Bug 489047

Summary:	[Feature Request] Split floating panels that merge back when it "unfloats*
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	WS <ws.kde>
Component:	Panel	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	niccolo.venerandi
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	master
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Other
OS:	Other
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description WS 2024-06-23 12:58:51 UTC

The general idea is that a single panel is split into multiples ones when it becomes floating. For instance, the default KDE panel would split into two areas when no window is touching it:

Left Panel: Kickoff and Task Manager
Right Panel: Notification and Status, and the clock

If the user is using a Windows 11 layout, then the panel would be split into three parts, one in the middle.

Once a window touch the panel, it merges into a single one, like it currently is.

I believe there would be a spliter plasmoid to control how the split happens. Most of the time it would probably work like a spacer widget, but it might be nice to allow further control for the user. For instance, while the Notification and Clock would be all both left aligned, it would be cool if we could split the two, each on its own small panel, but again, all left aligned with just a small space between them

Comment 1 veggero 2024-06-24 08:35:27 UTC

I've had similar ideas in the past, but I believe it's not a good idea to attempt this. It would require moving the background panel logic to the containment rather than the view to draw the various splits, and it would complicate the code quite a bit (and the floatingness already made it complex enough). I'd prefer if something like this was left to third-party panels (lattedock, one day?).

Comment 2 veggero 2024-06-24 08:36:26 UTC

Also, this might be interesting? It seems to have some sort of segmented colorization: https://discuss.kde.org/t/panel-colorizer-for-plasma-6/10675/3

Comment 3 WS 2024-06-24 12:43:32 UTC

Understandable but disappointing. However, this now raises some of weird questions

What is the end goal for multiple panels on the same screen edge? Even if the panel isn't set to fill the width they all stack on top of one another, which is jarring and isn't visually pleasing. I think I've heard someone commenting on r/KDE that this wasn't the previous behavior and they would share the same "line" so to speak.

Comment 4 veggero 2024-06-26 15:49:30 UTC

(In reply to WS from comment #3)
> Understandable but disappointing. However, this now raises some of weird
> questions
> 
> What is the end goal for multiple panels on the same screen edge? Even if
> the panel isn't set to fill the width they all stack on top of one another,
> which is jarring and isn't visually pleasing. I think I've heard someone
> commenting on r/KDE that this wasn't the previous behavior and they would
> share the same "line" so to speak.

Yes, that was a regression due to the port to layershells. Hopefully that'll be fixed soon.

Comment 5 WS 2024-06-26 16:17:43 UTC

Yeah, so here's how we get back into the split/merge panels:

I think it would be nice if a floating panel would fill the width when it unfloats.  Would be a pretty cool visual by itself for a dock type of panel and I think you'd agree on that.

However, if we are allowed to put multiple panels on the same "line" of a screen edge, if one of them is set to fill the width when unfloating, then that is the same end result as a split panel that merges together, no?

Comment 6 WS 2024-06-26 16:19:26 UTC

To clarify, I was talking about a floating panel that is smaller than the width of the screen. If it is always visible, it becomes rather odd when it unfloats and I think there should be an option to make it fill the width only when it unfloats