Show Me How Good KDE Can Look!

[sunexplodes]

My apologies in advance if this is a repeat thread, I couldn't find an easily comparable one.

Anyway, here's the deal: I've been playing around with KDE lately, after using primarily GNOME and XFCE in my time with Ubuntu. I'm generally facing a fair bit of option-overload, but I'll get used to it.

What I'm NOT getting used to, though, is how UGLY all the KDE themes seem to be. Like, by and large, the themes (window decorations and kde themes alike) are just UGLIER then metacity/xfwm or gtk themes (I did find ONE kwin theme I loved [pureline], but the link was dead, and so was everything google found). And on top of that, I can't seem to get fonts to behave well with antialiasing, among other things.

Generally, I tend to most enjoy clean, minimal themes. I've liked a lot of Murrine GTK themes, as well as Aurora and the new Clearlooks engine. As far as window decorations, stuff like Carbonit, Clearlooks, StormCloud, etc.

Anyway. I'm not trying to start a flamewar, I'm just wondering where the sleek, minimal KDE themes are hiding. Show me how pretty it can be, just natively, KWIN+KDE Themes, no emerald or avant.

Oh, and if any of you dudes have extensively modified, awesome KDE desktops, I'd love to see them. I'm really just looking for inspirado, here.

[mrgnash]

No wonder there hasn't been any replies :lolflag:

I'm an unabashed aesthete, and KDE's ugliness is the main reason why I don't use it. To be fair, you CAN make KDE look quite pretty if you to the effort... but that usually involves a lot of stuffing around. Gnome? Even if you just used Clearlooks and Tango, you'd be miles ahead of Plastik.

[sunexplodes]

This is how I feel, too. But there's gotta be some stuff out there. I'm a total noob with KDE anyway, so I'm hoping some people have got some tips.

[picpak]

Here's what my KDE looked like, circa October 2005. (http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/6958/newscreenshot0ix.png)

A lot of it is just defaults. I've always thought it was pretty cool imo.

[zekica]

You can make KDE look pretty. Take a look at my desktop.

I'm using "Human for KDE" icons and standard KUbuntu theme with changed colors.

[Kingsley]

This is mine in February before I stopped using KDE.

[fuscia]

there is a klearlooks style in the repos and i'd suggest powder, or knifty for window decorations. and, of course, you can alter the colors however you wish. try the black + white icon set, too.

[sunexplodes]

Oh man, I managed to track down Pureline. This is one LOVELY kwin theme. I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I just have to get over my disdain for Konqueror and find a decent MPD frontend to replace Sonata, and we may just be in business.

[fuscia]

Oh man, I managed to track down Pureline. This is one LOVELY kwin theme. I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I just have to get over my disdain for Konqueror and find a decent MPD frontend to replace Sonata, and we may just be in business.

qmpd from qt-apps.org

[Erunno]

http://www.kdemod.ath.cx/

It looks like a cross between Vista and OS X but in a mostly positive way.

[p_quarles]

Not a big fan of most KDE styles, but I find the "web" window decorator to be all right. The screenshot is from my laptop. On my desktop I usually use Emerald themes with KDE.

(EDIT: for the record, the colors in that shot look a lot better on my laptop than they do on my desktop's monitor)

[epimer]

I agree that KDE default themes tend to be pretty ugly, but KDEmod for Arch makes a good starting point for prettying it up. This is what my desktop looks like.

Edited to include another screenshot.

[Incense]

I just have the default of OpenSUSE 10.3 right now. I think it looks great!

[mrgnash]

I agree that KDE default themes tend to be pretty ugly, but KDEmod for Arch makes a good starting point for prettying it up. This is what my desktop looks like.

Edited to include another screenshot.

That's really quite nice :)

[sunexplodes]

I've actually seen that KDEmod stuff a while ago, when I was looking into arch.. Is there a way of running it (or components thereof) in Ubuntu?

[Erunno]

I just have the default of OpenSUSE 10.3 right now. I think it looks great!

Almost the default, you changed the windec to Plastik :-)

[fuscia]

i thought i had a kde screenshot lying around. black + white icons, light grey milnoir dekorator window decoration...

[Incense]

Almost the default, you changed the windec to Plastik :-)

LOL, you're not wrong. It should be the default then!

Cheers!

[bluenova]

Here's mine. The theme is 'Kore' with Emerald window decorations.

[sunexplodes]

Well, I think I'm well on my way. I've got Konqueror sorted, decided to just keep Sonata because I can't find anything as nice in QT, and I have come up with a nice theme.

Dig:
45795

[romansroad]

this was my attempt at KDE about a month ago - link (http://studiotwentyone.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/linux-beyond-the-horizon/)

[lzfy]

KDE can look good, better then Gnome if you ask me.


Here you have two shots of my current and old desktop. Both running Kubuntu.

http://www.kde-look.org/CONTENT/content-m1/m67488-1.png
Link (http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/Only+with+KDE?content=67488)

http://www.kde-look.org/CONTENT/content-m1/m57898-1.png
Link (http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/My+desk?content=57898)

I suggest you to you use emerald as window manager if possible because that way you have more choice. And Qtqurve is the best widget style if you ask me.

[sunexplodes]

I've always found Emerald themes to be around 95% ugly, believe it or not. I've managed to find a KWin theme I like, finally.

QTCurve is pretty nice, though. I think I like Plastik a bit more.

[DarkOx]

I love KDE programs but I prefer Gnome's look and menu style. So here's KDE doing an admirable impersonation of Gnome.

http://ubuntuforums.org/g/images/90759/small/1_Desktop_Clean.png
The desktop looking clean. (http://ubuntuforums.org/g/index.php?n=1290)

http://ubuntuforums.org/g/images/90759/small/1_Desktop_Dirty.png
Now with Konq open. (http://ubuntuforums.org/g/index.php?n=1291)

[taisao]

small things that make me love kde more than gnome:
- more fonts settings
- more mouse settings (I did search a lot for a gui solution to change the scroll speed of the mouse on gnome, without luck)
- more options for desktop icon text
- slide show of desktop wallpapers
- even the plain clock is customizeable
- lots of keyboard shortcut, easy to change
- easy changing icon for a filetype

here are some screenshots (I didn't compress it, so the filesize is quite big):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/WhyYouPickMyName/desktop/sr1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/WhyYouPickMyName/desktop/sr2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/WhyYouPickMyName/desktop/sr3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/WhyYouPickMyName/desktop/sr5.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v292/WhyYouPickMyName/desktop/th_sr1.jpg

[Footissimo]

This one took a while to customise... (http://www.kde.org/screenshots/images/medium/matthiase1.jpg)

[kellemes]

I've actually seen that KDEmod stuff a while ago, when I was looking into arch.. Is there a way of running it (or components thereof) in Ubuntu?

If it's about the look this is really all you need..
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/Domino+Kubuntu+package?content=52864

The best thing about KDEmod is it's modularity.. something I cannot imagine is available for *ubuntu, for this you need Arch.

