{"id":1244,"date":"2008-05-27T15:55:23","date_gmt":"2008-05-27T13:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/2008\/05\/your-rough-guide-to-plasma\/"},"modified":"2008-05-27T15:55:23","modified_gmt":"2008-05-27T13:55:23","slug":"your-rough-guide-to-plasma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/2008\/05\/your-rough-guide-to-plasma\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Rough Guide to Plasma."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a>
\nSo I’ve chosen to become
\n
\nShane’s Personal Plasma Steward<\/a>. This in turn makes me
\nmuch more aware of things, that I personally take for granted which aren’t so
\nnatural (yet) to others. One of those things is “How does this thing work?” (for
\n“plasma” as value of thing). Let me explain on a high level how you can use
\nPlasma and make the most of it, starting with a default Plasma desktop.<\/p>\n

Plasmoids and Containments<\/h3>\n

The essence of Plasma revolves around two basic concepts: Plasmoids<\/em> and
\nContainments<\/em>. Plasmoids are Applets, small applications that live on
\nthe desktop. Containments are applets as well, they act as container for
\nPlasmoids. That’s it. Really. On a default desktop, there are two main elements:
\nthe Panel and the desktop itself. Both are containments in the Plasma sense.<\/p>\n

The Panel<\/h3>\n

The panel holds a couple of Plasmoids, starting from the left, there’s the
\nKickoff<\/strong> application launcher. You can use it to start
\napplications, open recently opened files and the usual logout\/shutdown options.
\nThere’s also a structure that allows you to browse through your applications.
\nThe layout has been optimized for the usecase that is most common: starting an
\napplication. The default tab is the “Favorites” tab that holds you most-used
\nentries. In the beginning, you’ll probably find yourself using the Applications
\ntab more often. Once you have found out what your most frequently started
\napplications are, right click on the items and add them to your favorites (or
\ndirectly into the panel or on the desktop. Note that you need to “unlock” Plasma
\nby means of right clicking on the desktop for any kind of modification). If you
\nprefer KDE’s traditional menu-style application launcher, change it to use that
\nby right clicking on the menu button “Switch to Classic Menu Style”<\/p>\n

\nThe next icon (looking like either a desktop computer or a laptop, depending on
\nthe type of machine) is the devicenotifier<\/strong>. Plug in a USB disk
\nand it will pop up a dialog that lets you open the device in Dolphin.<\/p>\n

\nThe next item on your panel is the pager<\/strong>. It allows you to
\nswitch between your virtual desktops. If you change the layout of the pager
\nthrough the “number of rows” option, it will also affect the layout and
\nanimations that are shown in KWin’s DesktopGrid effect —
\n(Switch on desktop effect, press [CTRL]+F8 to see it.) For bigger pagers
\nswitching on “Display windows icons” on the pager makes sense.<\/p>\n

\nThe taskbar<\/strong> is up next on the panel. It shows an area for all
\nopen windows on the current desktop by default. You can make it show all windows
\nby checking “Traverse Windows on all desktops”. Right clock on the window frame,
\nchoose Window behaviour, find this option in the “Focus” dialog. KWin’s The
\nexpose effect offers similar functionality, it lays out all windows on the
\nscreen, start typing to filter the list, navigate with either mouse or arrow
\nkeys. The size of the text on the taskbar items can be set in Systemsettings |
\nAppearance | Fonts | Taskbar.<\/p>\n

\nNext on our default panel is the digital clock<\/strong>. This clock can
\ndisplay the time in different timezones. The sizing of the clock is half
\nwitchcraft, but you can partly influence it. The clock will adjust its font size
\nto the area it is given by the surrounding containment (that’s the panel in this
\ncase). If you choose to display the date, this date will be rendered using the
\n“Small font” option from Systemsetting’s Font dialog. The time will take the
\nrest of the space. That means that for those who want it, it’s possible to screw
\nup the clock’s display. On the one hand, the clock has to obey the user’s
\nsetting for Small font (this setting reflects the “smallest readable font”, by
\nits very own definition, it simply does not make sense to use fonts smaller than
\nthat). So in the end, you’ll choose yourself the amount of information
\ndisplayed, and if that fits. If you want to display more information, make the
\npanel larger or put the clock on the desktop where it can grow freely.<\/p>\n

\nThe rightmost Plasmoid in the default panel holds the systray<\/strong>,
\nwhich is used by traditional applications as a dock. There’s not a lot to say
\nabout it, other than “Plasma developers don’t like the systray for its archaic
\narchitecture and want it to go away today rather than tomorrow”. You probably
\nknow it from other desktop (even Operating Systems) already. It’s basically
\na dumping ground for all kinds of things that you can better leave to their
\nown plasmoids.<\/p>\n

