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- HerbertScrunge, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29Nice overview again, Troy :) The KDE4.0 situation is looking much less bleak compared to the old Beta 1, but I'm still glad that they have chosen to delay release.
Some semi-official screenshots here:
http://vizzzion.org/stuff/screenshots/kde-4.0-beta2/
Some completely unofficial ones here:
http://www.jarzebski.pl/read/kde-4-rev-705212.so
("Connect 4" has never looked so swish ;))
I think Nuno is now aware of the eye-watering contrast problems of the Oxygen widget style, so hopefully we'll see some better choice of colours for the final release. The style itself is still mid-development (a re-write from scratch began a month or so ago).
"Essential" plasmoids such as the System Tray and Task Bar have now been moved from the obscure playground/ into kdebase/, so should be present by default in the next Beta. The actual layout of the panels, task bar, system tray, K-menu etc still seems to be in flux - Nuno favoured having the K-Menu being at the bottom centre of the screen (decidedly un-Windows-like :)) but this was criticised as violating Fitt's Law, so it might end up just being put back in the corner.
I also got huge performance problems with kwin_composite (I'd estimate that it is roughly 1/5 as smooth as Beryl on the same hardware), but I don't think this has anything to do with the architecture of kwin and so could just be a very simple mistake (kwin_composite has received very little testing, and all of the devs have nVidia cards only, IIRC). Hopefully we'll have a lot more testers (and developers!) come release time. - dualscreenman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17Excuse me while I go wet my metaphorical panties here.
Given the improvement shown here over Beta 1, the 2 extra months should be *very* well worth the wait. - Ramble, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17I'm a gnome guy but this looks really quite nice.
- Tsiolkovsky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I like the new look a lot. Very clean. There is only a bit too little of contrast.And it is great to hear how many nice new technologies are behind this new look. Even the very first version of the KDE 4 series looks very promising and exciting. I can only wonder what more can be built on these foundations in the next versions o KDE 4 series.
- cduquette, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8I think this is a great step forward, but at the same time there is much work to do. Personally I think the art is problematic. The icons need better defined borders, many of them blend right into the background (which isn't good for people with vision issues). The widgets themselves all blend together also. The "Fit to Width" dropdown blends right in with the theme. It's also hard to distinguish where the window border ends, menu begins and where the menu ends and the toolbar begins. They are using a gradient on the menu it's like #F9F9F9 to #F4F4F4, but I can't see it on my monitor.
- troyunrau, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Because a lot of people don't know how KDE is organized. They just use it and never learn anything new :)
- kaisersoz3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Great I spend way to much free time playing with KDE now. I'm in desperate need of excuses not to install it.
- thecheatah, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Let me give you some advice. When someone is showing you something that they are working, NEVER say it sucks. Just give advice on what you think needs improvement.
- regeya, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I'll agree with the first post on Ars. I even sort of liked Plastik; with the right color scheme it was bearable. Is it supposed to be lickable? Is it supposed to be bubbly? Is it supposed to be flat? How many directions is the lighting coming from? Yeesh
Aside from that, I'm REALLY looking forward to KDE4 final; but guys, don't rush it. - Roger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Thats the fun part of Linux.
- sloppychris, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4One of KDE's most heralded advantages (or disadvantages, depending on who you are) is the extent which it can be customized.
- Cbeck527, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Digg is getting more like 4chan everyday.
- mucnix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3"I'm not saying that it sucks"
I think he already addressed that... - pinetree, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Not enough contrast. While things look nice from an aesthetic point of view, usability is low because of the low contrast. Icons and other visual effects are supposed to make it easy to find the right thing quickly, but that won't happen if you have to focus on something for a long time to figure out what it is with such subtle colors and small features. I think squinting at that screen all day would be quite painful.
- UKsHaDoW, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Linus thinks elitist disto fanboys are idiots. Lots of Linux Develepers use ubuntu.
- thecheatah, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4I am on linux (Ubuntu Feisty) and my font looks sexy as hell. Really looks beautiful :).
- ordminute, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I realise it's in Beta but I must say the overall icon design looks really confused!
1. The lighting on the implied 3D effects on the icons differs in direction from icon to icon. When you're implying 3D objects you're working with light. Lighting is vital!
2. The back/FWD arrows look like great stone adzes while right next door is a little golden star from tinseltown (see bookmark.png in this image http://vizzzion.org/stuff/screenshots/kde-4.0-beta2/dolphin-previews.png).
3. Can anyone explain what that ghostly 'Desktop Toolbox' is in the top left corner?
Aside from this issue and the oddly lost panel at the base it is looking quite good. The rendering itself is even and smooth.
As for icons, GNOME clearly has the upper hand for now.. - harlequinade, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Beautiful. So when can we expect it to debut on Adept so we can all upgrade?
- kwilliam, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Those are beautiful screenshots!
- mikm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Official release is December-ish. Betas will probably be in the repos of many distros before that.
- jaiwithani, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2There will likely be Ubuntu packages released within days or hours of the official release; say around Christmas.
