https://snag.gy/9YIHKu.jpg here above is a mockup of how i think in the short term the docker can be made to be much easier to work with ,especially with less screen estate as it will take less horizontal space for the same width
This is a Junior Job
Can I work on this?
Sure!
I suggest that color be used to group icons. For options 1 and 2, the icons (or the background) in row three would have a different color than the icons in row four. This would make it clearer that these icons are grouped by row instead of vertically. Also, for option 2 the icons in the eight row are a group. That would modestly be made clearer by using color.
The usage of color would not be ideal because a colored background changes the user's perception of color on the canvas. Therefore we avoid using colored icons etc. altogether. There are some cases but it's usually opt-in (like colored frames and layers). The only exception is the greyish blue used for sliders etc., but it's a thing that can be changed with a different theme, too (see here https://www.davidrevoy.com/article343/krita-alternate-themes for a all-grey theme "Krita bright neutral").
The link shows Adobe Illustrator on the iPad. On the left side, the two circular icons have different colors, which helps to differentiate them. https://cnet2.cbsistatic.com/img/D4FSTg_Rj0cHuMVsGnEMQ1Cc4nc=/2020/10/19/09bfe9be-857c-43b5-8339-a5319691f79b/illustrator-on-ipad-screeenshot-2.jpg The six Krita docker icons I discussed in my comment on 20 October are small, which adds to the difficulty in selecting the right one. Coloring those icons would help, but there are other possibilities. The up and down arrow buttons on a TV/DVD remote control are invariably arrayed vertically, with the up button above the down button. It is intuitive and many people are used to that arrangement. The mockup of Krita’s docker options 2 and 3 have the up and down icons arrayed horizontally in rows three and four. It could be changed to a vertical arrangement. Similarly, the eight and ninth rows in option 3 could be rearranged, so that the up and down icons are arrayed vertically. An alternative to a vertical array would be to use a horizontal line to separate rows three and four.
I would like to work on this .I guess it just needs to modify the touch.qml file to put same horizontal/vertical buttons in same row or anything else ?
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita/-/merge_requests/795
Git commit 29cf65449e934480d22d73a029943a3842c2cf3d by Dmitry Kazakov, on behalf of Srirupa Datta. Committed on 08/04/2021 at 11:06. Pushed by dkazakov into branch 'master'. Reorder the touch docker GUI: Touch docker FIXED IN: 5.0.0 M +120 -8 plugins/dockers/touchdocker/qml/touchstrip.qml https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita/commit/29cf65449e934480d22d73a029943a3842c2cf3d