Bug 499989 - Ability to disable inline divider on digital clock
Summary: Ability to disable inline divider on digital clock
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: Digital Clock widget (show other bugs)
Version: 6.3.0
Platform: Arch Linux Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords:
: 500018 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-02-13 14:02 UTC by Dandraghas
Modified: 2025-03-25 20:50 UTC (History)
14 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Plasma 6.3 (7.42 KB, image/png)
2025-02-13 14:02 UTC, Dandraghas
Details
Separator not needed (72.89 KB, image/png)
2025-02-14 02:42 UTC, Daniel Pereira
Details
Separator not needed (4.19 KB, image/png)
2025-02-14 02:49 UTC, Daniel Pereira
Details

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Description Dandraghas 2025-02-13 14:02:48 UTC
Created attachment 178278 [details]
Plasma 6.3

SUMMARY
https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/27755ed3004363cfb6df9b8b92921fa6406fb5a8 introduced "inline separator" when clock "show date" is set to "always beside time"

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Configure digital clock
2. Set "Show date" to "always beside time"
3. Apply
4. Observe result

EXPECTED RESULT
it is hard-coded and breaks overall style on many desktops, it would be nice if there is "Display Separator" option.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.10.0
Qt Version: 6.8.2
Kernel Version: 6.13.2-zen1-1-zen (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i3-10100F CPU @ 3.60GHz
Memory: 15.5 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Manufacturer: ASUS
Comment 1 jul.cgn 2025-02-13 14:30:31 UTC
Yes! Thank you for reporting this as it annoys me as well.

I tried a workaround to display two digital clocks next to each other, but because you can't disable the time (only the date), this does not work.
Comment 2 Luke Horwell 2025-02-13 15:08:23 UTC
Same here. Modifying DigitalClock.qml to remove the hardcoded "|" separator caused the spacing between date and time to be too wide and equally as unconfigurable. My panel separates date/time with a comma (",") which is easily achieved by setting the "Date format" custom field.

For now, I've copied the old file from plasma-workspace-6.2.5-1 package:  /usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.digitalclock/contents/ui/DigitalClock.qml
Comment 3 cwo 2025-02-14 00:16:02 UTC
*** Bug 500018 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 Daniel Pereira 2025-02-14 02:42:39 UTC
Created attachment 178336 [details]
Separator not needed

One extra issue I noticed while trying to get rid of the divider is that sometimes it shows even when there's no need for it. You can see in the attachment that the separator is displayed to the left of the clock, even though there's no date displayed.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Add a digital clock applet to the bar
2. Mark the Show Date checkbox, then select `Always beside time` on the dropdown on the right
3. Click apply. You should see the date, the separator and the time just as expected.
4. Now, uncheck the `Show Date` checkbox.
5. Click apply. You will see the separator character on the left side of the time.
Comment 5 Daniel Pereira 2025-02-14 02:46:21 UTC
Comment on attachment 178336 [details]
Separator not needed

My apologies, I uploaded the wrong image and I don't have permissions to delete it.
Comment 6 Daniel Pereira 2025-02-14 02:49:27 UTC
Created attachment 178337 [details]
Separator not needed
Comment 7 cwo 2025-02-14 07:25:29 UTC
> You can see in the attachment that the separator is displayed to the left of the clock, even though there's no date displayed.

This is a separate issue, and is being tracked in bug 499945. I've submitted a fix for this already. To get rid of it in the meantime, select any mode other than "Always beside time" in the Digital Clock settings.
Comment 8 Steffen W. 2025-02-14 14:03:47 UTC
Please either remove this again or add an option  to disable this. I've never seen such a weird separation of date and time before and it is very annoying to read.
Comment 9 alice 2025-02-15 06:20:01 UTC
>  Its setting for custom spacing is omitted here to follow the principle:
>  "good design choices by default over unnecessary configuration." The
>  option could be introduced in the future if highly requested by users.
https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/27755ed3004363cfb6df9b8b92921fa6406fb5a8

The digital clock settings has a grand total of seven options. This reads more like someone's personal preference and laziness to bother creating a setting for it and it shows. Since the original change has the bar remain even when the date isn't displayed it seems this commit did not spend enough time testing it's basic functionality.

Next time consider adding a setting to the initial commit when you decide that your personal taste should trump everyone else's.
Comment 10 Nate Graham 2025-02-18 03:57:42 UTC
> Since the original change has the bar remain even when the date isn't displayed

This is indeed a bug, and it's been fixed for Plasma 6.3.1.

We might also be able to disable it when you're using a custom date format, since in this case it'll be expected that you handle things like that yourself.

If that's not good enough, we can consider making it optional.
Comment 11 pallaswept 2025-02-26 14:38:48 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #10)
> we can consider making it optional.

Has there been any conclusion on this matter Nate? I'm about to touch everything right next to this, if you wanted it added, I'd be happy to take care of it while I'm in the neighbourhood.
Comment 12 Nate Graham 2025-02-26 17:29:46 UTC
Yeah I think it's fair to make it optional in some form. My thinking was to expose it by making it a text character that the user can override or set to nothing.
Comment 13 pallaswept 2025-02-26 22:22:22 UTC
Excellent, thanks. There's another issue, regarding vertical clocks 440096, and when I quickly fixed that, I found that it really needed a separator - and doesn't have one, the 'offending' separator that was added here is only in the horizontal version. Making it optional as per this bug, lets me do that bug, too.