personally I dont have any motivation for the feature but who knows, might someone appear with more interest

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #1)
> personally I dont have any motivation for the feature but who knows, might
> someone appear with more interest

We don't need to add the Unity style.

But how about adding the Plasma Icons-Only TaskManager style in "Effect > Indicator" ?
This may be better when the user doesn't use the Parabolic effect.

Let's compare:
- Latte style: https://i.imgur.com/HK82i96.png
- Plasma Icons-Only TaskManager style: https://i.imgur.com/i9xVtB4.png

(In reply to trmdi from comment #2)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #1)
> > personally I dont have any motivation for the feature but who knows, might
> > someone appear with more interest
> 
> We don't need to add the Unity style.
> 
> But how about adding the Plasma Icons-Only TaskManager style in "Effect >
> Indicator" ?
> This may be better when the user doesn't use the Parabolic effect.
> 

because in that case the user could just replace the Latte taskmanager with a plasma taskmanager in order to get the same visual effect

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #3)
> (In reply to trmdi from comment #2)
> > (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #1)
> > > personally I dont have any motivation for the feature but who knows, might
> > > someone appear with more interest
> > 
> > We don't need to add the Unity style.
> > 
> > But how about adding the Plasma Icons-Only TaskManager style in "Effect >
> > Indicator" ?
> > This may be better when the user doesn't use the Parabolic effect.
> > 
> 
> because in that case the user could just replace the Latte taskmanager with
> a plasma taskmanager in order to get the same visual effect

There cuold be the case that the user prefer Latte Plasmoid instead of Plasma TaskManager. Because there some features that Latte Plasmoid can do, but Plasma TaskManager can not, right?

For eaxample:
- Activate Plasma TaskManager entries those are placed in a Latte view. (*)
- Display the shortcut badges for (*)
Or is it another bug ?
Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/PEuHMlL.png

(In reply to trmdi from comment #4)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #3)
> > (In reply to trmdi from comment #2)
> 
> For eaxample:
> - Activate Plasma TaskManager entries those are placed in a Latte view. (*)

this is supported, activating plasma task manager entries through global shortcuts

> - Display the shortcut badges for (*)

this is not possible for plasma taskmanagers


in any case personally I dont have any interest. Of course Latte is open for reviews and testing new solutions as long it does not break something of the current features and it is a clean implementation.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #4)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #3)
> > (In reply to trmdi from comment #2)
> > > (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #1)

There is a chance that we might can support this like,

Indicator Style: Latte | Plasma | Unity

because there are some plasma applets that could also follow it... 
I will play with it and see its boundaries...

Git commit 2884f735074f4449848d6048f24be95afda69cf0 by Michail Vourlakos.
Committed on 10/02/2019 at 15:38.
Pushed by mvourlakos into branch 'master'.

enable Plasma Indicator Style

M  +21   -7    containment/package/contents/ui/applet/AppletItem.qml
R  +0    -0    containment/package/contents/ui/applet/indicators/LatteIndicator.qml [from: containment/package/contents/ui/applet/ActiveIndicator.qml - 100% similarity]
A  +74   -0    containment/package/contents/ui/applet/indicators/PlasmaIndicator.qml     [License: GPL (v2+)]
M  +5    -3    containment/package/contents/ui/main.qml
M  +1    -0    plasmoid/package/contents/ui/main.qml
M  +7    -1    plasmoid/package/contents/ui/task/IconItem.qml
M  +3    -0    plasmoid/package/contents/ui/task/Wrapper.qml
A  +93   -0    plasmoid/package/contents/ui/task/indicators/PlasmaIndicator.qml     [License: GPL (v2+)]

https://commits.kde.org/latte-dock/2884f735074f4449848d6048f24be95afda69cf0

(In reply to trmdi from comment #4)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #3)
> > (In reply to trmdi from comment #2)
> > > (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #1)

Just to say you were right :)

Plasma Indicator style with latest commits looks and behaves so nice that it might be my next main working style for Latte :)

Next weeks I will also play with Unity style but I think we will have success also...

some results for Unity,

I played with this in Latte but I could reach only at the following result: https://i.imgur.com/Hm2pq9P.png

for some reason the colors produced are not exactly as in unity, so I think I will need someone to help in order to produce proper background and glow colors from the mentioned unity code...

ok... I found the issue and reaced at this step for Unity:
https://i.imgur.com/UaAm9z8.png

@Michail

You're amazing! Like seriously amazing! Thanks so very much for your time and effort!

I fully agree. Awesome work!

One little bug I noticed in your screenshot is that the corner outside the button seems to be colored too (instead of being transparent): https://i.imgur.com/EEyGUKj.png 

Can the roundness of the corners be configured?

this is merged in master in order for user to be able to activate it. This work is just initial work to test and play with colors that are found for each icon.

If you have mockups or proposal how this should look please add your comments here.

Nice Mockups/Style for Unity and Plasma would help a lot. I am interested more for the following for each style:

1) Icon is not active (I suppose nothing will be shown in the background at all cases)
2) Window is shown
3) Window is minimized
4) Group of Windows

I am not familiar with Unity so presenting mockups or screenshots how it should behave at each state is something I will need in the future

I think the most important factor is, if possible, being able to configure every little detail, if one doesn't like everything specified in the preset. 



