KDE-Forum.org

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1) I would give the top 10 plasmoids against a one-click file sharing action.

I have never managed to get this to work either!

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So, if 98% of KDE users don't use konqueror as a web browser, please get rid of this functionality. It is a PITY to keep it and spend precious time.

KHTML (Konqueror's browsing backend) is the basis of Safari (the main browser on the Mac, and a popular browser on many other systems). WIthout the development on KHTML, a lot of devices would be the poorer. Huge chunks are incorporated into mobile 'phones etc. Given this development, including it in KDE is relatively trivial.

It also has a few nice touches that are useful for advanced users / developers, notably the ability to change the identification text sent to the server, for when developers have deliberately blocked Linux systems or limited their userbase to IE for example.

It's also, in the current market, important to have as part of a system instant access to the web.

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- folder size display missing ( I don't need folder size calculated with 100% accuracy, so a simple caching algorithm is more than enough). I still use "du" for calculating folder size. Why? Because konqueror doesn't offer me anything better. On the contrary.

Folder size is available in properties, but can take a while to calculate - especially with multiple links and subfolders. My guess is that dynamically calculating this for every folder was considered to be an unnecessary drain on resources. It is possible, however, to switch the view to "file size" mode, which gives a nice visual breakdown.

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- image and file preview in general is horrible;

I find it generally ok, but for serious pic browsing, I open the folder in Gwenview. I see nothing wrong with having applications more specialised for the purpose - there's no point in duplicating functionality.

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icons and buttons layout and ergonomy is lacking a professional view (just try to switch from detailed list to image view - I have to keep the left button pressed for a good second in order to get the scroll down list);

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this - which version of KDE are you referring to? The latest (with Kubuntu) is 4.3.2

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please do not limit the users in having icons and fonts and whatever limited with no reason. Why can i select only tiny/small/big/huge/whatever? What if I want to use konqueror as a media browser on my TV (which I do)? Oops, maximum font size is 18. Why, if I may ask?

Again, which version of KDE / Konqueror? In mine, if you go to "Settings"|"Configure Konqueror" then "File Management"|"View Modes" and choose "Custom font" in the "Font:" drop-down, you can set it to whatever you want

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icons and themes provided by enthusiasts are nice. Except that they are not professionals, are just enthusiasts.

Most of KDE is produced by "enthusiasts", but some of those are professionals as well. "Oxygen", "Air" and "Mist" are definitely professional standard. Bear in mind that a lot of them are intended for use on systems with desktop effects enabled, so may not look so polished without that. (the equivalent in Windows is to switch the effects from the default to performance - everything looks much more functional, but not unattractive)

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5) Command line plague
- I would consider a DE mature when no command line fiddling is needed for the average user.

Agreed - though one shouldn't fear the command line, it's actually one of the things that makes Linux more powerful. Microsoft are even beginning to copy it (Windows Power Shell)

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To share a folder.

Agreed

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To sync my iPOD

This is nicely integrated with Amarok (at least 1.4, I haven't quite made my mind up about Amarok 2 yet, there's a bit of the old baby/bathwater dialectic going on there)

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To launch an application.

This is straightforward enough, though does depend heavily on the developer of the application and how well it integrates with KDE - the developers of KDE have no more or less control over this than Microsoft do, but for the most part it copes quite well.

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To enable/disable my USB speakers.

On that I can't really comment, having not encountered them.

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To kill a process. And the list goes on.

This is actually better done than on Windows. Ctrl+Esc will bring up a task manager (equivalent to Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows), but the real piece[i] de resistance[/i] is the Ctrl+Alt+Esc sequence, which turns the cursor into a rather forbidding "Jolly Roger" style symbol, which will kill the next thing you click, unless you press Esc to cancel.

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6) Front end transparency
Graphical front ends to important applications lack clarity for experienced users. I sometimes do something in the command line because I really don't know what the ticking of a well hidden check box does. Could we have sort of logging utility that translates any GUI action (when using a utility/administration tool) into the corresponding command?

This is an unfortunate consequence of the way development of most software happens - what seems intuitive and obvious to a programmer may only be so because he knows what it does. The only way to solve this is by people like yourselves telling KDE developers what they need. Microsoft get around it by having a huge (and expensive) development and testing period. The logging utility isn't a bad idea (for experienced users / those wishing to learn the command line etc.), but it won't solve the main issue. That being said, I do like the idea - I recommend posting it in its own topic so that it gets the attention.

Please don't give up on KDE 4 - it has taken a while to get off the ground, but I really love where it's going. One of my concerns was that it might be getting a bit too "dumbed-down", so much so that some of the useful customisations were being lost, but they are gradually making their way in as the whole system becomes more polished, and I think a genuine contender amongst the likes of Mac OS (insert version here - who knows really) and WIndows (certainly Vista, maybe even 7, I haven't had much of a chance to play with 7 yet)

Ollie

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One thing which I forgot: why can't I set the size of the icons in the system tray applet to any size I want and have them automatically rearrange (or not) in several rows depending on their size (I think because the time was spent thinking about plasmoids)? Did you see how nice and small and neat they are on Windows? And PRACTICAL, especially when they are many and I don't want to hide them.

That seems like a good idea. My version (4.2.3) does arrange in rows, but I can't seem to find a way of controlling them, or choosing which ones to hide (if any).