SUMMARY It seems in this new version of plasmashell that the background colors for windows in the task manager (that is, the way each window's rectangle in the task manager is colored to indicate that window's status) has been flipped between inactive windows that are and are not minimized. The effect is that now it looks like I'm keeping all my windows minimized, which isn't the case. Maybe it's an intentional choice, but the fact that it seems they were just swapped compared to previous versions makes it feel like a potential bug. If it is an intentional design change, it would be nice if there was a config option for the task manager to swap them back. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Install Plasma 5.17.5 2. Open some windows 3. Look at the task manager plasmoid OBSERVED RESULT The Active Window: Light blue background with darker bar at the top. Inactive Non-minimized Windows: Gray background with darker bar at the top. Inactive Minimized Windows: Very light gray background if you look closely, otherwise appears to be the same color as the panel the plasmoid is on. No bar at the top edge of the rectangle. EXPECTED RESULT This is based on what I recall in previous versions, since I'm not inclined to recompile an old version of plasma just to check. The Active Window: Light blue background with darker bar on top. Inactive Non-minimized Windows: No coloring, so the same color as the panel the plasmoid is on. I can't recall if the bar along the top edge existed or not. Inactive Minimized Windows: Gray background, can't remember if there was a darker bar along the top of the rectangle. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS KDE Plasma Version: 5.17.5 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.66.0 Qt Version: 5.14.0
This was intentional, yes. I'll admit that the effect looks better when using an Icons-Only Task Manager than it does for a traditional Task Manager. But we did this to solve a commonly-reported-and-complained-about problem: Bug 370465. You can see the discussion at https://phabricator.kde.org/D25340 For now I don't think we're going to be able to revert the change because it would make even more prople mad at us for "going back and forth about design changes" And I'm afraid there's not really a way to make it configurable since it's a property of the SVG images in the plasma theme, not something in the code that can be toggles on or off quickly. If you feel dissatisfied with this, please feel free to get involved with the design process and voice your opinion. You can see the instructions at https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/design
First of all, the bug linked seemed to mainly be complaining about a hovered item not reflecting the activeness/minimizedness of the window, which I can tell hasn't changed. I also strongly disagree with the notion that it was ever hard to distinguish the state a window was in. If it was hard for some people, that should be controlled by some accessibility option. It's worth noting that I was confused in the linked reports about the talk of "running applications" (as opposed to what?), but then I realized that that might be distinguishing from pinned and not running applications. I don't have anything pinned, so maybe the issue with distinguishing application states was just with running vs. pinned applications, and that's why it's news to me? In general, I don't mind the idea of changing the design; what I mind is that, at least in the light Breeze theme, the change took designs that already have established meanings, and repurposed them, thereby changing those meanings. This leads to a more confusing task manager design. I don't think reverting back would get more people upset. This new design has only existed in 1 version of Plasma, while the old design has been seen for every other version of Plasma 5. Since you acknowledged that it looks better in icon-only mode (which I don't use), maybe the solution is to acknowledge that there are different design considerations between icon only and icon + text, and revert it for icon + text only? Or perhaps, like I said, make it an accessibility feature (again, the idea that it was difficult to tell window states is a surprise to me). I don't really buy the idea that it would be hard to add a configuration option. You could always make the task manager use the "wrong" SVGs depending on the configuration, or "just" add more SVGs. My only concern with the configuration option idea was that it would be too niche a concern to be worth making configurable. I will make sure to complain to the design group though, if this is gonna stay "resolved". :) Just to state again, I don't mind the changing of the design, especially to make it easier for people to tell window states. I just mind that you did it by making inactive windows look minimized and minimized windows look inactive.