KDE Blogs 

My last blog entry about Marble dates back a few months already, so I'd like to give a small update: Just recently I added a grid layer and a measure tool. For the curious here's how it looks like: I also started to work on Wikipedia integration which isn't done yet, though. If you're still searching for a Google Summer of Code 2007 idea, then maybe Marble is for you. I suggested several Marble ideas on our new technology portal KDE TechBase. But hurry up, the final deadline for GSoC 2007 application submissions is on Saturday already! BTW: Quaternion SLERPs rock ;-)

So this is the time to send your proposal if you haven't already. If you want to work on something for KDE 4, you're a student and would like to get paid, this is your chance. Read More

About an hour ago the Decibel hackathon in Darmstadt started. Hosted by Basyskom, this weekend brings together domain experts in instant messaging, VoIP, PIM data and contact management to create the real time communication infrastructure for KDE 4. At the moment we are all bringing each other up to speed on the state of each others' technologies. We're all very excited, and it's not just the coffee - stay tuned for updates. Read More

I'm a juk kind of guy. Yet a few weeks ago, frustrated with my inability to make akode or arts play the 50 mp3s from my collection of 2000-odd pieces (mostly ogg, personal CDs-ripped), I gave Amarok a new try. I still feel (very) awkward with the interface. But I kinda like a) the default classifications available in "Collection"; b) the automatic refresh/update of the collection and c) the statistics tool. Read More

We're working on porting all the plugins to strigi analyzers to make them faster and make the results indexable. You can look at the current status here. If you feel like helping in KDE then read this tutorial or look at the code that's already available. We hope to port most of the plugins quickly. Read More

A few weeks ago, Celeste posted specs for standard toolbars for the major KDE applications. Now, we wrote down some general guidelines. Again, please review and give feedback in the comments section, or write to me (ellen kde org). There are still screenshots missing for the standard toolbars. Read More

First off, I'm not a fan of formula 1 races. Nevertheless, some sort of analogy can be gotten from it to describe the adoption of Strigi in KDE. Ever since Strigi moved to the directory kdesupport in the source repository, many people have started contributing to it. It feels like I've driven into a pit stop and found that after emerging from it, my car has a lot of mechanics on top of it. And they are not siting idly, they are working on improving the car while it is speeding along while I'm trying to keep it on track. In addition to that, they are whispering in my ears and suggesting alternate routes for driving more elegant, taking shortcuts, being nice to other drivers and for ritsen into the caravan that is KDE.

@ 800x600 rule So far, I'm not sure if we should go for a fixed maximum size or a maximum default size. There is one good reason for a strict maximum size: It better prevents configuration dialogs from being overloaded. "Designing for 800x600" may be understood as "hey, it fits onto the page!". A tricky developer might reduce the height of scalable widgets like the table in the screenshot below, and argue that users can resize the dialog if they want to have a better overview over the element in the table. Read More

Since last monday, the class KFilePlugin has been removed and all the KFilePlugin implementations have to be ported. As an example of how to port a KFilePlugin, I will rewrite KDviPlugin (h, cpp)as a Strigi analyzer. Read More

I started to write down some guidelines for configuration dialogs in KDE4. The major differences to KDE3 are: Do not overload your configuration dialogs! Avoid the usage of tree views in the sidebar of paged dialogs. Set the dialog's maximum size to 800x600 Pixels. Make sure all dialog pages are sized equally, so the dialog does not resize. Provide vertical and horizontal scrollbars on each tab (hide them by default). This allows users who require big font sizes to reach all contents while they can see the tab titles and reach the OK/Cancel buttons. Separate advanced preferences from frequently used ones. Please review the guidelines and give me feedback. I'm basically interested in everything - if you agree on the contents, the format, if there are parts missing, if you need more examples, more concrete guidelines etc. Also, in the lower part of the page, there are some suggestions for new widgets in the standard sections I'd like to see feedback for (font and color requester). You can either use this blog's comment section or write an email to ellen kde org). Read More