1) Icon is not active (I suppose nothing will be shown in the background at all cases)

Yeah, if the app does not run, the background is transparent. (If your dock has a black background, the background of the icon is also black.)


2) Window is shown

As can be seen here ( https://youtu.be/ffkLTgyQ3Ww?t=250 ), to the right is an arrow when a window is currently shown in front. As usual, to left of the icon is an indicator (arrow) for each window of the application. 

3) Window is minimized
Nothing specific (as seen here: https://youtu.be/ffkLTgyQ3Ww?t=35 ). But the option for having a different color, which is present in Latte dock works fine =)


4) Group of Windows

This basically already exists. For each window of an application there is an indicator to the left, as seen here: https://youtu.be/ffkLTgyQ3Ww?t=43


5) Progress bar (Added by me)

This is what it looks like: https://youtu.be/ffkLTgyQ3Ww?t=230

Do you think the background color of Konsole should be black instead of white?

@trmdi

If the app is running, I think the algorithm would choose the brightest color for the background, as can be seen here: https://youtu.be/tdS0ZXQ5Oa4?t=17

If it's not running the background of the icon would be transparent.


@Michail

Cool, I have enabled it now, and yeah, the background glow really doesn't fit with flat icons / themes. I'm also missing the dots (one for each window of an app) from the Latte style and an indicator on the other side of the icon, for the app currently in front. Besides that it looks good.

Thank you for the work you're putting into this! :)

Created attachment 118060 [details]
Different indicators in Unity described

Created attachment 118061 [details]
vlc icon

VLC icon background looks too black when I use a custom icon (changed it in KDE Menu Editor)
https://i.imgur.com/pRZJVzr.png

It should be white.

But personally I think Latte's indicator for the currently focused app (the blue line) is better, since Unity's doesn't stand out enough. That's why I think it's important to make these options as atomic as possible.

@trmdi

Why should it be white? This is about Unity's style which is supposed to use a processed color of the icon as the background color.

Ah, you mean the icon on the right. I thought you meant the one with the cursor on it. Hmm, I'm not sure what the right color would be here. It's true that the dark terminal has a white background for better contrast..

But maybe the real reason is that you changed it in KDE Menu Editor and Latte doesn't know about. So, to check if that's true, what does the base VLC icon look like in your configured icon theme?

Actually, that doesn't make sense. It draws the icon, so it must have access to the current icon. Forget what I said.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #19)
> Created attachment 118061 [details]
> vlc icon
> 
> VLC icon background looks too black when I use a custom icon (changed it in
> KDE Menu Editor)
> https://i.imgur.com/pRZJVzr.png
> 
> It should be white.

what icon did you set? a local file?

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #24)
> (In reply to trmdi from comment #19)
> > Created attachment 118061 [details]
> > vlc icon
> > 
> > VLC icon background looks too black when I use a custom icon (changed it in
> > KDE Menu Editor)
> > https://i.imgur.com/pRZJVzr.png
> > 
> > It should be white.
> 
> what icon did you set? a local file?

Yes, a local file. I attached it above.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #25)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #24)
> > (In reply to trmdi from comment #19)
> > > Created attachment 118061 [details]
> > > vlc icon
> > > 
> > > VLC icon background looks too black when I use a custom icon (changed it in
> > > KDE Menu Editor)
> > > https://i.imgur.com/pRZJVzr.png
> > > 
> > > It should be white.
> > 
> > what icon did you set? a local file?
> 
> Yes, a local file. I attached it above.

does it happen with all local set images? the code for the colors can be found at liblatte2/iconitem class

(In reply to trmdi from comment #25)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #24)
> > (In reply to trmdi from comment #19)
> > > Created attachment 118061 [details]
> > > vlc icon
> > > 
> > > VLC icon background looks too black when I use a custom icon (changed it in
> > > KDE Menu Editor)
> > > https://i.imgur.com/pRZJVzr.png
> > > 
> > > It should be white.
> > 
> > what icon did you set? a local file?
> 
> Yes, a local file. I attached it above.

ok, it is fixed with last commit. IconItem wasnt tracking source changes for QIcons and QImages

I found some differences:
- Latte dock: https://i.imgur.com/fXuPDEG.png
- Unity: https://aozoeky4dglp5sh0-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ubuntu-1610-desktop-screenshot-1.jpg

As you see:
- In Unity, the icon looks more well-algined in its background. (see the Latte screenshot, it seems the top padding is higher than the others)
- In Unity, there are still space (margin) between icons (includes its background), while in Latte, the background of icons stick together, no margin between them. See the screenshot.

> In Unity, there are still space (margin) between icons (includes its background), while in Latte, the background of icons stick together, no margin between them. See the screenshot.

Yeah, even changing the distance in Appearance > Items doesn't seem to affect the margins between buttons. Instead with a larger Distance setting, the button (and their respective colored background) seem to become larger.

Created attachment 118129 [details]
Changing Distance with Unity indicator style makes bg larger instead

As can be seen here:

Just an update for this everyone.

