not quite so much needs to be delayed to the init() function

[personal-kdebase.git] / workspace / doc / plasma / index.docbook

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN" "dtd/kdex.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY kappname "&plasma;">
  <!ENTITY package "kde-module">
  <!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
  <!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE">
]>
<book lang="&language;">

<bookinfo>
<title>The &plasma; Handbook</title>

<authorgroup>
<author>
<personname>
<firstname>Sebastian</firstname>
<surname>Kügler</surname>
</personname>
<email>sebas@kde.org</email>
</author>
<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
</authorgroup>

<copyright>
<year>2008</year>
<holder>Sebastian Kügler</holder>
</copyright>

<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>

<date>2008-06-03</date>
<releaseinfo>1.01.00</releaseinfo>

<abstract>
<para>
&plasma;, the most visible pillar of &kde;, is the core interface to the desktop.
</para>
</abstract>

<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>Plasma</keyword>
<keyword>Plasmoid</keyword>
<keyword>Containments</keyword>
<keyword>Desktop</keyword>
<keyword>Runner</keyword>
<keyword>Kicker</keyword>
</keywordset>

</bookinfo>

<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>
&plasma; is one of the key technologies of &kde; 4 (also known as the
&quot;Pillars of &kde;&quot;), and one of the most visible to users. As &plasma;
treats the user interface differently than a traditional desktop, there may be
confusion on what &plasma; is, what it does, and how to perform common tasks.
</para>

<para>
This document attempts to address these problems by providing answers to the
most common questions.
</para>
</chapter>

<chapter id="using-kapp">
<title>Using &plasma;</title>

<sect1 id="plasmoids-and-containments">
<title>&plasmoids; and Containments</title>

<para>
The essence of Plasma revolves around two basic concepts:
</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>&plasmoids;</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Applets, or small applications that live on the desktop.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Containments</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Applets that act as the container for the &plasmoids;
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<para>
On a default desktop, there are two main elements: the Panel and the Desktop
itself. Both are containments in the &plasma; sense.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="panel">
<title>The Panel</title>

<para>
The default panel holds a few &plasmoids;: starting from the left, there's the
&kickoff; application launcher. You can use it to start applications, open recently 
opened files and the usual logout/shutdown options. There's also a structure
that allows you to browse through your applications. The layout has been
optimized for the use case that is most common: starting an application. The
default tab is the <guilabel>Favorites</guilabel> tab that holds the most-used
entries. In the beginning, you'll probably find yourself using the
<guilabel>Applications</guilabel> tab more often. 
Once you have found out what your most frequently started applications are, 
<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> click on the items and select the
<guimenuitem>Add to Favorites</guimenuitem> to add them to your
<guilabel>Favorites</guilabel> (or directly into the panel or on the desktop.
Note that you need to &quot;unlock&quot; Plasma by means of
<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking on the desktop for any kind of
modification). If you prefer &kde;&apos;s traditional menu-style application
launcher, change it by <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking on the menu
button and selecting <guimenuitem>Switch to Classic Menu Style</guimenuitem>.
</para>

<para>
The next icon (looking like either a desktop computer or a laptop, depending on
the type of machine) is the <application>Device Notifier</application>. 
Plug in a <acronym>USB</acronym> disk and a dialog will open that allows you to
open the device in &dolphin;.
</para>

<para>
The next item on your panel is the <application>Pager</application>. 
It allows you to switch between your virtual desktops. 
If you change the layout of the <application>Pager</application> 
through the <guimenuitem>Number of rows</guimenuitem> option, 
which will also affect the layout and animations that are shown in &kwin;&apos;s
<guimenuitem>Desktop Grid</guimenuitem> effect -- (Switch on desktop effect,
press <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>F8</keycap></keycombo> to see it.)
For larger pagers, selecting <guimenuitem>Display windows icons</guimenuitem>
typically makes sense.
</para>

<para>
The taskbar is up next on the panel. It shows an area for all open windows on
all desktops by default. You can make it show all open windows on the current
desktop only by checking <guimenuitem>Only show tasks from the
current desktop</guimenuitem> when you right click on the task manager, between
two windows. The size of the text on the taskbar items can be set
in &systemsettings; under the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Appearance</guimenu><guisubmenu>Fonts</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Taskbar</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. Right-clicking on the taskbar
brings the Settings dialog where you can choose several options to customize
your taskbar.
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Here's a screenshot of the taskbar settings dialog</screeninfo>
  <mediaobject>
    <imageobject>
      <imagedata fileref="taskbar-settings.png" format="PNG"/>
    </imageobject>
      <textobject>
      <phrase>Taskbar settings dialog</phrase>
    </textobject>
  </mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
Next on our default panel is the <application>System Tray</application>, which
is used by traditional applications as a dock. Right clicking on the
<application>System Tray</application> allows you to hide or show icons.
</para>

<para>
The right-most &plasmoid; in the default panel holds the <application>Digital
Clock</application>.
This clock can display the time in different timezones as well as have its size
changed. The clock will adjust its font size to the area it is given by the
surrounding containment (that is the panel in this case). If you choose to
display the date, this date will be rendered using the <guimenuitem>Small
font</guimenuitem> option from the &systemsettings; <guilabel>Font</guilabel>
dialog. The time will take the rest of the space. So in the end, you'll choose
yourself the amount of information displayed, and if that fits. If you want to
display more information, make the panel larger or put the clock on the desktop
where it can grow freely.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="toolboxes">
<title>The Panel Toolboxes</title>

