Sebastian Kügler created a first QML replacement for the current desktop containment. At this point a lot of its UI and inner workings in the future are still undecided. The development is in its early stages, but the underlying implementation to create QML containments is in place for KDE SC 4.10:
Keep in mind that it's going to look a lot different, that was really throwing an idea up in the air, backed with some code. But it shows what could be done, The important things really are:
- we can do all that now in pure QML
- all the necessary bits are in 4.10 beta
- work on the QML porting is ongoing
For the UI, the goals are:
- no regressions compared to current containment
- less visual clutter (especially caused by applet handle when unlocked)
- better aids in aligning widgets to achieve a cleaner layout
His initial announcement sparked quite a few comments, suggestions and compliments. There is also a video available of this early implementation:
The new QML containment itself will not be shipped with KDE SC 4.10, but Sebastian intends to make it available as an add-on:
The plan is to be able to do widespread user testing during the KDE SC4.11 development cycle, users can just download a plasmoid package and install that, no compile chain or anything needed. This way we can get a few cycles of feedback, and hopefully it will shine so bright that it can be switched to as default in KDE SC 4.11.