I have paused the Unity specific development for a good reason. By developing all new Unity and Plasma indicator styles it became very clear to me that the entire indicators mechanism in general need to updated and improved because starting to work with specific styles such as Plasma and Unity.

So what I am working now is the following:

1. Each indicator style should be just one qml file that is going to be used both for applets and tasks (this is not currently the state)
2. New margins should be introduced:
  2a. Thickness margin
  2b. Length Internal margin
  2c. Length External margin
3. Latte will provide to indicators only the item size + the internal margins and NOT the external margins. This way the items could be visually totally separated with each other
4. Each indicator style will have access to Latte values such a item size, isActive, isMinimized, number of windows in the group etc. in order to paint itself properly
5. With [1]+[2] we can investigate if more indicator styles could be installed by the user. For example someone could create a Gnome qml style and install it in order to use it with Latte

By playing with [1]+[2] the new design works so much better with plasma environment. The new architecture takes the plasma design as granted and uses that in order to paint its indicators. That solves an issue of Latte style with reversed indicators, when the user was using reversed indicators and was clicking an applet the reversed indicators was overlapped by the popup. We can now achieve this: https://i.imgur.com/JZ045en.png


Of course this will need a lot of testing so I hope that when this will be merged around a week from now you are all going to help to debug it and fix small issues here and there...

have fun everyone

@Michail That sounds like it makes Latte a lot more clean and extendable. Great  work! I'm looking forward to it.

ok.. things catch up... back on track with indicators...

small update

unity style with spacers: https://i.imgur.com/V2G9e4J.png
new margins settings: https://i.imgur.com/cqhAg0f.png

Looking really good!

Maybe you were planning to do this anyway, but the sliders in your image just made me aware that having an alpha % slider for the glow would actually be much better than a simple on/off switch, because I could see a light glow being nice, while others might like a glow more like it is now. And of course, some might not want any glow at all.

Also wondering if there could be a slider for the radius of the app button's corners.

I haven't concluded in a Unity indicator specific design yet. In any case I don't know how many adjustments will be offered if any in a favor of just sane defaults

new indicators design has landed. There are some small issues but in general it works pretty well...

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #36)
> new indicators design has landed. There are some small issues but in general
> it works pretty well...


Error loading QML file: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.latte.plasmoid/contents/ui/main.qml:1223:23: Type Task.TaskItem unavailable
file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.latte.plasmoid/contents/ui/task/TaskItem.qml:33:1: "indicators": no such directory

(In reply to trmdi from comment #37)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #36)
> > new indicators design has landed. There are some small issues but in general
> > it works pretty well...
> 
> 
> Error loading QML file:
> file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.latte.plasmoid/contents/ui/main.
> qml:1223:23: Type Task.TaskItem unavailable
> file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.latte.plasmoid/contents/ui/task/
> TaskItem.qml:33:1: "indicators": no such directory

fixed

See this screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/dStNYhh.png

1, When changing the thickness (Appearance > Margins > Thickness)
- The background's height shouldn't change, it shouldn't fill the height of the dock, I mean the background should always be a square. In the screenshot above, it is a rectangle (the height > the width)

2, Dolphin and Falkon icons should be scaled down a bit to ensure they have left/right inner margins ? In the screenshot, their width nearly = the width of the background, so the left/right inner margins are nearly = 0.

Konsole and KSysGuard look ok.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #39)
> I mean the background should always be a square. In the screenshot
> above, it is a rectangle (the height > the width)
> 

makes sense. Unity reaching in good state, Watch out: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Oct2mxmWGP8j2UOkej1jKJNrDM_6A4m/view?usp=sharing

but always rectangle Unity indicators creates a question. How about the applets that are not rectangled? e.g. the weather widget in the screenshot OR other applets that have very big width e.g. the systrays, dates etc...

> 2, Dolphin and Falkon icons should be scaled down a bit to ensure they have
> left/right inner margins ? In the screenshot, their width nearly = the width
> of the background, so the left/right inner margins are nearly = 0.
> 
> Konsole and KSysGuard look ok.

Latte is not responsible for icon theme paddings. This is responsibility of the icon theme creators to provide the same padding for all their icons. So Latte can not do something about it.

How about this ?

Latte Plasmoid: always squared
Others: current design

(In reply to trmdi from comment #41)
> How about this ?
> 
> Latte Plasmoid: always squared
> Others: current design

check it out, I uploaded it. I think it looks ok with your proposal.

Created attachment 118321 [details]
Weird colors

After updating, the colors look weird??

(In reply to trmdi from comment #43)
> Created attachment 118321 [details]
> Weird colors
> 
> After updating, the colors look weird??

which ones? in what second, which task?

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #44)
> (In reply to trmdi from comment #43)
> > Created attachment 118321 [details]
> > Weird colors
> > 
> > After updating, the colors look weird??
> 
> which ones? in what second, which task?

You see, all background colors are blue. While it should be white for Konsole, purple for Falkon...

