Ubuntu Wiki

• Created: Date(2005-10-07T12:50:27Z) by JaneWeideman

• Priority: NeedsPriority

• People: JonathanRiddell, NeedsSecond

• [https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/simplify-kde]

Summary

Kubuntu Simplify KDE - get rid of hassle popups, konqueror fixes, better kicker menus, kwallet setup, usable download dialogue

Rationale

Kubuntu Breezy made a successful start at simplifying some of the user interface problems which have been in KDE for far too long. We should continue to make changes to improve usability in dapper.

Use cases

XXX: ChristofferOlsen: Good enough, but maybe more specific use cases? Not too important though. 

Nat loads up KDE but finds himself lost amongst too many buttons, menu entries and long strings he doesn't read.

Scope

Do not redesign KDE, but make small changes where they obviously improve usabiliy without reducing the experience for most users.

Implementation

XXX: ChristofferOlsen: I'm feeling that this is vague. What about restructuring it so that the changes that should be made is listed under each program, right now fi. Konq is spread all over. I'd prefer a listed view. 

The Konqueror profile was simplifed in Breezy. Some users miss the ability to split windows. Although this is available through a right click menu on the status bar for those who know where to look it may be appropriate to add it back as a sub-menu.

Konqueror's Settings menu has 5 configure options, that should be removed to 2, Configure Web Browser and Configure File Manager, which should bring up dialogues containing the relevant modules.

KWallet's first run wizard is big and scary, it should be scaled down to just asking for a password (or better yet make kwallet use the user's system password). We will investigate best security practice to see if extending the timeout for kwallet is feasable, as constant popups asking for passwords are annoying.

The system menu should contain the contents of Storage Media and Remote Places for easier access to disks and shares.

Simplifying dialogue box strings depends on Rosetta support for Kubuntu, but the switch user dialogue and Konqueror's save password dialogue are obvious candidates.

The switch user menu in the K-Menu should be changed to a dialogue which shows the current logins and a button to start a new session and (probably further in the future) shows a list of users and a password box to let you do the actual login there.

K3B start screen should show Burn CD ISO and Burn DVD ISO as default options.

There should be no splash screens, tip of the day or first run dialogues without very good reason. Kontact still has tip if the day which should be turned off by default. If there is a splash screen (e.g. Amarok), then we should show a status update inside the splash screen, e.g. to show the user why the started application is still loading.

kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data should be removed from the desktop seed, as this brings in kappfinder.

The file transfer dialogue was changed in breezy from lots of windows to 1. The dialogue should be improved so all the data is visible within the window at one time, with a progress bar to view the status of the download.

KLaptopDaemon should have its usability reviewed. The left and right click menus should be the same as each other.

The file actions in Konqueror's right click menu should be reviewed. Currently there are two entries for viewing tar files and none of sending by e-mail.

To get user feedback on changes we should post any changes to forums and ask for people to test daily CDs. We should setup a usability forum, to ask community members to raise issues with the KDE UI, to comment on positive/negative UI designs, which are different from KDE Default UI design.

Code

XXX: ChristofferOlsen: Any more specific info on what needs to be altered and potential problems with code in regard to achieve the goals of the spec? 

Improving the look of the file transfer dialogue is not trivial because of limitations of QListView.

Outstanding issues

There is a bug in the loading of Konqueror's XML-GUI file which stop overloaded files being opened on session resume. This means we could not make the simplification changes in kubuntu-default-settings but also had to change kdebase. This makes it harder fo users to switch back to the traditional Konqueror layout. This should be fixed for those users who like their old layout.