this email meandered from plasma to kwin, so I'm crossposting. remember to keep both lists in replies please :)
so I was thinking a bit about virtual desktops and wallpaper n'stuff. it seems to me that the majority of people using the per-virtual-desktop feature are really only interested in the per-desktop wallpaper part of it. (do correct me if I'm wrong about that :) now, ignoring for a moment the people who do want activities tied to virtual desktops... the ones who want different walpaper, I only really see two reasons they want it: 1) to easily identify which desktop they're on or which desktop they want to be on (a big colourful picture requires *much* less thought than text. heck, just removing the colours from window icons in alt-tab has made me have to think a lot more) 2) pretty shiny desktop-cube effect I'm sure there's a few people who just want it because they got used to it in kde3, too, but let's ignore them for now :) now, me, being composite-less... if I still wanted this, I'd be happy with a wallpaper plugin that let me set per-desktop wallpaper. but most people seem to have composite, and given how much of a fuss there was about the taskbar showing the wrong tasks, having the desktop show the 'wrong' wallpaper would annoy them much more. and actually break the second part of (1) - a grid or cube of desktops all showing the same background does not help you to quickly identify the one you want. so, wah. :( my clever idea to write a magical wallpaper plugin would only help the non-composite users. but is there anything we can do about this? put aside thoughts of wallpaper for a moment. just think: what can remind me of what desktop I'm on, without making me think? what can distinguish my virtual desktops in an effect so that I don't have to think? hmm. guess what, I just had an idea of sorts. :) let's say the config page for virtual desktops lets you set a colour for that desktop. then have desktop effects that show >1 desktop highlight each desktop with its colour, draw a border around them, something... just give each desktop its own colour in some way. and the pager could use the colours too, so it looks less like a pile of tiny boxes all alike. :) and someday I might write a little plasmoid that just sits in my panel and reminds me of which desktop I'm on, because right now I see the panel more than the desktop, and the pager doesn't give me that information... I hope nuno won't hate this idea... I know letting the user define arbitrary colours makes it hard for things to be pretty, but using colour as a label is so *useful*. anyone else got other ideas? :) -- This message brought to you by eevil bananas and the number 3. www.chani3.com
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