Edit: Default Arch-Icons.. http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/KDEmod+Tango+Icons?content=63486

[CptPicard]

Honestly, I always felt that it is Gnome that looks grey, blocky and arhaic... but I suppose these are matters of taste. :)

And about Konqueror... nothing beats the network transparency you get through kioslaves. :) I haven't used Nautilus for years, so I don't really know if they have managed to catch up in that department, though.

[sunexplodes]

And about Konqueror... nothing beats the network transparency you get through kioslaves. :)

Would you be so kind as to humour me and explain what that means?

[picpak]

Would you be so kind as to humour me and explain what that means?

You mean you've never stuck in an audio CD, opened up Konqueror and copied the MP3s straight from there?

That's too bad.

[pain of salvation]

Default openSUSE 10.3 is nice: http://i24.tinypic.com/5ocrrb.png

I like my Arch KDEmod too: http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4314/screenshotka9.png

[sunexplodes]

You mean you've never stuck in an audio CD, opened up Konqueror and copied the MP3s straight from there?

That's too bad.

I've been using KDE for less than 24 hours, gimme a break!

[jr.gotti]

The reason I don't use KDE is because of the onslaught of K's...and the dragon that pops up in the shutdown window. It's gaudy.

KMail
Kwrite
Kword
Kmenu
Kthis
Kthat
Kother

It's hideous.

Then your right...KDE is just plain ugly. The ONLY argument it has against gnome is it has more options. Granted, there are some options gnome could use..but 95% of them are pointless. If given the choice between everything I need, or everything I need + 100 pounds of junk, I'd opt for the first.

[adamorjames]

My friend's desktop. Yep the chat is iteam, the Linux game I am involved in :) I think the desktop looks really nice.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/8774/snapshot4lb3.th.png (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot4lb3.png)

[chameleonkid]

Can someone tell me how to get these gorgeous desktops? I installed kde theme manager but it only changes my login screen.

[taisao]

Can someone tell me how to get these gorgeous desktops? I installed kde theme manager but it only changes my login screen.

You need to get kubuntu-desktop, here is a guide: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/kde

after that install eye-candy stuffs, can be found here: http://www.kde-look.org/

[epimer]

The reason I don't use KDE is because of the onslaught of K's...and the dragon that pops up in the shutdown window. It's gaudy.

KMail
Kwrite
Kword
Kmenu
Kthis
Kthat
Kother

It's hideous.

Then your right...KDE is just plain ugly. The ONLY argument it has against gnome is it has more options. Granted, there are some options gnome could use..but 95% of them are pointless. If given the choice between everything I need, or everything I need + 100 pounds of junk, I'd opt for the first.

But the problem with that last argument is that with a severely restricted set of options (such as Gnome has) might provide everything you need, but what about the options which other people need and aren't included?

The K naming thing is fair enough - but there is a move away from it in KDE4.

On a separate point, are people basing impressions on default theming? To anyone who says that default KDE is ugly: I agree wholeheartedly! That chunky silver taskbar, the cheap-looking widgets, those plastic-y icons...the point of this thread was that you can change all of those things! If somebody said: "I don't use Gnome because I don't like having two taskbars", you'd think they were daft!

Anyway, rant over. Of course it's all about personal preference, and nobody's preference is more right than anyone else's. But the criteria on which that preference is based can at least be objectified (a little).

[jr.gotti]

But the problem with that last argument is that with a severely restricted set of options (such as Gnome has) might provide everything you need, but what about the options which other people need and aren't included?

The K naming thing is fair enough - but there is a move away from it in KDE4.

On a separate point, are people basing impressions on default theming? To anyone who says that default KDE is ugly: I agree wholeheartedly! That chunky silver taskbar, the cheap-looking widgets, those plastic-y icons...the point of this thread was that you can change all of those things! If somebody said: "I don't use Gnome because I don't like having two taskbars", you'd think they were daft!

Anyway, rant over. Of course it's all about personal preference, and nobody's preference is more right than anyone else's. But the criteria on which that preference is based can at least be objectified (a little).

Which is why I said _I need_. And gnome, for me, is easier to make look nice. I know I can make KDE look better...but why bother when gnome is so much easier?

[adamorjames]

Which is why I said _I need_. And gnome, for me, is easier to make look nice. I know I can make KDE look better...but why bother when gnome is so much easier?

Yeah me too. KDE isn't as easy.

[epimer]

Yeah me too. KDE isn't as easy.

That, I agree with. Fingers crossed for an improvement. Fingers crossed for improved ease of theming in KDE4.

[sunexplodes]

But the problem with that last argument is that with a severely restricted set of options (such as Gnome has) might provide everything you need, but what about the options which other people need and aren't included?


I think this is a bit overstated. I've never felt Gnome's options were that limited, much less severely. I think gnome has a pretty solid set of options, and is quite flexible while still maintaining a simple, easy interface.

[Arathorn]

I think I'm settled on my look for a while.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/mfmeulenbelt/schermafdruk2.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/mfmeulenbelt/schermafdruk2-1.png)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/mfmeulenbelt/schermafdruk3.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/mfmeulenbelt/schermafdruk3-1.png)

The recipe:
Windows decorator: Crystal (semi-transparent)
Widget style: Plastik
Icon Theme: Crystal Project
Mouse theme: Chameleon Pearl Regular
Wallpaper: Crisp Spring Holes (http://headvoid.deviantart.com/art/crisp-spring-holes-16306892)

Btw, is it possible to theme the Kmenu? It's rather ugly now but I don't see a KMenu section at kde-look.org

[sunexplodes]

I used that same background for AGES a couple years back! It's awesome.

[marco123]

This is how good I got my desktop to look last month when I played around with KDE. I'm a staunch Gnome user and even I think this looks good.:)

[GSF1200S]

Yeah me too. KDE isn't as easy.

Craziness. I dont usually go against the grain, but the attached screenshot took me like 5 minutes after a kdebase install. Ill post again in here when I get around again to asthetics. Gnome can look very nice too.. but dont knock KDE.

**EDIT** forgot to blank out the ip... whoops..

[sunexplodes]

Alright, after a couple days of plunging myself into KDE after a year or so of GNOME followed by 3 or 4 months of XFCE, here are my impressions:


A huge pain to get customized to my liking. A lot of options do not work how I would expect, or have odd effects on other options. The fonts took some tweaking to make the antialiasing/hinting look anything but ugly. Eventually it works, though.
Konqueror is an amazing Web Browser, once some tweaks are applied. Now that I've set it up to behave well with tabs (and close tabs on middle click), load plugins only on demand, and stripped some useless (for me) options from the UI, it is friggin fantastic.
GNOME applications look WAY better in KDE than KDE apps look in GNOME. I have always refused to use KDE apps outside of KDE because they integrate very, very badly with other DE's (which I understand is not the fault of KDE, but the other DEs). I want to use native applications, but when there's no solid alternative, I'm happy to use GNOME apps (like the Sonata MPD frontend).
I think in a lot of situations there is feature overload. It's great to be able to customize everything through a GUI, but maybe there should be a toggle. A Gnome-like level of options, and an "Advanced" level. Not everybody needs this level of tweakery, and it can be really overwhelming to a noob.
I DO think that for some reason, there are a LOT more Gnome themes that are appealing to me than there are in KDE. Everyone always recommends Domino, or Polyester, which I find kind of repugnant. I'm surprised at this, that with the size of KDE's userbase, we don't have an Aurora or Murrine equivalent.

