Kate hits the Microsoft Store and other KDE news that keep advancing us

This week in KDE

A couple of weeks ago, Nate Graham gave us some bad news: KDE Usability & Productivity, an initiative that has caused major changes in everything related to KDE, was coming to an end. But in the same article in which he told us that the initiative was ending, he also told us that they would continue to improve and seek new objectives. Today posted your first entry of what you have simply called This week in KDE.

The aforementioned initiative has ended, which means that they are no longer looking for features and improvements as before, but they are going to continue to improve. What they are also going to do, and I am glad, is to publish the news that is to come or some that have already arrived, like Kate, the KDE text editor, has reached the Microsoft Store.

Nate says one of the reasons KDE apps are released on other platforms is to prepare future switchers. The idea is that the applications that will be found in Linux are the same as those that were already used in Windows: if we have available Firefox, Chrome, VLC, LibreOffice, Inkscape, Blender, Krita, etc, when we move to Linux everything will be easier . Honestly, looking back, this is something I would have appreciated more than a decade ago.

New Features and Interface Improvements Coming to KDE

  • Dolphin 19.12 now has a "Reset zoom level" function that returns the icons to the default size configured in the settings.
  • When pasting text in the notes widget, the formatting is now removed by default. There is an option to paste the text with the included formatting (Plasma 5.17).
  • The KWin Window Behavior KCM has received a visual overhaul to make it more modern and consistent looking (Plasma 5.17).
  • The KWin decoration context menu has received visual improvements to make it consistent with the rest of the task manager context menu (Plasma 5.17).
  • The Plasma networking applet now shows any special status, such as "id needed" (Plasma 5.17).
  • KSysGuard now supports High DPI (Plasma 5.17).
  • Desktop item icons now have subtle shadows to help make the desktop background stand out a bit (header image for this article - Plasma 5.17).
  • Kate, KDevelop, and other KTextEditor-based applications now have a keyboard shortcut to switch between vi input mode and normal input mode (Frameworks 5.63).
  • Kate 19.12's symbol view now remembers the last command type across program launches.
  • The Gwenview 19.12 settings sidebar now has full color icons.

Performance fixes and improvements

  • Windows flan effect no longer leaves a trace in certain circumstances (Plasma 5.17).
  • By clicking In the sort order currently selected in the Dolphin 19.08.2 "Sort By" menu, the option buttons at the bottom are no longer unchecked.
  • The .docx files stored in Google Drive that we access from Dolphin or other KDE apps using the kio-gdrive KIOSlave now open in the correct app instead of being treated as .zip files (kio-gdrive 1.2.8).

News from October

Of everything explained here, less than on other occasions, the first to arrive will be Frameworks 5.63, something that will be done on October 12. Three days later, the October 15 To be more exact, Plasma 5.17 is coming. That is in terms of the official dates, since it is most likely that the plasma v5.17 will arrive in Discover first and then the new version of the Framework.

On the other hand, we have the KDE applications: the KDE Applications 19.08.1 are already available, but the KDE Community only uploads them to its repository when it is sure that everything works fine. The April releases came after a second maintenance release, which in v19.08 will coincide with the October 10. KDE Applications 19.12 will arrive as early as December.

KDE and Wayland
Related article:
Wayland, KDE's new goal after ending the KDE Usability & Productivity initiative

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