Cashews<\/h3>\n

If you have unlocked your desktop (you can do that by right clicking on the
\ndesktop, or when no application has the focus with [CTRL]+L), a small Plasma
\nlogo will appear in the bottom right corner (it’s commonly named the “cashew”).
\nClick on this cashew, and the panelcontroller opens. The panel controller allows
\nyou to reposition, resize and realign the panel. The Plasmoids living in this
\npanel will adjust their size automatically. Plasmoids have basic knowledge about
\nsizing, provided by the containment. They’re programmed to take advantage of
\nthat size, and inform the applet about how much space they possibly need. In the
\nend, the containment gives a possible size to the applets, the applets obey.<\/p>\n

Adding Applets<\/h3>\n

Unlock the desktop and you’ll be able to add and remove Plasmoids from panel or
\ndesktop. You add Plasmoids by simply dragging them where you want them. Right
\nclick on an applet to remove it. The “Add Applets” dialog also allows you to
\nmark certain applets as “Favorite” so you can find them back more easily.
\nThe “Install new widgets” button allows you to add widgets you’ve previously
\ndownloaded. Currently it supports native “Plasmagik” packages and Mac OSX
\ndashboard widgets. Widgets you install this way can then be accessed just like
\nregular, preinstalled widgets.<\/p>\n

The Desktop<\/h3>\n

The desktop is in fact another containment. One that doesn’t put size
\nconstraints on the applets. Applets can be moved and sized freely. On the
\nunlocked desktop, Plasmoids will show a frame when you move the mouse over them.
\nThis applet handle allows you to move, resize, relocate and realign the panel.
\nIt also allows you to drag Plasmoids on the desktop. The buttons in the corner
\nare used to resize, rotate configure and remove the applet. When rotated, a
\nPlasmoid will act magnetic towards 12 o’clock, so it’s easy to get them back
\ninto sensible position. By default, most applets keep their aspect ratio when
\nthey’re being resized. If you want to freely resize an applet, hold the [CTRL]
\nkey pressed while resizing.<\/p>\n

\nRight clicking on the desktop also offers you to configure aspects such as the
\nwallpaper used, and the Plasma theme. Both actions offer to download new
\nwallpapers and themes through KNewStuff.<\/p>\n

\nWith open applications, it quickly gets hard to see the Plasmoids on your
\ndesktop. The Dashboard<\/strong> gets those Plasmoids in front of you,
\nmuch like the “Show desktop” functionality you’re used to from traditional
\ndesktops.<\/p>\n

KRunner<\/h3>\n

KRunner is a versatile mini-commandline. You can use it to start applications,
\nopen webpages, access bookmarks, search through your desktop data, calculate
\nshort equations, and many more. Pressing [ALT]+F2 opens the Krunner dialog. You
\njust start typing and KRunner will start searching matches as soon as you’ve
\nentered more than two characters. You can open the settings dialogue to learn
\nabout KRunner’s functionality, provided by plugins. You can navigate through the
\nmatches using the tab and arrow keys.<\/p>\n

\nIf you want to know what’s going on on your system, there’s the “Show System
\nActivity” button, giving you quick access to a list of windows and processes,
\nwith options to monitor their output and kill processes.<\/p>\n

“Activities” or the Zooming User Interface (ZUI)<\/h3>\n

The desktop toolbox, accessed via the top right corner has a button for zooming
\nout. Plasma allows you to have more than one activity. Basically, that is
\nmultiple desktop containments hosting multiple sets of Plasmoids. Zoom out from
\nyour current activity, choose “Add activity” to create a new containment, zoom
\nin to your new containment and customize suiting your taste. Plasma’s zooming
\nand KWin’s desktopgrid are similar in that respect, but there is a fundamental
\ndifference. While virtual desktop are used to group and organise windows,
\nPlasma’s activities are used to group and organise plasmoids. This way, you can
\nswitch between activities and have relevant plasmoids supporting the task you’re
\ncurrently trying to accomplish. You can create a “Freetime” activity, with comic
\nstrips, a puzzle and other Plasmoids, and a work activity, with relevant RSS
\nfeeds, calculator and calendar.<\/p>\n

\nThat’s it. Hope some of you understand Plasma better now, and that this blog
\nhelps those that feel lost initially do a little less so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I’ve chosen to become Shane’s Personal Plasma Steward. This in turn makes me much more aware of things, that I personally take for granted which aren’t so natural (yet) to others. One of those things is “How does this thing work?” (for “plasma” as value of thing). Let me explain on a high level… Continue reading Your Rough Guide to Plasma.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kde"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vizZzion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}