Bug 443757

I'll miss cover-switch too when I upgrade to 5.23.

Yep, we will.

My favorite switch :-(

All remaining switches are too boring and lack cool effect. Even these in store.

I upgraded on saturday, I've been testing other switcher effects but I don't like any of them :-(

I must say that, back in the days when comoiz was compulsory to get cube effect, it was a key feature and made lot of folks switch to linux and kde Desktop. 

Still a must have for kids.

Yup, that was my favorite switcher and i'll miss it a lot
KDE team is working on great new features and Wayland support, that's so unfortunate they had to drop this

I'll be waiting that hopefully someone will create a project for this (and who knows, i'll contribute), thankfully we're in a free software and open-source community.

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> Yep, we will.

That's great ^w^
Take your time, we'll be waiting :3

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kdeplasma-addons/-/merge_requests/91

There's someone working in a QML replacement for that. You can download it and insert coverswitch and flipswitch directories in ~/.local/share/kwin/tabbox

Git commit cc885d63fcbade47db682ae783c4c77091e8939e by Ismael Asensio.
Committed on 23/12/2021 at 17:27.
Pushed by iasensio into branch 'master'.

[windowswitchers] QML replacement for flipswitch and coverswitch

Rewrite of the flipswitch and coverswitch window switchers in QMl,
using the KWin Tabbox API and PathView to layout the thumbnails.

The use of common Plasma components, following the user's theme,
and lack of reflections gives the effects a more modern (breezy) look,
consistent with the user's desktop and the other tabswitchers.
Related: bug 184874, bug 404802, bug 321324, bug 330529
FIXED-IN: 5.24

M  +4    -0    windowswitchers/CMakeLists.txt
A  +249  -0    windowswitchers/coverswitch/contents/ui/main.qml     [License: GPL(v2.0+)]
A  +16   -0    windowswitchers/coverswitch/metadata.desktop
A  +218  -0    windowswitchers/flipswitch/contents/ui/main.qml     [License: GPL(v2.0+)]
A  +16   -0    windowswitchers/flipswitch/metadata.desktop

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kdeplasma-addons/commit/cc885d63fcbade47db682ae783c4c77091e8939e

I actually liked the reflections

But that's ok

Maybe I'll understand when I see the new version, but I don't see how removing reflections is an improvement. Couldn't they be made an option? Good to see this has been done though.

(In reply to Robin Bankhead from comment #11)
> Maybe I'll understand when I see the new version, but I don't see how
> removing reflections is an improvement. Couldn't they be made an option?
> Good to see this has been done though.

I liked the reflections too. Is there a way to test this rewrite without having to compile the whole Kwin? I‘m curious about how elegant the animations work. The smooth transitions were a key feature of the old effect.

(In reply to Maximilian Böhm from comment #12)
> I liked the reflections too. Is there a way to test this rewrite without
> having to compile the whole Kwin? I‘m curious about how elegant the
> animations work. The smooth transitions were a key feature of the old effect.

You can just extract the script directory in ~/.local/share/kwin/tabbox/, no need to recompile

A difference is that the old animation used direct coding OpenGL features to work and was forked from Compiz, the new one now uses Qt libraries and QML language.
¿Is it possible to add reflections on the new way it's coded? If so, we can fork it

>A difference is that the old animation used direct coding OpenGL features to work 

So does this.

Have just updated to 5.24 and have to be honest, this is not a very good replacement.

- Windows are smaller
- Thick blue border around centred window
- No reflections
- Opaque grey background instead of wallpaper shaded
- Transition animation is too slow but jerky at start and end

The smoothness and visual appeal of the old cover switch is basically all gone. Aesthetically none of the ways this has changed are appealing to me. Sorry if a bit negative, hope others like it but I won't be using it.

(In reply to Robin Bankhead from comment #16)
> Have just updated to 5.24 and have to be honest, this is not a very good
> replacement.
> 
> - Windows are smaller
> - Thick blue border around centred window
> - No reflections
> - Opaque grey background instead of wallpaper shaded
> - Transition animation is too slow but jerky at start and end
> 
> The smoothness and visual appeal of the old cover switch is basically all
> gone. Aesthetically none of the ways this has changed are appealing to me.
> Sorry if a bit negative, hope others like it but I won't be using it.

Yeah, i agree
That's a reasonable replacement for me. And it's way easier for them to maintain though
One of the reasons i used this is that i like skeuomorphism and detailed desktops, so i also miss other effects like the cube desktop switch when they got removed, and removing reflections made it feel very incomplete for me, basically not a upgrade
Not having the opening animation also made it feel incomplete, and having the tasks going like teleporting instead of moving when i hold Tab down makes it feels glitcy (they move when i single-press Tab though)
This replacement was needed ans it's cool that we have it instead of losing that option, but it was mostly a downgrade and it doesn't gets on the feet of the older one that got removed.
I give it 5/10, well, better than nothing.

Since i manually updated the switchers on the latest Plasma release, they have got broken and somehow downgrading them did not solve this, so i'm waiting for the next Plasma release on Manjaro that'll bring these replacements.

(In reply to Robin Bankhead from comment #16)
> Have just updated to 5.24 and have to be honest, this is not a very good
> replacement.
> 
> - Windows are smaller
> - Thick blue border around centred window
> - No reflections
> - Opaque grey background instead of wallpaper shaded
> - Transition animation is too slow but jerky at start and end
> 
> The smoothness and visual appeal of the old cover switch is basically all
> gone. Aesthetically none of the ways this has changed are appealing to me.
> Sorry if a bit negative, hope others like it but I won't be using it.

Just tested it. The new effect is nicer than not having anything but it's in no way a functional equivalent of the previous effect.

I request the previous effect to be reinstated or the bug to be reopened until a better replacement is contributed. I appreciate the effort made so far. Thanks!

(In reply to sombragris from comment #18)
> I request the previous effect to be reinstated or the bug to be reopened
> until a better replacement is contributed. I appreciate the effort made so
> far. Thanks!


I vote to reopen this feature request too

New requests for the next update for this replacement:

* Bring back reflections
* Remove the borders on the selected task
* Replace the blurred grey background to the shaded background
* Add starting and ending animations
* Fix the glitchy movement when quick-switching tasks
* Make task windows bigger

To let users to optionally give a breeze minimalist look on this effect, it could add an option on the task-switch settings to remove reflections and shaded background. Task switchers are configurable.

Since this bug report was tracking the creation of a new effect and it's now been created, we should open new bug reports for any further bugs or suggestions for improvement.

Suggestion submitted as bug 450230