[yatt]

Alright, after a couple days of plunging myself into KDE after a year or so of GNOME followed by 3 or 4 months of XFCE, here are my impressions:


A huge pain to get customized to my liking. A lot of options do not work how I would expect, or have odd effects on other options. The fonts took some tweaking to make the antialiasing/hinting look anything but ugly. Eventually it works, though.
Konqueror is an amazing Web Browser, once some tweaks are applied. Now that I've set it up to behave well with tabs (and close tabs on middle click), load plugins only on demand, and stripped some useless (for me) options from the UI, it is friggin fantastic.
GNOME applications look WAY better in KDE than KDE apps look in GNOME. I have always refused to use KDE apps outside of KDE fbecause they integrate very, very badly with other DE's (which I understand is not the fault of KDE, but the other DEs). I want to use native applications, but when there's no solid alternative, I'm happy to use GNOME apps (like the Sonata MPD frontend).
I think in a lot of situations there is feature overload. It's great to be able to customize everything through a GUI, but maybe there should be a toggle. A Gnome-like level of options, and an "Advanced" level. Not everybody needs this level of tweakery, and it can be really overwhelming to a noob.
I DO think that for some reason, there are a LOT more Gnome themes that are appealing to me than there are in KDE. Everyone always recommends Domino, or Polyester, which I find kind of repugnant. I'm surprised at this, that with the size of KDE's userbase, we don't have an Aurora or Murrine equivalent.

I recently got a new laptop, and decided to go with KDE instead of Gnome. I liked this thread as I generally had no idea how to make KDE look nice. I hope this turns into one of those monster threads...

Anyways, some comments on your list.

I found this to be the same. It takes along time to get the fonts to look decent, but once you do you can get something nice.
I am addicted to StumbleUpon.
Once Exaile came out, I was able to maintain a pure Gnome desktop. I used Amarok, but always had it minimized to tray because it was ugly. I would install kcontrol and QtCurve, but it did not blend at all. Gtk has a theme engine that will let it use the default Qt theme, which makes Gnome apps look nice in KDE. The only thing I do not like, is it reverts the icons back to the classic Gnome icons which look tacky compared to Oxygen. I also like that Gnome apps on KDE load faster than KDE apps on Gnome.
I think feature overload wouldn't be as much of a problem if there was a big movement in KDE to get some better defaults. KDE people (IMO anyway) seem to think that since KDE is so configurable, the defaults are irrelevant. If you do not need to configure anything, you can remain blissfully ignorant of the feature overload while the people who want that level of overload can still have it. Besides, most normal people(ie mom, dad, and everyone else not on this forum) do not change the defaults at all, so they should work.
When you really look at Murrine or Aurora, the both really look like Clearlooks with some new features added. It is a safe bet that if you do not like Clearlooks, you will not like either. Domino and Polyester are significantly more different than Aurora, Murrine, and Clearlooks are. That said, I wish that Aurora or Murrine where riped off in a KDE style, as I prefer them to any KDE style I have seen so far (I am currently using Polyester).

[bailout]

Alright, after a couple days of plunging myself into KDE after a year or so of GNOME followed by 3 or 4 months of XFCE, here are my impressions:


A huge pain to get customized to my liking. A lot of options do not work how I would expect, or have odd effects on other options. The fonts took some tweaking to make the antialiasing/hinting look anything but ugly. Eventually it works, though.
Konqueror is an amazing Web Browser, once some tweaks are applied. Now that I've set it up to behave well with tabs (and close tabs on middle click), load plugins only on demand, and stripped some useless (for me) options from the UI, it is friggin fantastic.
GNOME applications look WAY better in KDE than KDE apps look in GNOME. I have always refused to use KDE apps outside of KDE because they integrate very, very badly with other DE's (which I understand is not the fault of KDE, but the other DEs). I want to use native applications, but when there's no solid alternative, I'm happy to use GNOME apps (like the Sonata MPD frontend).
I think in a lot of situations there is feature overload. It's great to be able to customize everything through a GUI, but maybe there should be a toggle. A Gnome-like level of options, and an "Advanced" level. Not everybody needs this level of tweakery, and it can be really overwhelming to a noob.
I DO think that for some reason, there are a LOT more Gnome themes that are appealing to me than there are in KDE. Everyone always recommends Domino, or Polyester, which I find kind of repugnant. I'm surprised at this, that with the size of KDE's userbase, we don't have an Aurora or Murrine equivalent.


Good to see someone say somrthing good about konq for a change :) I think it is a great app when you learn how it works and get it set up to suit you. It is a shame that the devs didn't concetrate on making it easier to customise and split the brwoser from the file manager rather than develop dolphin to be another windows explorer clone like nautilus/thunar.

If you want more control over kde apps in gnome then I think you can install kcontrol and use that to control the way kde apps look.

[sunexplodes]

Yeah, your point about Murrine and Aurora et al is a pretty fair one. It'd be really nice to see a port of either, although I DO really like Plastik now that I've got it configured the way I like it.

As far as Amarok goes, I think it's a really, really nice player, but it's TOO full-featured for me, as my preference goes to really simple applications that do their jobs very well. For instance, what I want from a music player is: the ability to watch a directory for changes and incorporate those changes into my music library without modifying the file structure, downloading album art, and easily making playlists. While Amarok (and Exaile) does all of that wonderfully, it also does so much more, and as a result hogs a ton of memory, where using the MPD player, which runs on the command line, and a simple frontend like Sonata, I can accomplish all that with a roughly 10 Meg memory footprint.

And oh man! I forgot about stumbleupon! I used to love it, but I'd considered it an acceptable loss when I dropped the super-slow (at least on my machine) Firefox for Epiphany. I managed to fill my stumbleupon-time with social bookmarking sites and news aggregators like reddit and del.icio.us.

[sunexplodes]

Good to see someone say somrthing good about konq for a change :) I think it is a great app when you learn how it works and get it set up to suit you. It is a shame that the devs didn't concetrate on making it easier to customise and split the brwoser from the file manager rather than develop dolphin to be another windows explorer clone like nautilus/thunar.

If you want more control over kde apps in gnome then I think you can install kcontrol and use that to control the way kde apps look.

I don't even think they need to split the file management from the browser, just split the settings and configuration for the two in a more effective way. It was pretty confusing to me at first, worrying if changing a setting in the browser would change the same setting in the FM, etc.

