how it behaves on the mid range text (gray [100-170]ish). However, i'd keep the halo on gray shades (white-black) and not allow color ones (I don't really see a readability advantage of a dark/light color over white/black shadow). Also it eliminates "yet another configuration task" issue (aka. keep it simple). If you think otherwise, please let me know :)

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mononoke

18 years ago

things like that give KDE a complete fancy look and feelin' :)

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elmo

18 years ago

I really like this ! Well Done - now all you need to do is put it up for downloading !

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equinoxe

18 years ago

Well, I can certainly do a diff with the cvs :). But you'll probably have to compile kde again (see description on why).

I'd appreciate though if anyone has a kde cvs and could compile kdeui with the change from the above descrption and tell me if it keeps binary compatibility :)

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schnoopy

18 years ago

I love these changes, they make it definitely more usable!

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telex

18 years ago

That's really good. I remember quite a few threads mentioning this idea, and now you've implemented it in code :)

Can you make the bubble colour dynamic, so that if the text is white, and the background light, the bubble becomes black; whereas if the text is black, the background dark, the bubble becomes white? Maybe even a configurable colour, which you can change along with the option for the desktop font colour?

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freon

17 years ago

This is esactly what I needed to create what I wanted to do:
What about when drawing menus,only
draw letters and incons ,whithout
drawing anymore ?.Your tric is needed for give the user the impresion of foregound over background and is not very difficult to make.You take an already done theme and you
don't draw a part.

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equinoxe

18 years ago

see mkone's reply below :)

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17 years ago

07 Aug: The download link contains patches to 3_1_3_RELEASE. Textar has already made RPMs for Mandrake beta (second shot).

14 Jul: the patch is in the CVS now, so the download is out of date until I 'll get around to backport it to 3.1 :)

23 Jun: new version with Bernardo's fix for kdesktop crashing.

20Jun: New patch (this time has 2 diff files: one for kdebase, one for kdelibs) . Also some code cleanup (less debug messages and some API docs).

Update 3
New patch created against a fresh copy of kde. 2 files. The config file shows an example of the default/selected configuration.

Update 2 :)
BIG THANKS to Bernardo for his algorithm implementation ("acurate" in shadowconfig)

UPDATE: 6:08 GMT> fixed nasty bug causing crash on bogus shadow thickness. Improved the size of the rendered shadow (some cutting off on the left handside was observed)

A configuration is provided via Background/advanced.

The user can add custom configurations to the predefined ones in kdesktoprc:
[CustomShadow]
ShadowNames=Name 1,Name 2,Name 3,Name 4
ShadowItem.1=
ShadowItem.2=
ShadowItem.3=
...

and use the shadowconfig program to generate the entry strings.

This patch does no longer include the kicker pixmap patch.

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