Check out our Monthly Survey Page to see what our users are running.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

KDE developer suggests Plasma needs to be simpler by default

By - | Views: 28,155

KDE developer Nate Graham, the same person who recently said they may become the "Windows or Android" of the FOSS world is back again with more thoughts - this time about keeping it simple.

The Plasma desktop is pretty darn powerful, that's for sure and it has a massive amount of customization options for practically every little thing. For many people this is great, however it can also have a detrimental affect on the experience by new users and users less comfortable with computing. So what's the answer? Graham thinks they need to keep things simpler out of the box.

KDE Plasma Screenshot
Pictured - KDE Plasma on my own desktop.

What this doesn't mean is Plasma is going to get "dumbed-down". Sounds like they're not going to be targetting people in the lowest category of computing skill with their thinking. Noting that they would likely never be happy with KDE and that "GNOME and ElementaryOS can have those users".

Instead, the plan sounds like it's more a case of ensuring every part of Plasma comes with sane defaults "Essentially we need to fully embrace Plasma's motto of 'Simple by default, powerful when needed' [for] all KDE software, not just Plasma".

As an ending note, Graham mentions how some of this is already happening like "our simple-by-default Kirigami apps gaining power and customization opportunities, and our powerful-by-default QtWidgets apps gaining better default settings and a streamlined appearance".

What are your thoughts?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
24 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
43 comments
Page: 1/5»
  Go to:

devland Nov 30, 2021
I trust KDE. They deliver a strong yet friendly DE. Having better default settings fixes the complexity problem while also allowing power users to customize whatever they want. This has been happening for some time now as I've been on KDE for a few years. They don't always get it right the first time but it's going in the right direction in the long run.


Last edited by devland on 30 November 2021 at 4:06 pm UTC
Mohandevir Nov 30, 2021
Quoting: Liam DaweWhat this doesn't mean is Plasma is going to get "dumbed-down"

Are you talking to me?

Seriously, I was referring to SteamOS "custom KDE interface", from what I read, that might be dumbed-down (really look forward to see what Valve means by "custom KDE"). I don't expect stock KDE to be "dumbed-down", but sane defaults can't be a bad thing. I even proposed the idea of a "dumbed-down" fork of KDE, in the other thread:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/11/kde-developer-thinks-they-will-become-the-windows-or-android-of-the-foss-world/comment_id=214078


Last edited by Mohandevir on 30 November 2021 at 4:23 pm UTC
Kallestofeles Nov 30, 2021
Maybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.
Eike Nov 30, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: KallestofelesMaybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.

Running it daily for many, many years.
Don't know what you're talking about.
dibz Nov 30, 2021
I don't know. I always find these kinds of (proposed) changes frustrating to say the least. All too often instead of better defaults and better UX, you get the often-increasing mentality of "less options and heavy-handed". Or as I like to call it, high-resolution whitespace.

OR, it can also mean burying options under many sub menus which is the opposite of better UX -- you trade some things being frustrating with everything being mildly frustrating when you do that.

Unfortunately both of these methods, with the first being the more popular of the two, are becoming increasingly popular -- especially among younger developers I've noticed. Better UX is always a good thing, but I remain skeptical as often times these kinds of moves can be... the opposite of that.
ssj17vegeta Nov 30, 2021
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: KallestofelesMaybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.

Running it daily for many, many years.
Don't know what you're talking about.

Although I too have used KDE for like five years now without looking back, it is far more unstable than other DEs. I have installed it on three different machines (Kubuntu), and I still get frequent crashes with Dolphin, the plasma dashboards or even sometimes software I didn't even know were running (like the Bluetooth applet which I since deactivated). I never had such issues with Mateo or LXDE.

I'm not complaining though, the overall experience is really good and KDE really suits my tastes ! But still, yes, I wouldn't call it "perfectly stable". Or is it my distro (Kubuntu) ?
CatKiller Nov 30, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
The part of KDE's UI guidelines that I disagree with in practice (although not necessarily in principle) is that an option is only worth having if it's worth having on by default. Which means that the default experience is having everything turned up to 11 with every edge-case-useful thing enabled. And that goes against providing a sensible non-scary initial experience. So hopefully they'll reconsider that guideline in endeavouring to make things sane.


Last edited by CatKiller on 30 November 2021 at 4:50 pm UTC
Interknet Nov 30, 2021
I do agree that better defaults are needed, one of which that I think they should make it default to double-click on things; sure it's been single click for years with KDE, but I'm sure many users are changing this to double-click as they're accustom to more than the amount of users that prefer single-click because that's the way it is across many operating systems and desktop environments.

Sane defaults matter for sure, and having to change numerous things to make that experience feel identical to what's expected isn't a great start.
CyborgZeta Nov 30, 2021
One of the reasons I like Plasma is that it has sane defaults, for me, but also provides the option to customize further for those who want to do those things.

I don't like to do a lot of customizing, and I like things simple, but I DON'T want what something like GNOME offers.
Xpander Nov 30, 2021
Quoting: KallestofelesMaybe one day, in a perfect world, KDE would finally become stable enough to daily drive it. But I guess that's besides the point.

Exactly that.
Used it for last 5-6 months..while it was mostly stable and working fine, there were loads of small annoying issues and bugs and sometimes updates changed some settings or moved things around.

Switched back to MATE for now, but surely will be checking back to KDE in the future, cause i liked the overall experience minus the annoying issues.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.