As far as KControl goes, that solution only works if you can find KDE themes that integrate well with your gnome theme, which is rarely the case.

[SunnyRabbiera]

OMG VISTA LIKE!
Vistalike1 (http://www.linfx.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=1)
Vistalike2 (http://www.linfx.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=2)
Vistalike3 (http://www.linfx.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=0)

[kellemes]

KDE can look good, better then Gnome if you ask me.

http://www.kde-look.org/CONTENT/content-m1/m57898-1.png
Link (http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/My+desk?content=57898)

I suggest you to you use emerald as window manager if possible because that way you have more choice. And Qtqurve is the best widget style if you ask me.

This is one of the best screenshots I've ever seen..
Is this KDE on OSX? The topmenu being Mac...

I've downloaded the Reflections-Icons and will start working on it when I have some time.. :popcorn:

[NotTheMessiah]

This was my KDE - SUSE a few moths ago (Don't know about the themes though)
The beautiful icons made all the difference

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3397/snapshot12ce4.th.png (http://img130.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot12ce4.png)

[Kingsley]

OMG VISTA LIKE!
Vistalike1 (http://www.linfx.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=1)
Vistalike2 (http://www.linfx.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=2)
Vistalike3 (http://www.linfx.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=0)
The icons don't match the color of the panel at all.

[Incense]

This is one of the best screenshots I've ever seen..
Is this KDE on OSX? The topmenu being Mac...

I've downloaded the Reflections-Icons and will start working on it when I have some time.. :popcorn:

The top panel is just part of KDE under configure desktop - behavior - Current Applications Menu Bar.

[urukrama]

Well, I think I'm well on my way. I've got Konqueror sorted, decided to just keep Sonata because I can't find anything as nice in QT, and I have come up with a nice theme.

Dig:
45795

What window manager theme is that?

[kellemes]

The top panel is just part of KDE under configure desktop - behavior - Current Applications Menu Bar.

O yes, forgot about that.. never used it myself.

[sunexplodes]

What window manager theme is that?


It's called Pureline, and it's a KWin theme. The download link for it has been broken at kde-look for AGES, but I managed to find an old, old deb file of it, which wasn't compatible with Gutsy for some reason, but I extracted the files and made the damn thing work. I'm just on my way out the door right now, but I'll gzip it when I get home, so you can download it if you want, because it's super nice.

[picpak]

Man, these screenshots are nice. Has KDE seen any speed improvements lately? As in, it'd run comfortably on older computers? That's the only thing keeping me back.

[RAV TUX]

http://cafelinux.org/OptickleArt/albums/userpics/normal_snapshot97.png (http://cafelinux.org/OptickleArt/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0)

[kellemes]

@RAV TUX: Is this the animated version of the background?
Very cool desktop!

[sunexplodes]

What window manager theme is that?

Here's the theme. Just unpack it into the directory structure in the file, and it should work fine.
46115

[urukrama]

Many thanks!

[~LoKe]

Let me know when you can make KDE look like this (http://icedloki.deviantart.com/art/Desktop-as-seen-on-10-06-07-66678349) and I'll bite.

I just love every aspect of Gnome.

[sunexplodes]

I suspect it wouldn't be terribly difficult to make KDE look that way, actually.

[lzfy]

Let me know when you can make KDE look like this (http://icedloki.deviantart.com/art/Desktop-as-seen-on-10-06-07-66678349) and I'll bite.

I just love every aspect of Gnome.

It is possible to make it look like that. It's just harder to do with KDE.

[adamorjames]

It is possible to make it look like that. It's just harder to do with KDE.

Yeah, that is where the problem lies.

[GSF1200S]

Let me know when you can make KDE look like this (http://icedloki.deviantart.com/art/Desktop-as-seen-on-10-06-07-66678349) and I'll bite.

I just love every aspect of Gnome.

Including Nautilus?

[mrgnash]

Including Nautilus?

Yep.

[GSF1200S]

Yep.

More power to you then... I like both Gnome and Kde, but I dont like Nautilus. I will say though, it seems to be getting better...:)

[taisao]

Well, I think I'm well on my way. I've got Konqueror sorted, decided to just keep Sonata because I can't find anything as nice in QT, and I have come up with a nice theme.

Dig:
45795


Oh, nice konqueror. How do you get the icons that big in the sizebar of konqueror?

[SunnyRabbiera]

The icons don't match the color of the panel at all.

well I did make it stand out for a reason, for me I like the way it looks.

[LuisAugusto]

Man, these screenshots are nice. Has KDE seen any speed improvements lately? As in, it'd run comfortably on older computers? That's the only thing keeping me back.

KDE doesn't have speed problems, blame the people who made the packages.

Arch Linux has a very fast KDE, try it.

[sunexplodes]

Oh, nice konqueror. How do you get the icons that big in the sizebar of konqueror?

I believe that's part of the kwin-baghira package, the Baghira Sidebar. Lets me define a list of shortcuts, give them whatever icons I want, and change their sizes. Pretty nice.

[sophtpaw]

You can make KDE look pretty. Take a look at my desktop.

I'm using "Human for KDE" icons and standard KUbuntu theme with changed colors.

Nicest kde desktop i 've seen - congrats. And replacing the Klunky K with the Ubuntu icon for the starter button - very good

[suziequzie]

Simple and elegant (IMHO)

http://ubuntuforums.org/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i22.tinypic.com/jqge1s.png%5B/IMG%5Dhttp://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4721/711desktop2fu8.th.png (http://img516.imageshack.us/my.php?image=711desktop2fu8.png)

Transparent Menus look nice...

http://ubuntuforums.org/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i21.tinypic.com/21o9ye.png%5B/IMG%5D

[Arathorn]

How do you make the menus transparent?

[revenant_org]

:popcorn: hope you like it.

[suziequzie]

How do you make the menus transparent?

Open kcontrol (I still prefer it to system settings), go to Appearance and Themes, choose "Style", click the effects tab. Enable GUI effects, and for the menu option, choose "make transparent". Choose the opacity level you like (mine is 20% opaque).

For the panels (top and bottom): "Configure panel" buy right-clicking on it and Panel Menu and then Configure. Choose "Appearance" then "Enable Transparency" and click the Advanced button to choose the opacity level. I have chosen 0% opacity (slider all the way to the left) for true transparency.

Hope you like.

[kvonb]

Oh man, I managed to track down Pureline. This is one LOVELY kwin theme. I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I just have to get over my disdain for Konqueror and find a decent MPD frontend to replace Sonata, and we may just be in business.

Simply install Nautilus then :).


sudo apt-get install nautilus

...at a guess :).

For your home folder icon, create a launcher with the command: nautilus --no-desktop, or edit the current one.

That should do it.

[pt123]

:popcorn: hope you like it.

Wow that is one of the prettiest KDE setups, I have seen.

The problem with KDE3 is that the size proportionality between the controls is all over the place. Konqueror is the biggest culprit. That is just fugly.

