I’ve distro hopped quite a bit over the last few years. I’ve realized recently that I tend to gravitate toward KDE Plasma as a desktop environment, but I don’t take advantage of the customization as much as I could.

As I sit here looking through the KDE Plasma settings I’m curious to hear what are some favorite things to change in any DE. Please share what you like to do when you get a vanilla install. Do you have a favorite icon pack? Do you have a favorite theme? Any particular widgets that you would recommend?

I’m sure there is more out there than I can think of. Please share!

Edit: I can’t respond to everyone, but this is a great discussion. So many good suggestions and ideas. Keep them coming!

    • psilotop@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      6 days ago

      “Indulge in nostalgia with useless 3D effects.” Is all I needed to read on that page ❤️

  • wallwood@lemmy.ml
    2·
    5 days ago

    I don’t fiddle with my KDE much, but with every fresh install I always set the dock to auto-hide and fit-content.

  • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
    3·
    6 days ago

    Kde made double click default, it used to be single click.

    Put it back to single click. So much better.

    Adjust focus stealing to your liking.

    Adjust the color and width of the shadow to make active windows obvious in a dark theme.

    Wobbly windows: but set higher than default.

    I miss window shade. Hopefully it gets worked out and returns.

  • flameleaf@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    7 days ago

    Papirus icons, Phinger cursors, $HOME/.config/xfce4 copied from previous install.

  • Laurel Raven@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    So, one thing that Windows 11 did that I think was half good was moving the taskbar stuff to the middle.

    I hated it at first (have to use it at work, and still some at home for specific things), but then I used Start11 for a little bit to try to get rid of the shitty start menu changes and noticed an option to keep the icons in the middle but move the start button itself back to the left. And honestly… I think that’s perfect. Puts the programs that are open front and center while keeping the start button in a fixed location next to a corner border so it’s easy to move the mouse to it without hardly even looking.

    Anyway, while I didn’t keep Start11 (I never do… Like the program but it’s always been buggy as hell going back at least as far as Start8 (edit: it ate the 8 in Start8, fixed), I did make my Cinnamon, and later my KDE Plasma, taskbar look like that.

    Also moved the sys tray next to the start button instead of next to the clock, and with a couple other monitors on the clock side (CPU and memory usage), the taskbar on my system is pretty balanced.

    Maybe not as flashy or interesting as what you’re looking for, but it’s a layout I’ve really come to like

    (ETA: the centralizing of the taskbar in Windows I think was bad only because it made the one part that should be in a fixed and easy to hit location, the start button, move around based on how many programs are open… I think if they’d gone with centralized programs and left side start button, it would have been much better received overall… But, this is just my opinion so do with that what you will)

    • ericwdhs@discuss.online
      1·
      5 days ago

      On top of @psilotop@lemmy.world’s bit about monitors today being bigger, multi-monitor setups are also more common. I haven’t used a single monitor system as one of my main PCs (work or personal) in at least a decade. Being able to “slam” down and left to hit Start is a big part of why the corner was originally chosen, but if that’s just gonna get you to some random position on the bottom of an adjacent monitor, you’re back to requiring mouse precision, and the button may as well be moved more toward the center to get average travel distance down.

      • Laurel Raven@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        That’s fair enough, though sticky corners are a thing, and my multi monitor layout it would still work (big ultra wide main on bottom, three smaller above)

        But I think there’s even value in it just staying in the same place. One big frustration I have with modern UI design is shit moving around, often trying to anticipate what you want, but I’m lost looking for it the last damned place it was. The start button moving a little left and right isn’t nearly as bad, but it’s along the same lines

        • ericwdhs@discuss.online
          1·
          1 day ago

          True. I typically pin all the apps I regularly use with spacers to categorize them, so there’s maybe half an icon of left/right movement maximum with the odd unpinned app at the end, but I understand that trades in clutter others may not find desirable and doesn’t fit all workflows.

    • psilotop@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      6 days ago

      I think I agree with you about the taskbar, but I would have to try it. I think because monitors are so much bigger than they were years ago, the center makes more sense most of the time. I’m definitely going to play around with moving the components to see where I really like them

    • Breadhax0r@lemmy.world
      2·
      6 days ago

      For ages I’ve had my task bar on the side of my secondary monitor. When I first had to start using win 11 at work and I found out they had disabled the ability to move it I got so irrationally angry lol. It was the straw that broke the camels back and I went home and started down the linux rabbit hole fueled by sheer spite.

    • Crozekiel@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      I ran taskbar on the right edge for ages back when I had the 32:9 super ultrawide, but since I changed to a 21:9 ultrawide I went back to bottom but have it centered instead of full width (and have it set to something like “stay out of the way” where it will hid if a window is over it, but otherwise is always visible).

  • JTskulk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    7 days ago

    I like to set up klipper actions to do automation on certain clipboard actions. I have them for sending certain URLs to special programs, converting credit card charge emails into a new item in a spreadsheet, doing 2 bandcamp things. I used to have some cool automation set up with starting and stopping activities, but they removed that functionality and now I have a worse one with the command output widget. I also love using window rules to customize my programs and where and how they appear.

    • psilotop@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      7 days ago

      The email to spreadsheet idea is fantastic! I have my credit card email me for every purchase so the format is uniform no matter where I buy…

      • JTskulk@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        Yeah it’s great. I click on the email, press ctrl-a to select all, ctrl-c to copy, win-r to run action on clipboard (there’s an option to do this one automatically). It then runs a script that parses that text to get the good bits and reformat it. I wrote it for Chase, not sure if it’s helpful if you want it.

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
    1·
    6 days ago

    Window Rules and Custom Shortcuts from KDE Plasma, just earlier today I binded Meta+Ctrl+k to start Konsole in the directory of my latest modified prototype, open a per directory script which e.g. opens a browser tab, opens Vim in the file to edit, positions those windows properly, here browser on left half, console on top right corner.

    Window Rules with its window picker is very convenient to get conditions and properties to apply. Custom Shortcuts is just a list of shortcuts you can add to start anything from anywhere.

    Also I added my own wiki as a KRunner Web search, so if I type Alt+Space then PIM keyword it searches directly to my PIM from the center of my screen, also from anywhere.

  • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
    1·
    6 days ago

    I’ve only tried Ubuntu, Mint, and CachyOS.

    Didn’t like Ubuntu much, but probably because it was my first Linux attempt and I’d probably understand better now.

    Mint is cool, my laptop is running it, but the system settings being individual apps is frustrating, especially when you can’t remember the name of the one you want and there’s 2 display ones? Grrrrr

    I like Cachy a lot. I haven’t used it as much as I’ve only put it on a second laptop to use as a media centre in conjunction with Plasma Big Screen, but I’m thinking of switching my laptop over to it because it feels mostly the same in desktop mode, but the system settings are unified and a lot easier to deal with.

    (My desktop is still a Mac, I haven’t converted completely sorry)