- Cbeck527, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2doublepost
- mikm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Definitely. A lack of a consistent and "nice-looking" UI is my only real complaint about KDE/KDE apps. For new users, Gnome (at least to me) seems a bit easier to use and nicer-looking. (For example, Pidgin's UI is a hell of a lot nicer than kopete).
- daftman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2May be instead of criticizing, you can actually help out to make it better? Send them a design or a screen shot or concept art, especially since you seem to be so "artistic" about what looks great and what doesn't.
- HerbertScrunge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1" Perhaps a document of user interface guidelines needs to be produced, if there isn't one already."
KDE's HIG has historically been pretty weak, but a new one is being worked on for the KDE4 series. I'm not sure what kind of state it's in, though, nor what state it will be for KDE4.0, but I'm certain it will improve throughout the KDE4 series and traditionally, KDE devs don't seem to be averse to adhering to UI guidelines when they are offered (in fact, many seem to be glad to have a proper UI guru telling them how to fix their stuff up :)). - lengau, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1They do? I never noticed...
Seriously. Look at both Windows and OS X. Every program has its own "theme". Apparently that's the in thing nowadays. - oobuntu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1>> Some completely unofficial ones here:
Drool...however i can't read polish - i wonder are those desktop shots from the default config , or has he spend days tweaking it? I hope its the default! - morphie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The mockup: http://www.kde-look.org/CONTENT/content-pre1/28476-1.jpg
The real: http://vizzzion.org/stuff/screenshots/kde-4.0-beta2/dolphin-previews.png
And we are complaining about the longhorn-reset?? - superstoned, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1that was not an official mockup, but just what some guy made. It looked great, sure, but it's not official at all. There are some mockups somewhere, can't find them, but they're old and very much looking like oxygen now is...
- superstoned, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1found it:
http://kde-look.org/content/preview.php?preview=2&id=64298&file1=64298-1.jpeg&file2=64298-2.jpeg&file3=64298-3.jpeg&name=Is+This+It%3F - Roger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1@daftman
So no criticism allowed, huh? Great attitude. Just admit the interface isn't what it should be and stop being an ass. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Call it what you want fanboy, I don't care. I'll say all the negative things about ubuntu and its fanboys that I want.
- daftman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1May be. But that's most likely because they use the same framework for their GUI: Cocoa, MFC, .NET, etc
In Linux, there are many different ways to do things. - dualscreenman, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Two different applications have different UIs? ZOMG!
- crossers, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0it's look nice and when we can use it?
http://www.shpe-sac.org
http://www.ocflex.com/
http://www.trgovinca.org
http://www.chasr.org/ - Gavagai80, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I gather the art is supposed to be placeholders and works in progress.
- Cipher054, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0"As an example, I plugged one of my flash drives into my system today. It didn't show up on the desktop as I expected it to (it probably will though before the final release hits the streets), but when I opened Dolphin, I found that the device was simply automatically registered and showed up in the sidebar alongside my Home, Trash, and other important folders."
i like that, solid make that work ??? - dualscreenman, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3No u.
- wellyuk, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1And I was talking about the overall look and feel, although a fair comment.. two different applications. However, the Gnome desktop manager seems to have come up with a consistent look and feel across most gnome applications I've ever used (I'm an OS X user). Perhaps a document of user interface guidelines needs to be produced, if there isn't one already.
- harlequinade, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0Beautiful. So when can we expect it to debut on Adept so we can all upgrade?
- wellyuk, on 10/10/2007, -5/+3OS X and Windows application developers seem to be able to build software to a consistent look and feel.
- Roger, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Sshh, zealots hate when you point out the obvious.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2No one cares that you are using ubuntu, get off it fanboy.
- wellyuk, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Agreed. Font rendering isn't very pretty in Linux but that said, it's certainly no worse than under Windows.
- Coldkill, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Stop trolling
- wellyuk, on 10/10/2007, -11/+5Hmm.. looks pretty ugly. Too grey, too much white space, the icons and buttons are pretty ugly too. Does the taskbar have to be so big? In fact, everything seems to be huge. The space between the icons and and the text below it, you could almost fit a bus between. How about separating the text bar from the menu bar with some divider/separator of some description?
Taking a look at http://vizzzion.org/stuff/screenshots/kde-4.0-beta2/gwenview.png and http://vizzzion.org/stuff/screenshots/kde-4.0-beta2/okular.png - there just doesn't seem to be any consistency at all.
I don't doubt that this, being Linux related, will be well configurable but out of the box, it's not that attractive in my opinion. - Chicken001, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1Personally I don't really like it. I never really liked KDE because the style just doesn't fit for me. I'm not saying that it sucks, it's just I don't like it. I've never really seen a super-sleek and sexy KDE desktop yet; I've seen many sexy Gnome & XFce desktops though. Then I am a minimalistic person so, who knows.
- betasp, on 10/10/2007, -9/+2When is Linux going to get font rendering correct? Seriously, is anyone still working the terrible rendering of fonts within the GUI?
- handsoffme, on 10/10/2007, -10/+2Wait, so why is half the article about compiling it?
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