How is one supposed to use the KDE4 desktop ?

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Fri, 2008-07-18 at 16:47 +0100, Anne Wilson wrote:
> On Friday 18 July 2008 16:20:44 linuxguy wrote:
> > I upgraded to F9 when it first came out.  Everything works, but my
> > desktop is a mess.  But surely I am missing something, after all, why
> > are the KDE developers so proud of their work ?
> >
> > So... how is one supposed to use the KDE4 desktop ?  Right now I have
> > about 100 icons for folders and files randomly dispersed on the desktop.
> > How do I clean them up and get my desktop organized again ?
> >
> > I hate that I can't drag and drop files into folders on the desktop.  Is
> > there a way to do this without using Dolphin ?
> >
> > I hate the "collars" that appear around the file and folder icons.   Can
> > they be turned off ?
> >
> Yep - I hated it too, when I first saw it.  Stick with it a while and learn 
> how to get the best from it.  I wouldn't go back for anything now I've used 
> it a while.  Can't wait for 4.1, though :-)
> 
> If there are things you can't figure out for yourself, ask about them.

Be careful what you ask for Anne :-) Here are some (using 4.0.98 at the
moment):

1) How do I resize the Desktop plasmoid? It has no handles.

2) How do I rearrange stuff in the Panel? There used to be a gawd-awful
"start move/end move" thing on the panel menu in 4.0 but at least it
worked. Now it's gone.

3) Why is the Kmix icon in minimized state (i.e. in the panel) different
from its normal icon? This last could be my config as I just carried it
over from 3.5, but I don't see any way to change it.

4) Why does my desktop always start up as 1024x768 when I have a
landscape LCD? I've set it correctly using the Display dialogue, but it
doesn't remember its state. However as soon as I click on the Display
setting it *immediately* corrects itself to 1440x900 without me touching
anything else (except that I now have to resize some windows, not to
mention the panel which doesn't adjust itself). I reported a version of
this to BZ a while back but I need to update it.

I'm sure I can think of more but these are the most annoying. Luckily
nothing is a showstopper.

poc