Off the Beat: Bruce Byfield's Blog

Activities are both KDE's most talked-about and least understood features. Whenever I enthuse over them, I am invariably greeted with so much bafflement that I suspect that they are also KDE's least used features. So, for those who keep asking, "What's the point?" I thought I'd give a detailed description of how I use them.

The typical desktop environment is built around applications, and designed for general purposes. By contrast, KDE Activities are task-oriented, and each one is customized for its specific task, and can have its own layout, widgets, icons, and startup applications. The result is an extension of the concept of virtual desktops (although, somewhat confusingly, each Activity has its own virtual desktops, and you can set up virtual desktops on a single Activity to act like Activities within Activities).

Making the switch
To say the least, the whole idea of Activities takes some getting used to. In my case, I had long ago settled on an all-purpose desktop configuration consisting of the eight apps I use the most and a folder or two of icons. Another six apps that I use less often were in the menu's favorites.

This arrangement had the advantage of meeting my most common needs with a minimum of mouse-clicks and of allowing me to quickly find the apps I wanted. But, like a Swiss army-knife, because it was multi-purpose, it was only moderately suitable for any specific purpose.  If I were doing several things at once, it could became chaotic. Even with virtual desktops for always-open apps like my web browser, email reader, and terminal, I often found myself either constantly clicking the task manager or cycling through open windows with Alt+Tab.

When I started experimenting with Activities, it made sense to keep this desktop as my main Activity. However, I soon started experimenting with how to move various tasks elsewhere. These moves would save me from constantly minimizing and maximizing applications, and make the apps I needed quicker to find.
My first step was to replace the Games folder with an Activity set to a folder view desktop containing icons for my favorite games. The games were no easier to open, but all the icons were immediately visible when I switched to the Games Activity, and one category of windows was removed from my main desktop.

I configure and administer from the prompt, so the next step was to create a separate Activity for those tasks. At first, I added an icon for Konsole to the desktop, but then I realized that the Konsole Profile widget would be useful. Practically speaking, the widget serves as a sub-menu of different configurations for Konsole, such as the ordinary white on black that I ordinarily use and the white on blue that I use to add some color to my monthly command line column for Linux Pro Magazine. For convenience, I also added an icon for the GIMP, because I often take screen shots of the command line for articles.

Next, I set up an Activity for writing. To it, I added an icon for Bluefish for professional writing and LibreOffice for documents I need to send to office-oriented people. Then I added a link to an online thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, and Old English dictionary for my poetry avocation -- none of which I would have wanted to crowd a single desktop with. As a final touch, I added links to the folders containing my poetry, fiction, and journalism.

I am currently debating the contents of a Graphics Activity. Probably, it will contain links to the GIMP, Inkscape and Scribus, but what else? Maybe a link to Google Web Fonts and Open Clip Art?

Another possibility might be an Activity for online research, where I could dump links and add notes, on the fly. But that Activity would be a constantly changing one, with the findings of one bout of research constantly being dropped into a folder so that the main desktop is reserved for my current project. Possibly, too, I could find an extension or two for my browser that would work with this Activity.

The Preferred Alternative
Activities aren't the only way I could rearrange my work flow. I could have stayed with folders on the desktop, or added more virtual desktops on the main desktop. Alternatively, I could have added multiple Folder Views, each with its own set of icons, and continually pushed the ones I didn't need to one side of the sceen. I could also have added a second monitor to increase the available space for icons.

However, I've tried all these, and none have been so easy to use as Activities. Moreover, by branching out into multiple Activities, I now have desktops well-suited for each specialized purpose. At the same time, most of my desktops have only 6-9 icons or widgets, so I never have any trouble finding anything. The bottom line is that I spend less time navigating the desktop and more time on the task at hand. Best of all, unlike in GNOME 3, I have complete control over my work spaces, and they stay configured when I log out.

Activities aren't for everyone, and KDE lets you ignore them if you choose. But, if, like me, you find a single desktop limited and constantly in need of clean up to reduce icon and widget creep, then Activities just might be the solution.

Comments