Please don't turn KDE into Gnome. The reason I'm using KDE is that it's not doing half these things.
I want a clear readable UI with lots of contrast. I've got some minor sight issues and as a result it's the only sort of UI I can use.
I don't want everything to blend together into one mess. I don't microscopic monochrome featureless line art icons that all look the same. I don't want flat controls that don't distinguish between buttons and input fields unless you hover over them. I don't want gray on gray. I don't want my theming options to be whether the screen is light or dark, and which color highlights to apply.
I feel like a refugee running from one user-interface to the next as they are ruined by these insane design choices that render them completely unparseable and impossible to use for the sake of looking pretty.
A lot of the points in the linked article feel pretty otherworldly to me. I use Plasma on a StarLite with a touch screen all the time. I don't even enable tablet mode -- the default Breeze theme is already so wide that I can comfortably use it with fat fingers when I don't feel like reaching for the stylus. If I also enable tablet mode everything is so wide that it's basically unusable for anything other than taking screenshots about how spacious the UI is.
Meanwhile obvious touch screen stick points, like tooltips that never go away after clicking something in the panel or that dreadful default on-screen keyboard that never pops up when you need it and always pop up when you don't, are there, all the time, and I don't even know where to begin to fix them because they look like they're by design, not by accident.
It feels like all design stories for touchscreens are fixated on "it's not big enough". It's been big enough for like 10 years now, please, no more. This isn't where the problem is.
I loved this! Not only does it do a great job of highlighting all the impressive work the COSMIC team has done, but it also captures why I've found myself reaching for KDE more and more lately as a longtime GNOME user.
And really, that may be why I'm very interested in COSMIC: it feels fairly GNOME-like in places while also having a lot of what makes KDE so good. Could it someday be the best of both worlds? Maybe not, but it may eventually become my main desktop environment.
Meanwhile, I'm excited to increase my usage of Plasma on desktop, mobile, and TV.
COSMIC: it feels fairly GNOME-like in places while also having a lot of what makes KDE so good. Could it someday be the best of both worlds?
I'm coming from the opposite camp (long time KDE user), but i agree with you, and i have stated that Cosmic does feel sort of like a DE that lives somewhere between Gnome and KDE. Last year when i migrated my partner over to Linux (from many years of Windows use), i used Linux Mint with default Cinnamon...and my partner is perfectly happy. I had first considered moving them towards Cosmic, but i didn't feel it was quite ready for them. (Not a slight at all against Cosmic, just felt they're still early days.) But, as every year and release pass, Cosmic is getting much, much more a solid and valid option for folks as i suggest Linux for them. I won't say that i will never/ever leave KDE...because who knows if my preferences will change...but, if i were to leave KDE, and you ask me to pick today, I feel like Cosmic would be candidate #1 for me! ;-) And, as much as i adore my KDE, i wish the Cosmic team well to continue to do the great things they've been doing...since we can all win from having a couple of great DE choices!
I will say that even though Cosmic is my daily driver, it's definitely not feature-full enough to be compared to kde. It's definitely promising though!
I gotta figure out how to do the frosted glass though. That looks cool
I like it a lot but it is a little too gnomey by default. Much can be changed, but close button on left is not an option. Which is why I'm still not using it. Silly but true, even gnome/cinnamon still allows that. (40 years of muscle memory from the Mac, then Linux).
KDE is beautiful and amazing and I'd use it if it didn't lose my settings randomly on restart. Maybe this was Manjaro's fault, or Arch's fault, or Void Linux's fault. Heck, maybe it was my fault, but I hit too many bugs.
In particular, I was totally into setting up Plasma desktop widgets/applets. Getting my setup just right, only to... poof. :-(
KDE devs: god bless you, and keep doing your thing. You've built an amazing suite of stuff that hasn't quite worked for me.
mhd | 15 hours ago
That headline is causing me a cortisol spike…
muvlon | 5 hours ago
In that case, you better skip the current version number of KDE Plasma.
option | 6 hours ago
Is writing "mogging"in your headline actually jester?
dvogel | 2 hours ago
Yes. Very mid.
marginalia | 13 hours ago
Please don't turn KDE into Gnome. The reason I'm using KDE is that it's not doing half these things.