<para>
If your desktop is unlocked (you can do that by
<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking on the desktop, or when no
application has the focus, with <keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>L</keycap></keycombo>),a small &plasma;
logo will appear in the bottom right corner (it's commonly named the
&quot;cashew&quot;). Click on this cashew, and the panel controller opens. The
panel controller allows you to reposition, resize and realign the panel. The
&plasmoids; living in this panel will adjust their size automatically.
&plasmoids; have basic knowledge about sizing, provided by the containment. They
are programmed to take advantage of that size, and inform the applet about how
much space they possibly need. In the end, the containment gives a possible size
to the applets, the applets obey.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="add-applets">
<title>Adding Applets</title>

<para>
Unlock the desktop and you'll be able to add and remove &plasmoids; from panel
or desktop. You add &plasmoids; by simply dragging them where you want them.
<mousebutton>Right</mousebutton> click on an applet to remove it. The
<guilabel>Add Applets</guilabel> dialog also allows you to mark certain applets
as <guilabel>Favorite</guilabel> so you can find them back more easily.

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Favorite Widgets</screeninfo>
  <mediaobject>
    <imageobject>
      <imagedata fileref="favorite-widgets.png" format="PNG"/>
    </imageobject>
      <textobject>
      <phrase>Favorite Widgets</phrase>
    </textobject>
  </mediaobject>
</screenshot>

The <guibutton>Install new widgets</guibutton> button allows you to add widgets
you've previously downloaded. Currently it supports native &plasmagik; packages
and &Mac; OSX dashboard widgets. Widgets you install this way can then be
accessed just like regular, preinstalled widgets.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="desktop">
<title>The Desktop</title>

<para>
The desktop is in fact another containment. One that doesn't put size
constraints on the applets. Applets can be moved and sized freely. On the
unlocked desktop, &plasmoids; will show a frame when you move the mouse over
them. This applet handle allows you to move, resize, relocate and realign the
panel. It also allows you to drag Plasmoids on the desktop. The buttons in the
corner are used to resize, rotate configure and remove the applet. When
rotated, a &plasmoid; will act magnetic towards 12 o'clock, so it's easy to get
them back into sensible position. By default, most applets keep their aspect
ratio when they are being resized. If you want to freely resize an applet,
hold the &Ctrl; key pressed while resizing.
</para>

<para>
Right clicking on the desktop also offers you to configure aspects such as the
wallpaper used, and the &plasma; theme. Both actions offer to download new
wallpapers and themes through &knewstuff;.
</para>

<para>
With open applications, it quickly gets hard to see the &plasmoids; on your
desktop. The <emphasis role="bold">Dashboard</emphasis> gets those &plasmoids;
in front of you, much like the <guilabel>Show desktop</guilabel> functionality
you are used to from traditional desktops.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="krunner">
<title>&krunner;</title>

<para>
&krunner; is a versatile mini command-line. You can use it to start applications,
open web pages, access bookmarks, search through your desktop data, calculate
short equations, and many more.Pressing <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> opens the &krunner; dialog.
You just start typing and &krunner; will start searching matches as soon as
you've entered more than two characters. You can open the settings dialog to
learn about &krunner;&apos;s functionality, provided by plugins. You can
navigate through the matches using the tab and arrow keys.
</para>

<para>
If you want to know what's going on on your system, there's the <guibutton>Show
System Activity</guibutton> button, giving you quick access to a list of windows
and processes, with options to monitor their output and kill processes.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="zooming-user-interface">
<title>&quot;Activities&quot; or the &zui; (ZUI)</title>

<para>
The desktop toolbox, accessed via the top right corner has a button for zooming
out. &plasma; allows you to have more than one activity. Basically, that is multiple desktop containments hosting multiple sets of &plasmoids;. Zoom out from your current activity, choose <guilabel>Add activity</guilabel> to create a new containment, zoom in to your new containment and customize suiting your taste. &plasma;&apos;s zooming and &kwin;&apos;s desktop grid are similar in that respect, but there is a fundamental difference. While virtual desktop are used to group and organize windows, &plasma;&apos;s activities are used to group and organize plasmoids. This way, you can switch between activities and have relevant &plasmoids; supporting the task you're currently trying to accomplish. You can create a &quot;Free time&quot; activity, with comic strips, a puzzle and other &plasmoids;, and a work activity, with relevant <acronym>RSS</acronym> feeds, calculator and calendar, for example.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="shortcuts">
<title>Shortcuts</title>

<para>
Most of &plasma;&apos;s functionality is also accessible through keyboard
shortcuts. Currently, the following default shortcuts can be used:
</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>A</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Add widgets</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>L</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Lock widgets</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>-</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Zoom out</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>=</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Zoom in</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>N</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Next applet</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>P</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Previous applet</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>]</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Next containment</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>[</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Previous containment</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>S</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Applet settings</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<keycombo action="simul">
&Shift;&Ctrl;<keycap>S</keycap>
</keycombo>
</term>
<listitem><para>Containment settings</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>R</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem><para>Remove applet</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</sect1>

</chapter>

<chapter id="credits">
<title>Credits and License</title>

<para>
&plasma;
</para>
<para>
Program copyright 2008 &Aaron.J.Seigo; &Aaron.J.Seigo.mail;
</para>

<!-- ADD CONTRIBUTORS AS NEEDED
<para>
Contributors:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Konqui the KDE Dragon <email>konqui@kde.org</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Tux the Linux Penguin <email>tux@linux.org</email></para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-->

<para>
Documentation Copyright &copy; 2008 Sebastian Kügler <email>sebas@kde.org</email>
</para>

<!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->

&underFDL;

</chapter>

&documentation.index;
</book>

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