Bug 33641

Summary: "Konsole" as first word in title bar wastes space for text
Product: [Applications] konsole Reporter: Hans Ecke <hans>
Component: generalAssignee: Konsole Developer <konsole-devel>
Status: CLOSED FIXED    
Severity: wishlist    
Priority: NOR    
Version: 1.0.2   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: RedHat Enterprise Linux   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Hans Ecke 2001-10-13 01:21:02 UTC
(*** This bug was imported into bugs.kde.org ***)

Package:           konsole
Version:           1.0.2 (using KDE 2.2.1 )
Severity:          wishlist
Installed from:    RedHat RPMs
Compiler:          gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-85)
OS:                Linux (i686) release 2.4.3-12
OS/Compiler notes: 

The bug:

Since KDE 2.2 (I believe) the konsole terminal emulator always puts a "Konsole -" string in front of any text in the title bar.

Why it is bad:

If the terminal is totally visible and only a few windows are in the current desktop this doesn't hurt.

However space in the taskbar is very limited. I use the xterm "title" functions (i.e. echo -ne "\033]0; $WHAT \007") to keep me updated about status of the current session even if the terminal window is not visible or minimized. The "Konsole -" string in front of any title text halfes the amount of usefull information I can see in the taskbar.

Really what is the use of that string? I know that this is a Konsole because of the little icon in front. I'd rather be able to see with one glance which terminal is in which directory (something those xterm title functions do very well and automatic) than to see 8 times "Konsole -".

Maybe you could do something like 
* if no title is set explicitely set it to "Konsole $HOST $USER" or something
* if a title is set display only that title

Please don't take this the wrong way. You did a terrific job writing KDE. And I very much enjoy many of the visual gimmicks you include. But gimmicks must never ever get into the way of the efficient workflow. And this one does.

(Submitted via bugs.kde.org)
(Called from KBugReport dialog. Fields KDE Version manually changed)
Comment 1 Stephan Binner 2001-10-20 10:50:39 UTC
> Since KDE 2.2 (I believe) the konsole terminal emulator always puts a
> "Konsole -" string in front of any text in the title bar.

That's funny. All Konsole instances on my desktop put "- Konsole" behind
session name. My guess is that RedHat patched behaviour in their rpms.
Comment 2 Hans Ecke 2001-10-20 22:00:51 UTC
Hi Stephan

> That's funny. All Konsole instances on my desktop put "- Konsole" behind
> session name. My guess is that RedHat patched behaviour in their rpms.

or the other way around? Look at that:

session.C:74
QString TESession::fullTitle() const
{
    QString res = title;
    if ( !userTitle.isEmpty() )
        res += " - " + userTitle;
    return res;
}

The above fullTitle() is used for all title-related things. Looking at 
that the fix to my problem is very easy. Just rewrite it to

QString TESession::fullTitle() const
{
    QString res = title;
    if ( !userTitle.isEmpty() )
        res = userTitle + " - " + res;
    return res;
}

Maybe thats the code you are running?

Are the maintainers for konsole listening? What do you think about this 
change? Would you mind applying it?

Cheers

Hans



-- 
Hans Ecke                      hans@ecke.ws / hans@acoustics.mines.edu
Department of Geophysics       http://hans.ecke.ws
Colorado School of Mines       Tel: (USA) 303-273-3733
Golden Colorado               Fax: (USA) 303-273-3478

"I worry about my child and the Internet all the time even though
she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I
worry that 10 or 15 years from now she will come to me and say
'Daddy where were you when they took freedom of the press away from
the Internet?' "
                    --Mike Godwin
Comment 3 Stephan Binner 2001-10-21 08:17:39 UTC
On Sunday 21 October 2001 00:00 you wrote:

> > That's funny. All Konsole instances on my desktop put "- Konsole" behind
> > session name. My guess is that RedHat patched behaviour in their rpms.
> or the other way around? Look at that:

No I use the original source. I got the clue what you mean - you confused me 
with "puts a 'Konsole -' in front of any text" and "rather be able to see ...
than to see 8 times "Konsole -". When I start Konsole it looks like "Konsole" 
for the first and "Shell - Konsole" for the second session. You talked about 
setting caption with 'echo -ne "\033]0; test \007"' then it looks like 
"Konsole - test - Konsole" and "Shell - test - Konsole". So it's "<session 
name> [- <caption>(if set)] [- Konsole(if session name!="Konsole")]".

> Are the maintainers for konsole listening? What do you think about this

Yes. I'm against this change: HEAD-version of Konsole has a DCOP function
renameCurrentSession(QString) which changes the session name displayed in
the toolbar (which is the first entry in window title). If you need to run
your scripts in xterm and Konsole without changes feel free to change the
Konsole source but I don't think we should change it for all KDE users.
Comment 4 Hans Ecke 2001-10-21 21:44:43 UTC
Hi Stephan

> So it's "<session name> [- <caption>(if set)] [- Konsole(if session name!="Konsole")]".

thanks for clearing this up. 

> Yes. I'm against this change: HEAD-version of Konsole has a DCOP function
> renameCurrentSession(QString) which changes the session name displayed in
> the toolbar (which is the first entry in window title).

I don't really understand why my proposed change would make this much 
more difficult. My argument is just basic usability: The things with the 
biggest information content should always come first. This means:

[ <user title> - if set ] <session name> [ - Konsole if != session name ]

> If you need to run
> your scripts in xterm and Konsole without changes feel free to change the
> Konsole source but I don't think we should change it for all KDE users.

Did that and it works just fine. I quite like the konsole source by the 
way. It took me all of 5 minutes to find the place to change for the 
behavior I want.

In the end it is your call how to implement things. Maybe others could 
give an opinion?

Cheers

Hans


-- 
Hans Ecke                      hans@ecke.ws / hans@acoustics.mines.edu
Department of Geophysics       http://hans.ecke.ws
Colorado School of Mines       Tel: (USA) 303-273-3733
Golden Colorado               Fax: (USA) 303-273-3478

"But I don't want to go among mad people" Alice remarked.
"Oh you can't help that" said the cat. "We're all mad here."
Comment 5 Stephan Binner 2001-10-23 10:34:52 UTC
Changed it for your and Waldo's sake.