KDE4 in the latest previews looks to have addressed it.

--

I love Nautilus it so clean, very easy to navigate up and down trees because of the path button feature. It was one app. that helped me away from Windows.

But in Gutsy they have screwed up the emblems & search feature.

[Arathorn]

Open kcontrol (I still prefer it to system settings), go to Appearance and Themes, choose "Style", click the effects tab. Enable GUI effects, and for the menu option, choose "make transparent". Choose the opacity level you like (mine is 20% opaque).

For the panels (top and bottom): "Configure panel" buy right-clicking on it and Panel Menu and then Configure. Choose "Appearance" then "Enable Transparency" and click the Advanced button to choose the opacity level. I have chosen 0% opacity (slider all the way to the left) for true transparency.

Hope you like.
Nice, thank you.

[aimran]

Is using emerald themes and/or awn really KDE anymore? The beauty of linux is that it can look anyway you want it to.

A thread portraying KDE should make use of original KDE eyecandy.

My $0.02.

[revenant_org]

Thanks :D

Wow that is one of the prettiest KDE setups, I have seen.
The problem with KDE3 is that the size proportionality between the controls is all over the place. Konqueror is the biggest culprit. That is just fugly.

KDE4 in the latest previews looks to have addressed it.

--

I love Nautilus it so clean, very easy to navigate up and down trees because of the path button feature. It was one app. that helped me away from Windows.

But in Gutsy they have screwed up the emblems & search feature.

True. But I hate Nautilus, it is so bloated specially the sidebar. Thunar looks more friendly, also Konqueror can look much prettier with some tweaks and soooooooooooooooooooooooo much faster.

[pt123]

True. But I hate Nautilus, it is so bloated specially the sidebar. Thunar looks more friendly, also Konqueror can look much prettier with some tweaks and soooooooooooooooooooooooo much faster.

But with Thunar there is no Network feature. You have to mount it using fusesmb.

I also hate the popup for the location bar. But Thunar is great on less powerful computers.

I also like how you can change the background on Nautilus, it would be great if they can have a transparent background like the Terminal.

[p_quarles]

Thanks :D


True. But I hate Nautilus, it is so bloated specially the sidebar. Thunar looks more friendly, also Konqueror can look much prettier with some tweaks and soooooooooooooooooooooooo much faster.
Yeah, it's not hard to get Konqueror looking nice, and it really is a good file manager.

My all-time favorite file manager (well, aside from Bash), though, is Krusader. If you're using KDE and haven't tried it, you're missing out. :)

[sunexplodes]

Simply install Nautilus then :).


sudo apt-get install nautilus

...at a guess :).

For your home folder icon, create a launcher with the command: nautilus --no-desktop, or edit the current one.

That should do it.

Neh, I've discovered the power of Konqueror, and Nautilus is kind of rubbish anyway. I was always more of a Thunar person before my move to KDE.

[GSF1200S]

Neh, I've discovered the power of Konqueror, and Nautilus is kind of rubbish anyway. I was always more of a Thunar person before my move to KDE.

I kind of wonder why they are switching to Dolphin in KDE4. Konqueror is so awesome. I mean jeez, wheres the tabbed file browsing in Dolphin..

[EdThaSlayer]

KDE looks a bit more modern out of the box in my opinion. It is true that GNOME themes are nicer than KDE themes.

[GeneralZod]

I kind of wonder why they are switching to Dolphin in KDE4. Konqueror is so awesome. I mean jeez, wheres the tabbed file browsing in Dolphin..

Many people utterly, thoroughly detest Konqueror, and I don't think anyone could argue that its labyrinthine Settings are user-friendly ;)

Dolphin is basically a dedicated File Manager that doesn't have the maze of configuration options or the cognitive burden of an app that can perform a bewildering array of functions.

The developer of Dolphin agonised for ages over whether to include tabs or not, and eventually decided against it. Personally, I feel that that was not a wise decision - it would not be *too* hard to have a tabbing system in-place, completely hidden from the user unless activated in an Advanced settings dialogue, if need be. I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if Dolphin were forked and tabbing added at some point.

[Arathorn]

I hated Konqueror too, but now I've set it up like I use Windows Explorer in Windows. Beside it's flaws, the interface of Windows Explorer is quite good. The tree-based folder structure makes moving files to other directories a lot easier and the detailed view on the right pane (I don't like the thumbnails, they don't tell me anything about the file and they make it difficult to find files) gives me the information I need.
The only problem I have with Konqueror is that when I open another tab, it defaults to the stupid thumbnail view.
Screenshot (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/mfmeulenbelt/schermafdruk4.png)

[GSF1200S]

Many people utterly, thoroughly detest Konqueror, and I don't think anyone could argue that its labyrinthine Settings are user-friendly ;)

Dolphin is basically a dedicated File Manager that doesn't have the maze of configuration options or the cognitive burden of an app that can perform a bewildering array of functions.

The developer of Dolphin agonised for ages over whether to include tabs or not, and eventually decided against it. Personally, I feel that that was not a wise decision - it would not be *too* hard to have a tabbing system in-place, completely hidden from the user unless activated in an Advanced settings dialogue, if need be. I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if Dolphin were forked and tabbing added at some point.

I agree with you on the tabbed version part.. thats one of the biggest things on Konqueror that I use. It will be a pain having to open multiple windows to move files (I can always use Konqueror). I really dont tweak Konqueror that much; I leave the sidebar collapsed and use it as a file manager- swiftweasel is my web browser (64bit, blackdown java doesnt work with fox).

I see how a simple file manager could make it easier, but it seems odd that KDE devs would follow a Gnome way of thinking by dumbing it down for the user. What about a big button on Konqueror that switches it between Easy and Advanced options mode, and maybe a toggle button that switches between web browser and file manager? Seems like a more intrinsic process than developing and implementing a whole new file manager..

Were both on the same page here though... Besides, us diehards can simply continue to use Konqueror if we want to- theyll prolly at least make it possible to switch the default file manager back to Konqueror.

[GeneralZod]

I see how a simple file manager could make it easier, but it seems odd that KDE devs would follow a Gnome way of thinking by dumbing it down for the user.


I'm not sure if it can even be called "dumbing it down", since it contains an embedded terminal! :) I think that, post-4.0, the devs need to have a good long think about what Dolphin is trying to accomplish. There's two schools of thought on it[1]: one is that it is simply a dedicated File Manager that would be allowed to have all the file manager features of Konqueror, and more, since they would be much easier to add - in short, it could become a real "power-user" tool, but one that does not have the UI and programming complexity that comes from performing what many people consider completely unrelated tasks. The current refusal to allow tabs goes against this, however.

The other is that it is a "dumbed down" file manager for the new user only, and does not even pretend to fill the needs of power users, but this clashes with the addition of an embedded terminal - a distinctly "power-user"-y feature.



What about a big button on Konqueror that switches it between Easy and Advanced options mode, and maybe a toggle button that switches between web browser and file manager?


