Blu256: /* Drop shadows */ add TDE default

2024-08-15T20:18:39Z

Drop shadows: add TDE default

Blu256: /* Drop shadows */ some wording fixes

2024-08-15T20:10:36Z

Drop shadows: some wording fixes

Blu256: Create page for KDesktop and add documentation for customizing the icons' drop shadow

2024-08-15T20:09:40Z

Create page for KDesktop and add documentation for customizing the icons' drop shadow

New page

= KDesktop =
'''KDesktop''' is the Trinity component responsible for drawing the desktop: the wallpaper and the icons on it.

== Customization ==

=== Drop shadows ===
Shadows on the desktop icon labels can be configured in great detail since KDE 3.1 to produce results different than the default "halo" effect. Unfortunately, there is yet no GUI provided for tweaking the drop shadow, but you can still do so by editing the appropriate configuration file.

Inside the file <code>$TDEHOME/share/config/kdesktoprc</code> in the [FMSettings] section, you'll want to place a line containing something like the following:

<syntaxhighlight lang="ini">
ShadowParameters=<insert_string_from_the_examples_below>
</syntaxhighlight>

The option accepts a string value in the following format:

{| class="wikitable"
! Parameter number !! Description
|-
| 1, 2
| '''The first two entries are the X and Y offsets''' (0,0 means right behind the text)
|-
| 3, 4
| '''The following two determine the halo (factor, max opacity)''' 0-255 (0 = transparent, 255 = opaque)
|-
| 5
| '''Thickness (how large the halo is).''' Usually 3-5 pixels, though most seem to prefer a thickness of about 2
|-
| 6
| '''Selected algorithm'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Value
! Algorithm
! Description
|-
| 1
| DefaultDecay
| the default AXIS/DIAGONAL_FACTOR based algorithm, a simple algorithm with 3 pixels thickness
|-
| 2
| DoubleLinearDecay
| the decay factor is 1/dx+dy '''(!!! not yet implemented !!!)''', a slower algorithm where the influence of a pixel is qGray(px)/(abs(dx) + abs(dy) +1)
|-
| 3
| RadialDecay
| decay factor is 1/sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy) '''(!!! not yet implemented !!!)''' a very slow algorithm where the influence of a pixel is qGray(px)/(sqrt(sqr(dx) + sqr(dy)) +1)
|-
| 4
| NoDecay
| decay factor is 1 always, a nice/fast algorithm proposed by Bernardo Hung
|}
|-
| 7
| '''Selection (inverse video or use the background text, boolean 0/1)''' This setting affects how the text/halo is drawn when the icon is selected
{| class="wikitable"
! Value
! Meaning
! Description
|-
| 0
| Inverse Video
| Invert the text and shadow color to draw the icon's dropshadow
|-
| 1
| Background Text
| Use the current text and shadow color to draw the icon's dropshadow
|}
|}

Also, the following options are aliases of existing options:
ShadowTextColor - (Simply an alias for NormalTextColor)
ShadowTextBackground - (Simply an alias for ItemTextBackground)

Some premade examples you can just copy-paste:

{|class="wikitable"
! Value
! Description
|-
| 2, 2, 4.0, 100.0, 2, 2, 1 || KDE 3.2
|-
| 0, 0, 4.0, 255.0, 3, 0, 0 || KDE 3.1
|-
| 0, 1, 16.0, 192.0, 2, 4, 0 || OS X
|-
| 1, 1, 32.0, 139.0, 2, 4, 0 || Windows XP
|-
| 0, 0, 4.0, 170.0, 1, 4, 0 || Soft outline
|}

So, for a Windows XP style drop shadow, you'd put in your desktop config:

<syntaxhighlight lang="ini">
ShadowParameters=1,1,32.0,139.0,2,4,0
</syntaxhighlight>

For these new settings to take effect, you can disable then re-enable the either desktop drop shadows or the desktop icons.

A quick way to do so is to copy-paste the following command into a terminal emulator:
<syntaxhighlight lang="shell-session">
$ dcop kdesktop default setIconsEnabled false ; dcop kdesktop default setIconsEnabled true
</syntaxhighlight>

Original author: Abby <abby@evilhack.com> ([https://web.archive.org/web/20041011181636/http://www.datiku.com/documents/kdesktopshadows.txt source])

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
  ! Description
  |-
- | 2, 2, 4.0, 100.0, 2, 2, 1  || KDE 3.2
+ | <tt>0, 0, 4.0, 120.0, 2, 1, 1</tt>  || TDE (default*)
  |-
- | 0, 0, 4.0, 255.0, 3, 0, 0  || KDE 3.1
+ | <tt>2, 2, 4.0, 100.0, 2, 2, 1</tt>  || KDE 3.2
  |-
- | 0, 1, 16.0, 192.0, 2, 4, 0 || OS X
+ | <tt>0, 0, 4.0, 255.0, 3, 0, 0</tt>  || KDE 3.1
  |-
- | 1, 1, 32.0, 139.0, 2, 4, 0 || Windows XP
+ | <tt>0, 1, 16.0, 192.0, 2, 4, 0</tt> || OS X
  |-
- | 0, 0, 4.0, 170.0, 1, 4, 0  || Soft outline
+ | <tt>1, 1, 32.0, 139.0, 2, 4, 0</tt> || Windows XP
+ |-
+ | <tt>0, 0, 4.0, 170.0, 1, 4, 0</tt>  || Soft outline
+ |-
+ | colspan=2 | * used if <code>ShadowParameters</code> is not specified
  |}

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 <syntaxhighlight lang="ini">
-ShadowParameters=<insert_string_from_the_examples_below>
+ShadowParameters=<comma-separated parameters>
 </syntaxhighlight>
-The option accepts a string value in the following format:
+The option accepts a string of comma-separated parameters in the following format:
 {| class="wikitable"

KDesktop - Revision history

Blu256: /* Drop shadows */ add TDE default

Blu256: /* Drop shadows */ some wording fixes

Blu256: Create page for KDesktop and add documentation for customizing the icons' drop shadow