Created attachment 118322 [details]
Background changes when changing the thickness

Another weird thing, when changing the thickness, the size of the background changes, while the margin (and the size of the background) shouldn't depend on the thickness. See the background of Konsole in the video.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #45)
> (In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #44)
> > (In reply to trmdi from comment #43)
> > > Created attachment 118321 [details]
> > > Weird colors
> > > 
> > > After updating, the colors look weird??
> > 
> > which ones? in what second, which task?
> 
> You see, all background colors are blue. While it should be white for
> Konsole, purple for Falkon...

they become blue only when they are active (the blue color comes from plasma theme colors). Isnt that how Unity was doing it? When a window was active it became bright orange. Bacgkround colors are colored based on the icon palette only when the window is shown (!minimized) and they are not active.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #46)
> Created attachment 118322 [details]
> Background changes when changing the thickness
> 
> Another weird thing, when changing the thickness, the size of the background
> changes, while the margin (and the size of the background) shouldn't depend
> on the thickness. See the background of Konsole in the video.

this is from the new design. Latte moved away from the old design on purpose. Latte now follows the Plasma design. This way Latte now draws applets correctly and always centered.

The new design is the following, thickness = iconSize + 2*thickMargin the items are always centered in that area. This way we make sure that all applets are centered properly.

The background size 100% means that it is a maximum thickness and at the same time that bottom margin and top margin are always symmetrical.

BTW the new indicators design is CPU lighter, we gained around 20% from cpy cycles when using the parabolic effect

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #47)
> Isnt that how Unity was doing it?

I don't think so. I think it's like this:

- active: color based on the icon + an arrow/dot... Screenshot: https://feliciano.tech/assets/img/article/two-windows-of-chromium.png
(Currrently, the blue color looks aweful!)

- inactive: color based on the icon

- minimized: current design

I don't really understand. What is the Items' Size?
See this screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/rOT9B2K.jpg

- I set it to 64px, as you see in the screenshot, the icon size is not 64px.
- Can you explain more about Items's Size? Margin (Internal, External, Height) ? 



---------
I've thought like this, but maybe I'm misunderstanding something:
- Items' Size -> icon height, widget height

See the screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/CQwFXyM.png
- Internal: changes the red part. This is the background area.
- External: changes the yellow part, it is the distance between e.g. Dolphin vs SystemSettings...
- Height: changes the green part

These 3 parts are independent.
The height of the dock = iconsize + 2*red + 2*green

(In reply to trmdi from comment #51)
> I don't really understand. What is the Items' Size?
> See this screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/rOT9B2K.jpg
> 
> - I set it to 64px, as you see in the screenshot, the icon size is not 64px.
> - Can you explain more about Items's Size? Margin (Internal, External,
> Height) ? 
> 
> 

it is, you probably have set "Decrease size automatically when needed" in Behavior page. Latte gives to the task icons exactly the size that has been set from the user in pixels. For applets is given the entire dock/panel thickness.


> 
> ---------
> I've thought like this, but maybe I'm misunderstanding something:
> - Items' Size -> icon height, widget height

more accurately could be Items' size -> icon width, applet width. BUT for applets this is not granted. Applets are not designed to be rectangular only few of them are. Most of applets have their own demands in needed space. What Latte is doing is:

1. Latte tries to give them width equal to the iconSize
2. the Applets respond what space they need in order to be shown correctly. 
3. Latte grands that needed space from [3] in order for these applets to be shown correctly

a good example of rectangular plasma applet is the plasma analog clock.


> 
> These 3 parts are independent.
> The height of the dock = iconsize + 2*red + 2*green

no the height of the dock = iconSize + 2*red (from my screenshot)

I forgot my screenshot with correct margins: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1npzONN4LL3bkMVAdmDn_5RzFP3JqQc-W/view?usp=sharing

> you probably have set "Decrease size automatically when needed" in Behavior page.

You're right. Hmm, should it be moved to Appearance > Items section?

> I forgot my screenshot with correct margins:
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1npzONN4LL3bkMVAdmDn_5RzFP3JqQc-W/
> view?usp=sharing

Thanks, this seems to be easier to understand. I will think more about it. I feel the texts are not really clear to understand.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #54)
> > you probably have set "Decrease size automatically when needed" in Behavior page.
> 
> You're right. Hmm, should it be moved to Appearance > Items section?
> 

probably but I dont like how it looks, please open a task in our phabricator in order to not forget it

> > I forgot my screenshot with correct margins:
> > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1npzONN4LL3bkMVAdmDn_5RzFP3JqQc-W/
> > view?usp=sharing
> 
> Thanks, this seems to be easier to understand. I will think more about it. I
> feel the texts are not really clear to understand.

no problem this is why I have named them:

Length Margins (width) and Thickness margins(height)

I think I understand what Margins section does more clearly now.
But when using unity style, these things should be considered:

- Background of icons (not talk about other widgets, just Dolphin, Konsole...) should always >= icon size, in any Margins setup.
For example, when: Items size = 50px, Margins: internal = 0%; external = 25%; height = 40%
  + Current design: the background of icons < icon size: https://i.imgur.com/sM0KMv2.png
  + Expected result: Background of icons = icon size, do not allow it smaller than the Falkon icon, and it should be bigger when increasing Margins->Internal

- Background of icons shouldn't depend on the Margins->Height value.
For example, with: Items size = 50px, Margins: internal = 25%; external = 25%; height = 0%
  + Current design: background of icons < icon size: https://i.imgur.com/4C8xI3r.png
  + Expected result: background of icons >= icon size, ONLY depends on the Margin->Internal value. 