No, this is much harder to do even from a UI design point of view than you'd think, and would probably be very complex to pull off, code-wise. The KDE guys have opted for what I think is a near-optimal solution - use Dolphin by default, and let the power-users switch back to the glorious mess that is Konqueror. I would hope that someone would make the selection of the file manager a much simpler process than it is now, preferably very early on in the KDE4 lifecycle.



Seems like a more intrinsic process than developing and implementing a whole new file manager..


I think you'd be quite surprised :) There's a huge amount of code-sharing in KDE, and Dolphin makes good use of it, so it's probably not been all that difficult to write. Running sloccount over kdebase/apps/dolphin shows just 11818 lines of code: for comparison, Nautilus appears to be about 95000, Konqueror 32280 and Thunar 77520 (note that I don't particular trust sloccount - it's given really odd readings to me before).



[1] I think the original description of Dolphin simply called it a "file manager focussed on usability". As far as I'm concerned, though, "simplicity" and "usability" are not the same thing. At all. :)

[sunexplodes]

KDE looks a bit more modern out of the box in my opinion. It is true that GNOME themes are nicer than KDE themes.

I thought this way too. It's not true. Gnome defaults are nicer. KDE themes look like crap by default, almost always. But holy crap, they can be nice. Domino, Plastik, and QTCurve are all super nice looking. And WAY more customizable than anything gnome has.

[MRiGnS]

If it's about the look this is really all you need..
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/Domino+Kubuntu+package?content=52864

The best thing about KDEmod is it's modularity.. something I cannot imagine is available for *ubuntu, for this you need Arch.

Edit: Default Arch-Icons.. http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/KDEmod+Tango+Icons?content=63486

lol, the reason for kdemod and its "modularity" is that arch does not have an official kde repo with split packages like kubuntu or almost any other distro.

It tries to give you the options you're offered with kubuntu and others for arch.

not more, not less.

[RageOfOrder]

na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na screenshot! (http://omploader.org/vNXBs/snapshot038.png)

http://omploader.org/vNXBt/snapshot038_sm.jpg

[pt123]

nice but that digital alarm clock look at the bottom is so 90s :)

[suziequzie]

I kind of wonder why they are switching to Dolphin in KDE4. Konqueror is so awesome. I mean jeez, wheres the tabbed file browsing in Dolphin..

That and Dolphin opens gwenview to look at a pic. I like being able to just open an image file in a new tab to look at it. I put Konqueror back as my default. (I didn't really like Dolphin, but my boyfriend *loathed* it).

[p_quarles]

That and Dolphin opens gwenview to look at a pic. I like being able to just open an image file in a new tab to look at it. I put Konqueror back as my default. (I didn't really like Dolphin, but my boyfriend *loathed* it).
Exactly. The fact the Konqueror is capable of embedded viewing of so many filetypes is what first blew me away when I switched from Gnome. It's really quite a great program.

Dolphin, though, seems more like Beta (at best) software. Maybe it will be better in KDE4, but I'm happy with Konqueror for now.

[Knoeki]

http://hardwarehacks.untergrund.net/misc/pix/kde-desktop-01.png

from a while ago...

[p_quarles]

I posted a similar shot in the screenshots thread, but I've since tweaked it a bit more to my liking. This is using KDE exclusively.

[ezsit]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2076/1683067499_a302cd281a_o_d.jpg

[pt123]

The fact the Konqueror is capable of embedded viewing of so many filetypes is what first blew me awa.

This is what I hated most about it, it's more of power freak than Windows Explorer. When that started trying to preview webpages I switched to 2x Explorer.

Konqueror tried to take over KDE, wanted to do everything.

Developers need to learn when to let go.

Because of Dolphin when KDE4 arrives I might switch from Gnome.

[wieman01]

If that isn't beautiful, I don't know... ;-)

[fuscia]

gutsy, using urxvt instead of konsole...

[aimran]

Who are these girls fuschia? Your avatar, your wallpaper...

[pt123]

There is very little point in posting these KDE screenshots with all the apps hidden away.

Please post some KDE apps.

As much as I love Ktorrent its icons are ugly.

http://ktorrent.org/images/screenshots/KT-normal-o-chunks.png

[fuscia]

There is very little point in posting these KDE screenshots with all the apps hidden away.

there is a perception that kde is garish compared to gnome. it's important to show that kde can be just a simple wallpaper with nothing else. with the absence of a right-click menu, gnome is more dependent on opening programs from a panel menu, panel icons or desktop icons (though, the panels can be hidden).



aimran, i have no idea who the girl in the wallpaper is. the avatar is gong li.

[sin]

DISCLAIMER: I love KDE.

Am I the only one that likes Plastik?

[Erunno]

DISCLAIMER: I love KDE.

Am I the only one that likes Plastik?

No, you aren't. I'm also very fond of Plastik's sober and professional look.

[Erunno]

This is what I hated most about it, it's more of power freak than Windows Explorer. When that started trying to preview webpages I switched to 2x Explorer.

Konqueror tried to take over KDE, wanted to do everything.

Developers need to learn when to let go.

Because of Dolphin when KDE4 arrives I might switch from Gnome.

Konqueror has its use for people who work with a lot of different documents and/or network shares and don't like to clutter (finally a chance to use that hated word myself) their desktop with dozens of windows or spreading windows across multiple desktops which logically should stay together. I welcome the addition of Dolphin in KDE4 but it doesn't make Konqueror obsolete as it doesn't cover the same use cases.

[undine]

If that isn't beautiful, I don't know... ;-)

Those icons are so loud, they hurt my eyes.

[benerivo]

KDE pic, using Kubuntu's 'Crystal Aqua' buttons on the apps...

[thisllub]

KDE pic, using Kubuntu's 'Crystal Aqua' buttons on the apps...

Steve Hillage.

You old hippie.

[wieman01]

Those icons are so loud, they hurt my eyes.
Yeah, I know. They aren't perfect but KDE4 should fix that.

[fuscia]

Those icons are so loud, they hurt my eyes.

http://www.diamondbacktactical.com/images/prodimages/11-068.jpg

[fuscia]

Because of Dolphin when KDE4 arrives I might switch from Gnome.

just delete dolphin. they're not dumbing down konqueror.

[wieman01]

http://www.diamondbacktactical.com/images/prodimages/11-068.jpg
Haha... :-) Nice glasses.

[yatt]

just delete dolphin. they're not dumbing down konqueror.But it sounds like he wants a dumbed down Konqueror.

I mean, endless configuration is nice, but I find Konqueror takes too much configuring to work as I want. I'd like to just be able to just install it and go like you can with Nautilus or Dolphin.

[cdiem]

Here's a link to a screenshot of mine with Kubuntu Gutsy, KDE 3.5.8.
http://fxcoup.blogspot.com/2007/10/screenshot.html
Icons may be found in the Gutsy's repositories, Kima is the system monitor.

