Nicco suggest never using minimize. How to effectively use virtual desktops instead?

General
21

You can download this great widget and set it to your panel/s. It allows moving between desktops with mouse wheel. I use four of these: 2 in both the larger panels.

nicco
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It also has mouse click options for left and right click. I can quarantee your work flow will be efficient.

nicco2
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I also have set my “Meta/Windows-key” to instead of launching Application Launcher to show the old kwin-effect “Show Desktop Grid”. It shows all active applications - both minimized and maximised - and you can move an application to another desktop by dragging with mouse.

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If you want to do the same, you need to change Meta-key behaviour with following guide:
KDE Plasma Fixes by zren

I originally used the Toggle Overview when pressing Meta-key, but it has the disadvantage of not showing minimized applications.

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You can install the widget from the system or from KDE Store

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Alternatively, just do it in settings - less bloat.

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Then learn Keyboard shortcuts:
Meta Ctrl with Arrows slides your desktop.
CtrlF1 to F4 for direct move to desktop.

Other modifier mashes can send your window to another desktop, and also grab the window and take it to a new desktop.

24

Naturally the mouse wheel switches desktop in my empty space.

But in case of maximazed application - one needs to use either keyboard shortcut or mouse wheel (over panel) .

Which one do you think is faster?
I vote for mouse wheel…

I also use Mac keyboard so to directly switch desktop I would have press Ctrl Fn F1
I vote for mouse wheel again…

25

Fair play - that means you need to bring up the panel instead of using fullscreen, but I don’t see it being any faster than Ctrl_Win (one finger) and arrows.

Best of all would be simply to get Mouse Gestures fixed, then no extra bloat would be needed.

26

Just in case someone does not know:

One does not have to use the default keyboard shortcuts, but can set them to be whatever one likes in System Settings/Shortcuts/Kwin.

For example to switch between desktops one can set to be simply Meta + Arrow or Alt + Arrow

27

Yes, a lot of shortcuts get modified (like Meta+Z for going through Overview/Grid/Desktop, useful to see what you want to go to - but this gets extremely complicated too, because Apps have their own shortcuts.

Altright navigates next/prev web page if you don’t use mouse sidebuttons for this, then Meta tiles windows… so you really are better off leaving CtrlMeta for switching desktops as that’s still a one-finger or heel mashing game.

My favourite two ways of doing desktops was to draw a line left-right or right-left with a small downward hook… as just left/right would do forward/backward.

For DIRECT desktop 1-4 switching, I would draw D with a flick to the corner corresponding to the location of the desktop in the grid…

The main thing this thread has reminded me of is just how much amazing flexibility I lose using Wayland, rather than X11 with Easystroke.

28

I love the variety of workflows in this thread, that’s why KDE’s customization is so useful. We can just pick how to best approach any workflow.

For the majority of my time on KDE, I’ve used Overview + Desktop Grid with 4 virtual desktops in 2x2 layout, for both personal and work accounts, and I open it so often it’s a reflex.

I never minimize windows, and use Windows-like Meta+arrows to tile and maximize, but it’s not a true tiling workflow, as I stack windows for Overview to spread out. I use the same workflow in a nested Windows VM/Looking Glass, with their awful Task View.

The Taskbar/Task Manager is configured to only show applications on the current virtual desktop, and I divide the 4 desktops how many users divide Activities (Browser, Games, Dev, Misc), with my work account dividing by department (Ops, Backend, Frontend, PM)

However, my second screen is rotated 90° portrait, and has pinned applications across all virtual desktops (right-click in Desktop Grid or set with Window Rules). Perfect for socials and a designated browser window for media, no matter which virtual desktop I switch to, these applications are fully static and never change. It works out so well.

Great as Overview is though, it is lacking in features compared to the former Present Windows from Plasma 5 that it superseded. I’ve offered several of these features back along with new enhancements, but the maintainers specifically want to avoid customization in the effect.

It’s frustrating and stifles innovation, with the Overview virtually frozen in development. The current last functional update to the effect was for a design oversight that the developers barely agreed with us on.

Hoping more people remark on what could be improved in Overview, especially with Youtube heads suddenly being interested in promoting KDE.