*** Note that, the main object I want to talk about is the size of the background layer of icons, in the Unity style.

The size (width, height) of the background layer of icon should always >= icon size + 1px (or 2, 3... it depends on you) to ensure the background layer is always bigger than the icon (it means the padding betweens an icon and it's background border should always > 0)

(In reply to trmdi from comment #57)
> The size (width, height) of the background layer of icon should always >=
> icon size + 1px (or 2, 3... it depends on you) to ensure the background
> layer is always bigger than the icon (it means the padding betweens an icon
> and it's background border should always > 0)

this is very easy to play with it now, probably the margins:4 that I have set in UnityIndicator is the issue... You can play with it if you want, it is just a single qml file: https://phabricator.kde.org/source/latte-dock/browse/master/liblatte2/qml/indicators/UnityIndicator.qml

Okay, I have now tried the newest version to give some feedback. (master 3e9d3a3124155af9770bc5ca0ac20feb33480cb9)

Here are my first impressions:

* The background becomes black when minimizing (unlike Unity)
* The background is blue when app is currently focused (unlike Unity)
* I agree that both of the above (minimized, focused) should be shown somehow, but I find the current way somewhat ugly / weird. 
* As previously posted (https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118060), I'd like arrows / dots on one side to indicate the number of windows, and an arrow / dot on the other side to indicate that a window is currently focused.

If possible, I'd split the indicator options for 

* active window / focused
* running
* minimized
* number of windows


so one could really pick and choose. For example, pick Unity background, but Latte's way of showing the app as currently focused (the blue bar). Maybe I'm missing something though, that would prevent that from being feasible.


Again, I really miss Unity's focus and number of windows indicators. Here's what a minimized terminal app looks like in Unity (the arrow isn't filled): https://i.imgur.com/G66hMjw.png

Besides that, I really like it. Great work so far! I'll now continue using it, so I might post more feedback later.

(Oh, and an option to disable the glow would be great!)

I just want to mention that there's at least one thing where I prefer Latte's unity style. The fact that it doesn't draw a border / box around inactive app icons: https://i.imgur.com/tkvhtCS.png

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #59)
> Okay, I have now tried the newest version to give some feedback. (master
> 3e9d3a3124155af9770bc5ca0ac20feb33480cb9)
> 
> Here are my first impressions:
> 
> * The background becomes black when minimizing (unlike Unity)

yeah that is true, I prefer it this way otherwise is too crowded

> * The background is blue when app is currently focused (unlike Unity)

In Unity the focused one wasnt full orange? only the upper arrow was the indicator for the focused one?

> * I agree that both of the above (minimized, focused) should be shown
> somehow, but I find the current way somewhat ugly / weird. 



> * As previously posted (https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118060),
> I'd like arrows / dots on one side to indicate the number of windows, and an
> arrow / dot on the other side to indicate that a window is currently focused.
> 

this will be added in future iterations


Concerning the Unity design:

Background:
-> Launchers will not have a background at all (current state)
-> Windows that are minimized will lose their colored backgrounds (current state)
-> Windows that are focused OR shown without be minimized will have a colored background

Arrows:
-> the bottom will contain as many arrows as the windows of the group
-> When minimized the bottom arrows will not be filled
-> When the windows are shown then the bottom arrows will be filled
-> When a window is focused (active) it gains an upper filled arrow

Concerning options/styles:

The only option will be related to glow and its opacity and can be already provided by the Latte indicator easily.

Styles:
The user will be able to choose between some styles but without additional properties:
Classic/Flat/...? (I dont know for other yet, but any proposal for additional styles will have to provide information how to behabe/look for all the states described at Background/Arrows)

Created attachment 118358 [details]
Short video showing Unity launcher when opening multiple windows

Sounds awesome!


> yeah that is true, I prefer it this way otherwise is too crowded

I'm not sure about this, but maybe I'll change my mind about this in the coming days.




> In Unity the focused one wasnt full orange? only the upper arrow was the indicator for the focused one?

Yes, the arrow is the indicator for focused: https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118060  (here on the right)

I think using a blue color for the background of a focused app isn't a good idea anyway, because it doesn't go well together with many icons and their colors. Not a perfect example, but I think this looks a bit jarring: https://i.imgur.com/H2zWZyA.png



> -> the bottom will contain as many arrows as the windows of the group

I don't know if this of interest, but apparently instead of showing 2 arrows, Unity would show "bars" when more than one window is open. I think this was done because multiple arrows next to each look bad(?):

https://i.imgur.com/FX4ropX.png

Not that it has to be arrows or bars. Dots may work as well.




> -> When minimized the bottom arrows will not be filled

I just ran Unity using a virtual machine and it seems this was added latter because I couldn't get it to appear. 

