Today we have a lot of different netbooks out there but all of them fail to deliver a good user experience because the people behind netbooks tend to think as it being a small desktop or a big 'pocket computer'. Plasma-MID is all about this: deliver the desktop shell of the future (Plasma) and a custom experience without losing identity with the 'full version' of KDE. During my talk I'll show different concepts and ideas taken from various existing MID devices and where their interfaces failed to give the user an ideal experience. I'll also go through the most common use cases and show the results of research regarding linux, netbooks and what really matters to the end user. The current status of linux based netbooks and the current status of the Plasma-MID project will also be shown, with a live demo and explanations about the solutions for the problems we found during our research.

1. Plasma and Netbooks
Improving netbooks interfaces
Artur Duque de Souza - MoRpHeUz
July/2009, GCDS

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Important bits
• Panels
• Desktops
• Virtual Desktops
• Activities
• Conclusions

3. Who are we?
• Nokia research institute in Brazil - INdT
• openBossa - FOSS stream at INdT
• Collaborating with Qt Software / KDE:
• Qt Kinetic <- that’s us :-)
• Qt Webkit
• Plasma Netbook <- that’s us :-)
• ItemViews-NG

4. About me...
• Open Source developer since 1997
• Graduated at UNICAMP - Brazil
• Worked for IBM (Linux Technology Center)
• Works for INdT (openBossa stream)
• Contributions: Canola2, MythTV, HLBR, EFL,
Maemo, MPlayer, KDE, etc.
• Plasma developer

5. Sed
sed s/mid/netbook/

6. NPD Research
• Online survey: 600 people
• 60% thought the netbook could perform as well
as notebook
• 65% of 18-24 year-olds were disappointed
18-24 year-old people are the people that most buy
netbooks

7. Netbook vs Notebook
• Definition
• Intel definition:
’’...netbooks are for media consumption and
notebooks for media creation...’’

8. Netbook vs Notebook
• Definition
• Intel definition:
’’...netbooks are for media consumption and
notebooks for media creation...’’

9. Important bits
• Panels
• Desktop
• Activities and Virtual Desktops

10. The Panel

11. Why do I need a Panel?
Panels are the perfect place to show information that
the user needs to see all the time
• Clock
• Systray (Notification)
• Taskbar
• Application Launcher

12. Panels vs Wasted Pixels
Panels + window decorations can be a problem...
Table: Wasted Height (pixels)
Windows XP KDE GNOME
Window Decorations 25 20 24
Panel 35 35 24
Total 60 55 48

13. Panel’s Location
Where should I put my panel ?

14. Panel at the top
Figure: Top panel and window decorations
Figure: Top panel and no window decorations
Figure: Top panel with autohide on

15. Plasma Netbook panel
• Panel at the top
• Simpler: less code, less overhead
• Space is optimized
• Special applets: new taskbar (show windows
effect), window handler

16. Show Windows Effect As Taskbar

17. The Desktop

18. The first desktop concept...

19. ...a new concept...
1995: Windows created a concept that everybody
followed...
...until KDE 4

20. KDE4 Desktop
• Items are real-world objects
• Desktop being useful: plasmoids
• It’s beautiful ;)

21. Netbook Remix and Moblin
Misuse of the desktop
Figure: Netbook remix: Just a launcher

22. Average User
• Average user uses the desktop as a launcher
• Research with non-geek users: ’I use this way
because that’s the only way I know’
• The discovery of KRunner

23. Search & Launch activity
• Uses all the power of KRunner
• Complex queries: user can search for what he
wants
• Predefined queries: applications, multimedia, etc.
• Favourite Strip to save queries
• DISCLAIMER: the interface is not ready, it will not
be a ’stretched KRunner’

24. Search & Launch Activity

25. Virtual Desktops & Activities

26. Virtual Desktops
• Well known for KDE/Gnome/X... users
• When users discover virtual desktops they just
love it :)
• Moblin: Virtual Desktops == Zones

27. Activities
• Containers of widgets
• Different set of widgets for each context: home,
work, travel, etc.
• Activity tied to a Virtual Desktop: union of two
great features
• Integration with Nepomuk!
• Perfect for small devices

28. Newspaper activity
• Column centric layout
• Simple concept for average user: it’s easy to
understand
• It’s better to use the available space

29. Newspaper activity

30. Applications vs Widgets
When should we use one or another?

31. Plasma IDEAS

32. Plasma Ideas - Summary
• Aimed for the average user, not KDE hackers
• Simpler Panel
• Newspaper activity
• SAL activity: Search and Launch

33. Social Desktop
It will help KDE community to get in touch.
Specially average users

34. Qt Labs America
• Qt / KDE place in America, starting in Brazil
• Promotion and mentoring of FOSS projects
• Tech-days in universities
• Working together with KDE

35. Acknowledgements
• Celeste
• Aaron Seigo
• Marco Martin
• Nuno Pinheiro
• KDE e.V.
• Trolls
• Plasma team and KDE community
• Reviewers: Leo Franchi, Richmoore and Alex Spehr

36. Questions?
Artur de Souza (MoRpHeUz)
asouza@kde.org
morpheuz@openbossa.org
http://blog.morpheuz.cc
Freenode #qt-kinetic #plasma

37. Thanks !