When task manager items get small due to a large number of items, only icons are shown and the text disappears. The problem is, this starts way too early, when the items can still display meaningful text. This is defined as a magic number, currently 7 (units are seemingly em), in a QML file[1]. Please lower this value to about 3 or, better, make it configurable. [1] https://github.com/KDE/plasma-desktop/blob/Plasma/5.8/applets/taskmanager/package/contents/ui/Task.qml#L402
Why is 3 a better magic number than 7? It might be, but could you add some good screenshots for justification?
Created attachment 103133 [details] Size without labels I agree, in the screenshot is the size at which it starts to hide labels, there would still be plenty of room to be able to tell apart those folders.
Agreed (this is a lot bigger than I remember it setting as, wonder if bitrot set in somehow).
Ok, so I think there's something more to consider here, namely vertical panels. With the current value of 7, with most common vertical panel widths, the text label will currently be collapsed, leaving only the icons. If I lower the value to 3, many common vertical panel widths will end up with (very little) text shown. On the face of it this makes sense, since wanting text labels is a reason to use the regular Task Manager over the Icons-only version, and people who don't want text could just use Icons-only. However for historical reasons, there's more difference between the two applets than that ... the ITM has slightly different default options and slightly different (less) settings available, as it's our "this satisfies your dock cravings" applet. Basically, if I lower this value to 3 as the only change, I know it's going to piss some users off who want a "clean" icon task bar in ther vert panel but still regular TM behavior and options. Instead I could go with 5, which is just outside typical panel widths used by such users. That's the lowest I could go without opening this can of worms for now (which may have to be opened eventually). Please try this out with: plasmoidviewer --formfactor vertical --applet org.kde.plasma.taskmanager And let me know your opinions.
Git commit 3d98fa78831ed823c229810461d2d8cbf9521cb5 by Eike Hein. Committed on 11/01/2017 at 10:27. Pushed by hein into branch 'master'. Lower the threshold below which text labels collapse. Magic number chosen by fair dice ro... feedback. M +1 -1 applets/taskmanager/package/contents/ui/Task.qml https://commits.kde.org/plasma-desktop/3d98fa78831ed823c229810461d2d8cbf9521cb5