Video: https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118358 

Also interesting, the number of bars never surpasses 3 even when more than 3 windows are open. (Not shown in the video.) I assume this was done, because at some point the number of windows isn't important anymore and the dock would look cluttered with so many bars.

I think the limit of 3 makes sense, but, if possible, showing a star or an infinity sign when exceeding 3 windows would be even better and less confusing than simply leaving it at 3 bars. If I remember correctly that's what Firefox Mobile does when too many tabs are open.



An idea regarding this:

Each dot corresponds to a window, so when you scroll on an app icon with 3 windows open, the respective dot would be highlighted, for example, by having a brighter color. This way, the dock would visualize to the user that the focus has changed.

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #64)
> I think using a blue color for the background of a focused app isn't a good
> idea anyway, because it doesn't go well together with many icons and their
> colors. Not a perfect example, but I think this looks a bit jarring:
> https://i.imgur.com/H2zWZyA.png

Agree with this, as I said above. Made a patch for this: https://phabricator.kde.org/D19309

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #64)
> I just ran Unity using a virtual machine and it seems this was added latter
> because I couldn't get it to appear. 

Could you also try Gnome's default dock/ Dash to dock... to see how they work?
Because I think they are more up-to-date technology than Unity. They could improve things compared with Unity.

Created attachment 118362 [details]
Gnome 3 dock (sadly not much to learn from)

> Could you also try Gnome's default dock/ Dash to dock... to see how they work?

Sure, here's the video:

https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118362


I actually hadn't tried Gnome 3 yet at all, so it was nice to do that. 

However, I don't think there is much to learn from the Gnome dock. Maybe one thing of interest: As can be seen in the video, the maximum number of windows per app that are indicated in the dock is 4. 

Things that don't work in the Gnome dock: Click to minimize (can supposedly be enabled though), scrolling to switch active window, colored backgrounds

> Agree with this, as I said above. Made a patch for this: https://phabricator.kde.org/D19309

Great to hear! :)

Created attachment 118363 [details]
Some original Unity dock svgs

Could be useful - Unity dock resources from https://bazaar.launchpad.net/~unity-team/unity/trunk/files/head:/resources/ 

https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118363

includes the arrows, the little bars when more than one window called "launcher_pip*.svg", progress bar 

License (see COPYING in trunk): GPL v3, LGPL v3

Created attachment 118404 [details]
Visibility issues when app is minimized

I have to say I still dislike the fact that the background color isn't drawn for minimized apps. It makes it much harder to recognize that an app is running. (See the attached image.)

This issue will be even pronounced once the glow is disabled, so if this will stay, there should at least be an option to enable "draw background color when app minimized".

Created attachment 118405 [details]
Idea for how to show that window is minimized

Sorry for posting so much in a row, but I also wanted to make a proposal for how to minimized apps could be shown and what Unity's arrows would approximately look like on Latte. The bars (per window) are greyed out when the respective window is minimized. It's like the "Latte" indicator style when "Different color for minimized apps" is enabled.

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #73)
> Created attachment 118405 [details]
> Idea for how to show that window is minimized
> 
> Sorry for posting so much in a row, but I also wanted to make a proposal for
> how to minimized apps could be shown and what Unity's arrows would
> approximately look like on Latte. The bars (per window) are greyed out when
> the respective window is minimized. It's like the "Latte" indicator style
> when "Different color for minimized apps" is enabled.

is that qml ? or just a mockup image file?

Sorry that's just a mockup (created Gimp). I can upload the xcf file, if someone wants to do something with it.

Created attachment 118406 [details]
xcf (gimp) mockup file of "Idea for how to show that window is minimized"

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #76)
> Created attachment 118406 [details]
> xcf (gimp) mockup file of "Idea for how to show that window is minimized"

I just needed an efficient way to draw the arrows in qml

Ah, okay. Sadly, I don't have any experience with QML. Is it possible to reuse part of the QML from the Latte indicator style and then use the arrow svg images?

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #72)
> Created attachment 118404 [details]
> Visibility issues when app is minimized
> 
> I have to say I still dislike the fact that the background color isn't drawn
> for minimized apps. It makes it much harder to recognize that an app is
> running. (See the attached image.)

Isn't it the Unity way?

(In reply to trmdi from comment #79)
> (In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #72)
> > Created attachment 118404 [details]
> > Visibility issues when app is minimized
> > 
> > I have to say I still dislike the fact that the background color isn't drawn
> > for minimized apps. It makes it much harder to recognize that an app is
> > running. (See the attached image.)
> 
> Isn't it the Unity way?

I meant, in your screenshot, Dolphin still has a background layer behind it when minimized. Is it too hard to see?

(In reply to Michail Vourlakos from comment #77)
> (In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #76)
> > Created attachment 118406 [details]
> > xcf (gimp) mockup file of "Idea for how to show that window is minimized"
> 
> I just needed an efficient way to draw the arrows in qml

Can we use unicode characters ? e.g. ⌃ ⌄

(In reply to trmdi from comment #81)
> Can we use unicode characters ? e.g. ⌃ ⌄

More arrows: https://unicode-table.com/en/sets/arrows-symbols/

Or use the SystemTray's arrow?