I want a clear readable UI with lots of contrast. I've got some minor sight issues and as a result it's the only sort of UI I can use.
I don't want everything to blend together into one mess. I don't microscopic monochrome featureless line art icons that all look the same. I don't want flat controls that don't distinguish between buttons and input fields unless you hover over them. I don't want gray on gray. I don't want my theming options to be whether the screen is light or dark, and which color highlights to apply.
I feel like a refugee running from one user-interface to the next as they are ruined by these insane design choices that render them completely unparseable and impossible to use for the sake of looking pretty.
x64k | 8 hours ago
A lot of the points in the linked article feel pretty otherworldly to me. I use Plasma on a StarLite with a touch screen all the time. I don't even enable tablet mode -- the default Breeze theme is already so wide that I can comfortably use it with fat fingers when I don't feel like reaching for the stylus. If I also enable tablet mode everything is so wide that it's basically unusable for anything other than taking screenshots about how spacious the UI is.
Meanwhile obvious touch screen stick points, like tooltips that never go away after clicking something in the panel or that dreadful default on-screen keyboard that never pops up when you need it and always pop up when you don't, are there, all the time, and I don't even know where to begin to fix them because they look like they're by design, not by accident.
It feels like all design stories for touchscreens are fixated on "it's not big enough". It's been big enough for like 10 years now, please, no more. This isn't where the problem is.
gnafuthegreat | 18 hours ago
I loved this! Not only does it do a great job of highlighting all the impressive work the COSMIC team has done, but it also captures why I've found myself reaching for KDE more and more lately as a longtime GNOME user.
And really, that may be why I'm very interested in COSMIC: it feels fairly GNOME-like in places while also having a lot of what makes KDE so good. Could it someday be the best of both worlds? Maybe not, but it may eventually become my main desktop environment.
Meanwhile, I'm excited to increase my usage of Plasma on desktop, mobile, and TV.
mxuribe | 5 hours ago
I'm coming from the opposite camp (long time KDE user), but i agree with you, and i have stated that Cosmic does feel sort of like a DE that lives somewhere between Gnome and KDE. Last year when i migrated my partner over to Linux (from many years of Windows use), i used Linux Mint with default Cinnamon...and my partner is perfectly happy. I had first considered moving them towards Cosmic, but i didn't feel it was quite ready for them. (Not a slight at all against Cosmic, just felt they're still early days.) But, as every year and release pass, Cosmic is getting much, much more a solid and valid option for folks as i suggest Linux for them. I won't say that i will never/ever leave KDE...because who knows if my preferences will change...but, if i were to leave KDE, and you ask me to pick today, I feel like Cosmic would be candidate #1 for me! ;-) And, as much as i adore my KDE, i wish the Cosmic team well to continue to do the great things they've been doing...since we can all win from having a couple of great DE choices!
vivicat | 8 hours ago
I will say that even though Cosmic is my daily driver, it's definitely not feature-full enough to be compared to kde. It's definitely promising though!
I gotta figure out how to do the frosted glass though. That looks cool
white-star | 6 hours ago
I like it a lot but it is a little too gnomey by default. Much can be changed, but close button on left is not an option. Which is why I'm still not using it. Silly but true, even gnome/cinnamon still allows that. (40 years of muscle memory from the Mac, then Linux).
option | 5 hours ago
KDE is beautiful and amazing and I'd use it if it didn't lose my settings randomly on restart. Maybe this was Manjaro's fault, or Arch's fault, or Void Linux's fault. Heck, maybe it was my fault, but I hit too many bugs.
In particular, I was totally into setting up Plasma desktop widgets/applets. Getting my setup just right, only to... poof. :-(
KDE devs: god bless you, and keep doing your thing. You've built an amazing suite of stuff that hasn't quite worked for me.
white-star | 2 hours ago
Not sure what happened, but you can back up your .config/kde folder.