[RageOfOrder]

So I addressed the issue someone brought up of my clock looking to 90s-ish.

Here's the new layout and screenshot of my KDE desktop.

http://bbsimg.ngfiles.com/1/14377000/ngbbs471db3db84ec2.jpg (http://omploader.org/vNXIw/snapshot039.png)

[funpop]

RageOfOrder: looks awesome,
name of the superkaramba theme(s?) ?
could you post that wallpaper ?

[RageOfOrder]

The background is called "High 5"
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/530/106 (1280x1024)

I suppose I kinda cheated.

The sidebar isn't superkaramba. They are screenlets, which require some GNOME deps.
http://screenlets.org/index.php/Home

They are 3d accelerated so if you don't want to run compiz-fusion, you'll need xcompmgr instead.

I would be using Kiba-Dock for my launcher but it's too unstable currently, so KSmoothDock will do.

The left and top bars are just Kicker panels.

[sunexplodes]

Quick one for you:

I'm using KDE fulltime now, I'm a successful convert. BUT, a couple applications really suck and I'd like some advice.

Like, for one, HOW is Ark the default archiver? It's horrible! Gives me errors when there are no errors, often only partially extracts archives, and a handful of other grievances! So I'm using KArchiver, which is perfectly capable, but the context menu in dolphin still defaults to Ark, which I have since uninstalled. Any way to change that?

Secondly, I really, really miss GEdit. I like the tabbed interface and code highlighting. Now, I'm finding Kate is a little too complex for my purposes, and KWrite doesn't do tabs. Any suggestions?

[wieman01]

Secondly, I really, really miss GEdit. I like the tabbed interface and code highlighting. Now, I'm finding Kate is a little too complex for my purposes, and KWrite doesn't do tabs. Any suggestions?
Not quite the topic of this thread, but is there no way to install "gedit" through the repositories (i.e. Synaptic)?

[p_quarles]

I'm not aware of any other text editors specifically built for KDE. All the others I've used (GVim, SciTE, Emacs) are GTK based.

There is a kind of hackish application called Kgtk that allows you to run GTK apps with KDE file and print dialogues:
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Kgtk+Build+for+Ubntu+Feisty?content=67288
The author says it doesn't work with everything, and that it hasn't been tested for long-term stability, but I've had good results with Firefox and GIMP. You might try it with Gedit.

[sunexplodes]

Not quite the topic of this thread, but is there no way to install "gedit" through the repositories (i.e. Synaptic)?

Yeah, it's easily done, but my preference is to use native apps wherever possible, for performance and integration purposes.

[sunexplodes]

With that said, I have, with some good ol' mucking around, set up Kate to function *more or less* how I'd like it to.

Any suggestions on my problem with Ark?

[epimer]

In the Control Center --> KDE Components --> File Associations menu, you can change the default app for opening filetypes. The 'Embedded' tab sorts out what Konqueror does, but I'm not using Dolphin so don't know if that's the same.

Thanks for mentioning KArchiver - I detest Ark, too, and didn't know there was a decent GUI alternative.

[sunexplodes]

Gave it a go, but no dice, sadly.

But yeah? What would possess them to use Ark as a default? It's terrible!

[juxtaposed]

Rage, that desktop looks really good.

[epimer]

Gave it a go, but no dice, sadly.

But yeah? What would possess them to use Ark as a default? It's terrible!

Dunno. It almost inspired me to properly learn Python (it's been on the to-do list for a while) just to make a proper GUI-wrapper for the command line archiving tools.

A benefit of KDEmod, at least, is that I just removed Ark on finding KArchiver to be a better solution. Go modularity!

[yatt]

Quick one for you:

I'm using KDE fulltime now, I'm a successful convert. BUT, a couple applications really suck and I'd like some advice.

Like, for one, HOW is Ark the default archiver? It's horrible! Gives me errors when there are no errors, often only partially extracts archives, and a handful of other grievances! So I'm using KArchiver, which is perfectly capable, but the context menu in dolphin still defaults to Ark, which I have since uninstalled. Any way to change that?

Secondly, I really, really miss GEdit. I like the tabbed interface and code highlighting. Now, I'm finding Kate is a little too complex for my purposes, and KWrite doesn't do tabs. Any suggestions?Ark sucks. It truly does. As for your defaults problem. Right Click on an archive -> Properties -> The Config Button beside the file type -> move KArchiver to the top of the list.

Kate is your best bet. Debian's KDE also comes with KEdit which isn't much good either.

My big problem is folders/volumes on the desktop. They open with Konqueror by default. How do I make it dolphin.

[p_quarles]

Dolphin's the default in 7.10. I find Konqueror much more to my liking, personally, and changed it back to the default.

Anyway, to change the default file manager (to anything; try Krusader if you haven't), you can go to KControl >> KDE Components >> File Associations >> inode >> directory. Whichever command is listed at the top will be the default file manager.

[sunexplodes]

Okay. Maybe I worded my initial post a little weird.

I've tried Konqueror, and I like it, but I prefer Dolphin in most situations. I don't want to switch. I have removed Ark, and KArchiver is set as the default archive manager.

What I want to do, is change the context menu extension in Dolphin. For instance, when I Right-Click a zip file in dolphin, there's an "Actions" submenu, which includes "Extract" and "Extract to..". Both of those still point to Ark, rather than KArchiver.

Any ideas?

[cdiem]

As for archiver, you may also try Peazip - http://peazip.sourceforge.net/

[jakster]

Here my theme, just standard crystal with other window icons (crystal default) and smaller borders and no rounded stuff. As background I use Stelvio and that's about it. I moved my menu to the right of the screen, it only appears when my mouse is near, but I use yakuake more then everything else.

[p_quarles]

Okay. Maybe I worded my initial post a little weird.

I've tried Konqueror, and I like it, but I prefer Dolphin in most situations. I don't want to switch. I have removed Ark, and KArchiver is set as the default archive manager.
Were you talking to me? I was actually responding to the post directly above mine, the one that asked how to make Dolphin the default file manager.

As for switching to KArchiver, I have no idea. Archiving is one area where I prefer the command line, so I know nothing about the GUI frontends.

[cookies]

Okay. Maybe I worded my initial post a little weird.

I've tried Konqueror, and I like it, but I prefer Dolphin in most situations. I don't want to switch. I have removed Ark, and KArchiver is set as the default archive manager.

What I want to do, is change the context menu extension in Dolphin. For instance, when I Right-Click a zip file in dolphin, there's an "Actions" submenu, which includes "Extract" and "Extract to..". Both of those still point to Ark, rather than KArchiver.

Any ideas?