> Isn't it the Unity way?

@trmdi No, Unity would draw the colored background to indicate that an app is running, not to show whether it is minimized or not. 


> Is it too hard to see?

Yeah, I don't find it particularly easy to see what's running, and that information is much more important to me than knowing what's minimized.

And that is with the glow (the background layer). Once there's an option to disable the glow and someone disables it, there will be only a very small border around the icon. It'll be even harder to notice.

One thing to note is that the area in the screenshot is a small part of the 2560x1440 screen. That's still a reasonably big panel, but some people may use much smaller ones, where the minimized state will be even less perceptible.

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #83)
> > Isn't it the Unity way?
> 
> @trmdi No, Unity would draw the colored background to indicate that an app
> is running, not to show whether it is minimized or not.

What is the state of Nautilus and Firefox in your screenshot? https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=117939

@trdmi Both are not running. They're pinned to the launcher like my music player here:

https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118404 (music player is also not running)

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #85)
> @trdmi Both are not running. They're pinned to the launcher like my music
> player here:
> 
> https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118404 (music player is also not
> running)

Do you see the difference between the left and the right panel? I think the left panel says that Firefox is running and minimized, the right one says that Firefox is not running.

Oh, no sorry, I should have made this more clear. The picture is taken from this article:

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/08/flat-unity-launcher-icons-flatify-script

The difference is only that the right side has no border and glow, since that presumably looks better with flat themes. It's only a visual change, but the same windows are running / (not) minimized.

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #87)
> Oh, no sorry, I should have made this more clear. The picture is taken from
> this article:
> 
> https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/08/flat-unity-launcher-icons-flatify-script
> 
> The difference is only that the right side has no border and glow, since
> that presumably looks better with flat themes. It's only a visual change,
> but the same windows are running / (not) minimized.

So what is ther difference between a minimized window and an inactive window ?

As can be seen in the Unity virtual machine video, there isn't one (at least in 16.04): https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118358

Of course, that doesn't mean we have to do the same thing. I think it makes sense to show it somehow, but I think the "Latte" indicator style (when "Different color for minimized apps" is enabled), is a much better solution because of the previously mentioned points. 

https://bugsfiles.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118405

At around 12 seconds into the video.

Latte indicator style when "Different color for minimized apps" is enabled.

https://i.imgur.com/x4kQW9S.png

* Dolphin:  2 windows, both minimized
* Player:   1 window
* Firefox:  2 windows, 1 minimized

@trmdi 

Has your patch (regarding blue bg color when focused) not been merged yet? (I don't really know how things are handled in phabricator.)

Seems like the code still uses the old way: https://phabricator.kde.org/source/latte-dock/browse/master/liblatte2/qml/indicators/UnityIndicator.qml

Regarding SVG images, it seems QML supports them: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qml-qtquick-image.html

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #92)
> @trmdi 
> 
> Has your patch (regarding blue bg color when focused) not been merged yet?

Yes, maybe Michail wants something better.

(In reply to trmdi from comment #93)
> (In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #92)
> > @trmdi 
> > 
> > Has your patch (regarding blue bg color when focused) not been merged yet?
> 
> Yes, maybe Michail wants something better.

I dont understand, concerning what?

The blue bg color (it wasnt always blue, it depended of the plasma theme used) was merged but @trmdi we decided to drop it in favour to show always the Unity style backgrounds even for the focused one...

For svgs of not that favouring them. We will probably draw the triangles ourselves through QML code

> The blue bg color (it wasnt always blue, it depended of the plasma theme used) was merged but @trmdi we decided to drop it in favour to show always the Unity style backgrounds even for the focused one...

I think @trmdi just meant that this patch ( https://phabricator.kde.org/D19309 ) doesn't seem to have been merged, which is why he thought that maybe you wanted something different.


> For svgs of not that favouring them. We will probably draw the triangles ourselves through QML code

I guess that might be more memory efficient, but svgs would have the advantage of making further customization easier. Some users may want to use different icons. I also don't think it would be that memory intensive.

@trmdi Your patch has been merged. :D

Thanks Michail!

Git commit a919dc3fca3aa58404b81b4b4d434ff6a5f31582 by Michail Vourlakos.
Committed on 14/03/2019 at 15:54.
Pushed by mvourlakos into branch 'master'.

Unity:add triangles, make things more interesting

--added triangles indicators that follow plasma theme
coloring in order to indicate windows count, minimized
state and isActive flag

M  +167  -2    liblatte2/qml/indicators/UnityIndicator.qml
M  +4    -4    plasmoid/package/contents/ui/task/SubWindows.qml

https://commits.kde.org/latte-dock/a919dc3fca3aa58404b81b4b4d434ff6a5f31582

Created attachment 118806 [details]
triangles off for multiple windows

Nice! I like it. 

I think there's a bug though with the placement of the triangles when there are multiple windows.

https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118806

An option for enabling / disabling the minimized-no-colored-background-thing would be cool.

