----- Original Message ---- > From: Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@xxxxxxx> > To: kde@xxxxxxxxxxxx > Sent: Tue, 31 May, 2011 6:18:53 > Subject: Re: How do I remove the "new activity" item from the desktop? > > Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. posted on Mon, 30 May 2011 10:49:17 -0500 as > excerpted: > > > In <4DE3A208.2050107@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Felix Miata wrote: > >>On 2011/05/30 03:51 (GMT-0700) John Woodhouse composed: > >>> Frankly what it boils down to is I can't see the point in having a > >>> largely empty screen. Many many others can't either. > >> > >>I can't see the point of having any icons on the desktop. > > > > Same here. I use a tiling window manager, so I only see the desktop > > when I'm not already doing something. Excepting how I've used widgets > > to partially replace all my Kicker applets, I really don't see a use for > > them. > > I'd have probably replied under John W's sibling-to-yours reply, but as he > posted "upside down", screwing up the context quoting (please use standard > quote-context, reply-in-context, John, it drastically simplifies keeping > track of quoting and context in long threads)... > > Long post, rather rambling, but perhaps it'll be interesting to people... > Among other things, there's some interesting info about X menus that might > be new to some... a screenshot link... and a description of all the system > monitors I run... Go ahead and skip it if none of that nor extended > ramblings on the thread at hand sound interesting... > > On my desktop/workstation, I take the middle road. > > I have dual 22" full-HD monitors, 1920x1080, stacked for > 1920x2160. Reduced 256-color 1/3 size Screenshot here: > http://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=59229 > (That was the "good" shot on a report of bad panel > placement, bug #271532 if anyone's interested.) > > That's enough screen real-estate to not have to be /too/ worried about > screen space (tho I'm hoping to upgrade to dual 42" monitors at some > point, same resolution but nearly 4X the display area!), and I have the > pseudo-xinerama options setup so apps maximize to only one monitor. > > The bottom monitor is my "work" monitor, where I often run dual half- > maximized windows side-by-side (kwin's drag-to-side half-max is great for > this!), for konsole or browsers or compose-windows for replies like this. > Triple-pane apps such as my mail/news/rss clients (kmail/pan/akregator, > respectively) get "almost-maximized" to full width but just title-bar- > short of full-height, using kwin's window rules. This arrangement > conveniently allows me to work with the almost-maxed window and 1-2 half- > maxed windows all accessible, clicking in say akregator to open a browser > or pan to open a reply window, covering half the monitor, with the almost- > maxed window in the other half. Or I can have two half-maxed windows with > just the titlebars clickable behind the almost-maxed big window. It's an > arrangement that works very well on 1920-width monitors, since half-maxed > is then 960 width, generally enough to browse or type/read in a terminal > or reply window reasonably comfortably, with almost-maxed three-pane > windows comfortably sized as well, while still allowing access to the half- > maxed apps via the titlebar. > I'm on a number of forums that top post normally but I can try and remember to switch on here. Rambling yes but the post does indicate several ways of cracking the egg and why activities may be of use to some if not all. I would also hope that it may help others to give changes a chance rather than not even attempting to use them. I've avoided dual monitors so far. Many use one as a sort of launch point and another for actually working within but it can be useful to mix that a little in the interests of real estate. Task bars are likely to always fit in nicely for people who use just one monitor. I run a 22ins monitor at 1680x1050 that's been with me for many years. About 9 I think. Now hd tv's are available I am wondering about moving in that direction but there really isn't much of a gain in resolution so it's a question of just how big one can go before the dot size/spacing becomes a problem. I run the monitor at 100dpi which produces nice tight clear text. that is a little small for ageing eyes without some aid. At some point I intend to play with this and x scaling to see just how large I can go before things get objectionable. There is even another possible gain from using a TV. My graphics card has an hdmi output which means it's possible to gain a decent sound system as well all in the same unit.. Just how well it will work from a distance of under a couple of feet though is questionable. Back to the topic - nearly. There is one person kicking about that refers to the thing in the top right corner as a hemroid. I might add that as I eat cashew nuts regularly in some respect I agree with him. He just wants kde 3.x and will not give anything else a chance. However a cashew is a rather poor description. I'm a little disappointed to see kde drifting off in this direction. It happens because in real terms it is just a method of showing the same things in a different manner and quaint names crop up as a result as it makes them newer and supposedly more exciting. This sort of thing doesn't really help new comers at all as exciting as it may seem. Widgets fall into a similar vein really but in this case the term is meaningful. It's interesting to note that for all I know a cashew might be something entirely different and not the hemroid which just goes to show how useful a name it really is. John ___________________________________________________ This message is from the kde mailing list. Account management: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde. Archives: http://lists.kde.org/. More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.