You have to edit some .desktop files in /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus

compress.desktop should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
ServiceTypes=all/allfiles
Actions=CompressTarGz;
X-KDE-Priority=TopLevel
X-KDE-Submenu=Compress

[Desktop Action CompressTarGz]
Name=Gzipped Tar Archive
Icon=karchiver
Exec=karchiver -c %U

ark_compress.desktop should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=inode/directory
Actions=compressHere

[Desktop Action compressHere]
Name=Compress Here
Name[de]=Hierher komprimieren
Name[ru]=Сжать эту папку
Exec=karchiver -c %U
Icon=karchiver

ark_extract.desktop should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=application/x-gzip,application/x-lha,application/x-tar,application/x-tgz,application/x-tbz,application/x-tbz2,application/x-zip,application/x-bzip,application/x-tzo,application/x-lzop,application/x-rar,application/x-rar-compressed,application/x-zoo,application/x-tarz,application/x-archive,application/x-bzip2,application/x-jar,application/x-deb,application/x-ace,application/x-7z,application/x-arc,application/x-arj,application/x-compress,application/x-cpio,application/x-pak
Actions=extractHere

[Desktop Action extractHere]
Name=Extract Here
Name[de]=Hierher entpacken
Exec=karchiver --xh %U
Icon=karchiver

ark_extract_subdir should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=application/x-gzip,application/x-lha,application/x-tar,application/x-tgz,application/x-tbz,application/x-tbz2,application/x-zip,application/x-bzip,application/x-tzo,application/x-lzop,application/x-rar,application/x-rar-compressed,application/x-zoo,application/x-tarz,application/x-archive,application/x-bzip2,application/x-jar,application/x-deb,application/x-ace,application/x-7z,application/x-arc,application/x-arj,application/x-compress,application/x-cpio,application/x-pak
Actions=ExtractSubdir

[Desktop Action ExtractSubdir]
Name=Extract to subdirectory
Name[de]=In Unterordner entpacken
Icon=karchiver
Exec=karchiver --xe

Hope it helps.

[sunexplodes]

Were you talking to me? I was actually responding to the post directly above mine, the one that asked how to make Dolphin the default file manager.

As for switching to KArchiver, I have no idea. Archiving is one area where I prefer the command line, so I know nothing about the GUI frontends.

Oh man, sorry. I must have misread that! Sorry!

[sunexplodes]

You have to edit some .desktop files in /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus

compress.desktop should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
ServiceTypes=all/allfiles
Actions=CompressTarGz;
X-KDE-Priority=TopLevel
X-KDE-Submenu=Compress

[Desktop Action CompressTarGz]
Name=Gzipped Tar Archive
Icon=karchiver
Exec=karchiver -c %U

ark_compress.desktop should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=inode/directory
Actions=compressHere

[Desktop Action compressHere]
Name=Compress Here
Name[de]=Hierher komprimieren
Name[ru]=Сжать эту папку
Exec=karchiver -c %U
Icon=karchiver

ark_extract.desktop should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=application/x-gzip,application/x-lha,application/x-tar,application/x-tgz,application/x-tbz,application/x-tbz2,application/x-zip,application/x-bzip,application/x-tzo,application/x-lzop,application/x-rar,application/x-rar-compressed,application/x-zoo,application/x-tarz,application/x-archive,application/x-bzip2,application/x-jar,application/x-deb,application/x-ace,application/x-7z,application/x-arc,application/x-arj,application/x-compress,application/x-cpio,application/x-pak
Actions=extractHere

[Desktop Action extractHere]
Name=Extract Here
Name[de]=Hierher entpacken
Exec=karchiver --xh %U
Icon=karchiver

ark_extract_subdir should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=application/x-gzip,application/x-lha,application/x-tar,application/x-tgz,application/x-tbz,application/x-tbz2,application/x-zip,application/x-bzip,application/x-tzo,application/x-lzop,application/x-rar,application/x-rar-compressed,application/x-zoo,application/x-tarz,application/x-archive,application/x-bzip2,application/x-jar,application/x-deb,application/x-ace,application/x-7z,application/x-arc,application/x-arj,application/x-compress,application/x-cpio,application/x-pak
Actions=ExtractSubdir

[Desktop Action ExtractSubdir]
Name=Extract to subdirectory
Name[de]=In Unterordner entpacken
Icon=karchiver
Exec=karchiver --xe

Hope it helps.

Ah! Amazing! Thank you so much!

[me1on]

Here's my KDE desktop using Gutsy, Compiz, and Avant-Window-Manager.

[cookies]

Ah! Amazing! Thank you so much!

I just realized an error in one of them. Oops!

ark_extract.desktop should actually look like this, the previous one always seems to extract to ~

[Desktop Entry]
X-SuSE-translate=true
Encoding=UTF-8
ServiceTypes=application/x-gzip,application/x-lha,application/x-tar,application/x-tgz,application/x-tbz,application/x-tbz2,application/x-zip,application/x-bzip,application/x-tzo,application/x-lzop,application/x-rar,application/x-rar-compressed,application/x-zoo,application/x-tarz,application/x-archive,application/x-bzip2,application/x-jar,application/x-deb,application/x-ace,application/x-7z,application/x-arc,application/x-arj,application/x-compress,application/x-cpio,application/x-pak
Actions=extractHere

[Desktop Action extractHere]
Name=Extract Here
Name[de]=Hierher entpacken
Exec=karchiver --xa %U
Icon=karchiver

[sunexplodes]

That is fantastic. I like, I like.

[akiratheoni]

So I addressed the issue someone brought up of my clock looking to 90s-ish.

Here's the new layout and screenshot of my KDE desktop.

I'm trying to imitate your desktop a little bit because I like it a LOT but I can't figure out how to resize that taskbar up on the top of the screen. How do you do it? Thanks.

EDIT: Never mind. Got it. Well I ended up reinstalling KDE and now it works but I gotta do all my settings again >.<

[Whiffle]

empty:
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/avaselaa/screenie.png

konqueror (web browsing):
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/avaselaa/screenie2.png

Keeping it simple ftw.

Oh and this is actually slackware btw, but the config is exactly the same as i had under ubuntu.

[betamaxman]

Kde always had a more polished look than gnome, IMO. However the two are more alike than different, I don't understand the controversy shown in some post in this thread. As shown in this thread, in ten to fifteen minutes you can customize it to your preference anyway. And of course there is konqueror, or dolphin file management.
Anyway not kubuntu, but kde is kde so here is my kde desktop, ubuntu I keep as gnome.
http://leovilletownsquare.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/20865/

[Linuxratty]

KDE when I had Freespire.
http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j25/Blueroo22/Linux%20screenshots/?action=view&current=snapshot5.png

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j25/Blueroo22/Linux%20screenshots/th_50481.jpg

[MRiGnS]

my kubuntu desktop:

http://imgnow.de/thumbs/Bildschirmfoto1776png.png (http://imgnow.de/?img=Bildschirmfoto1776png.png)

http://imgnow.de/thumbs/Bildschirmfoto28e2png.png (http://imgnow.de/?img=Bildschirmfoto28e2png.png)

[Christmas]

It's not that good, but I like it:
http://craciundan.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/snapshot_01_nov_12_2007.jpg

[infoseeker]

My KDE Desktop