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #99)
> Nice! I like it. 
> 
> I think there's a bug though with the placement of the triangles when there
> are multiple windows.
> 
> https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=118806
> 

already fixed, 30mins before


> An option for enabling / disabling the minimized-no-colored-background-thing
> would be cool.

I am not that sure, I updated the triangles painting 10mins before and looks nice now!


BTW, this is not finished... I want to put the Triangles above the icon... In that way they will never be below the icon and become hidden... I will play with this, the next days...

> already fixed, 30mins before

Ah, I guess that's what I get for using the GitHub download, which must have been slightly out of date. ^^


> I am not that sure, I updated the triangles painting 10mins before and looks nice now!

I meant the thing where the background is not colorized when minimized, as marked in red here: https://i.imgur.com/rAyhANj.png

Not the triangles. They look great.


> BTW, this is not finished... I want to put the Triangles above the icon... In that way they will never be below the icon and become hidden... I will play with this, the next days...

Great to hear! By above you mean a higher layer, not north to the icon, right? (Otherwise please make it an option.)

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #101)
> I meant the thing where the background is not colorized when minimized, as
> marked in red here: https://i.imgur.com/rAyhANj.png
> Not the triangles. They look great.

oh I see... we can discuss this when I will finish up all the indicators design in a few days

> 
> 
> Great to hear! By above you mean a higher layer, not north to the icon,
> right?

yep, above... already supported with last commits... Now Indicators can provide also a FrontLayer to be drawn above icons...

Unity: https://i.imgur.com/doEo7QD.png

IMPORTANT: All the entire Indicators architecture has been updated!!

NEW ARCHITECTURE
PROS:
- each indicator style can be loaded independently included its settings, config ui etc...
- each indicator style now looks a lot as the qml plasmoids, so it will be easy for programmers to create their own styles
- In upcoming weeks Latte will be able to download/install/use Latte Indicators styles from kde store

CONS:
- your current indicator configuration can not be used because all configuration options are set by the indicator and maintained by it
- When the online service is in place the Unity indicator will be provided only online and it will be moved out of Latte codebase


Sorry for any inconvenience but the benefits of the approach and the freedom to all kde developers to create their own indicator styles without even touching the Latte codebase are very big to ignore...

It might be a good idea if any kde developers are interested in this to take part of the discussion early because that way more robust experience and features will be provided.

https://phabricator.kde.org/T10714

I will publish more info etc. when the online category at kde store is available and Latte is able to play with it.

This is ready...
the new Unity Indicator can be found at:
https://github.com/psifidotos/latte-indicator-unity
https://store.kde.org/p/1297196/

I have added also some options:
Shapes Style: Triangle/Dot/Rectangle
Option: Draw colored background for minimized windows

You will need latest Latte git version for this and to install the Unity indicator for github page or wait for the 0.2 release in the kde store the next days...

conclusion of all this discussion: http://psifidotos.blogspot.com/2019/03/latte-and-indicators-tale_30.html

I think it was a great idea to make it possible for people to create their own indicator.

That said, I'm not sure about the KDE store thing. I haven't really used it before. How do I install the Unity indicator? Does it automatically update like with the package manager? 

I love that you've added different shapes. Is there also a slider for choosing how much glow you want?

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #106)
> I think it was a great idea to make it possible for people to create their
> own indicator.
> 
> That said, I'm not sure about the KDE store thing. I haven't really used it
> before. How do I install the Unity indicator? Does it automatically update
> like with the package manager? 
> 
> I love that you've added different shapes. Is there also a slider for
> choosing how much glow you want?

In the video of the article it is shown how I installed Unity indicator. It is not needed to go to kde store at all. You can install indicators from Effects->Indicators->Get New Indicator... 

A window appears to install/update/remove indicators, it is pretty straight forward exactly as you can install wallpapers, plasma themes, widgets in plasma environment. 

Take note that after updating an indicator I think Latte needs to be restarted

> In the video of the article it is shown how I installed Unity indicator. It is not needed to go to kde store at all. You can install indicators from Effects->Indicators->Get New Indicator... 

Saw the video, but somehow forgot that. Thank you!

> Take note that after updating an indicator I think Latte needs to be restarted

You mean installing an indicator? Seems to have worked without restarting :D

I think the only thing I'm missing is a slider for the glow (0 = no glow, 0.5 = 50% transparent glow, 1 = full glow), or at least an on-off-switch.

(In reply to sdfjsfjaei-hans from comment #108)
> > In the video of the article it is shown how I installed Unity indicator. It is not needed to go to kde store at all. You can install indicators from Effects->Indicators->Get New Indicator... 
> 
> Saw the video, but somehow forgot that. Thank you!
> 
> > Take note that after updating an indicator I think Latte needs to be restarted
> 
> You mean installing an indicator? Seems to have worked without restarting :D
> 

in case you are already using an online indicator and you update it, I think that in order to take the new options/behavior needs Latte to be restarted but I am not sure

> I think the only thing I'm missing is a slider for the glow (0 = no glow,
> 0.5 = 50% transparent glow, 1 = full glow), or at least an on-off-switch.


you can use the Unity indicator page for anything related to Unity indicator, issues/requests etc.:
https://github.com/psifidotos/latte-indicator-unity