D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[uRohan Kun]

urohan added a comment.


  In D15011#342508 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > In D15011#342503 , @urohan wrote:
  >
  > > In D15011#342449 , @ngraham 
wrote:
  > >
  > > > Ah, I didn't even know that the Activity Switcher had a search field. I 
suspect that @sharvey, the fellow who did most of the work to improve the 
Widget Explorer's search field, didn't know either.
  > > >
  > > > I agree that it's not ideal for these to be different. We should make 
the Activity Switcher's search field be like the one in Widget Explorer. 
@sharvey, since you have some familiarity with that code now, would you be 
interested in making basically the same change there too?
  > >
  > >
  > > It's funny... Frankly speaking, I prefer the way search field implemented 
in Plasma Activity Manager. It's pretty graceful. More so, search field is 
needed only on demand (like search in Dolphin file manager or search in the 
Start Menu of Windows 10).
  > >
  > > Anyway, I am not yet a contributor so my words are weightless.
  >
  >
  > Well people have been complaining that it's not obvious that there is a 
search field and you kind of also want to be consistent thoughout Plasma. You 
can't always please everyone though. I plan on releasing a fork of Kickoff 
without this patch to the KDE Store for the people who either just prefer the 
philosophy behind the old way or who will suffer a visual regression due to 
having very transparent or funky desktop themes. So no worries, the beauty of 
Plasma is that it doesn't lock you into one solution.
  
  
  There is no proble here. I just realise my sphere of competence.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  In D15011#342503 , @urohan wrote:
  
  > In D15011#342449 , @ngraham 
wrote:
  >
  > > Ah, I didn't even know that the Activity Switcher had a search field. I 
suspect that @sharvey, the fellow who did most of the work to improve the 
Widget Explorer's search field, didn't know either.
  > >
  > > I agree that it's not ideal for these to be different. We should make the 
Activity Switcher's search field be like the one in Widget Explorer. @sharvey, 
since you have some familiarity with that code now, would you be interested in 
making basically the same change there too?
  >
  >
  > It's funny... Frankly speaking, I prefer the way search field implemented 
in Plasma Activity Manager. It's pretty graceful. More so, search field is 
needed only on demand (like search in Dolphin file manager or search in the 
Start Menu of Windows 10).
  >
  > Anyway, I am not yet a contributor so my words are weightless.
  
  
  Well people have been complaining that it's not obvious that there is a 
search field and you kind of also want to be consistent thoughout Plasma. You 
can't always please everyone though. I plan on releasing a fork of Kickoff 
without this patch to the KDE Store for the people who either just prefer the 
philosophy behind the old way or who will suffer a visual regression due to 
having very transparent or funky desktop themes. So no worries, the beauty of 
Plasma is that it doesn't lock you into one solution.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Ivan Čukić]

ivan added a comment.


  Different search bars are on different levels of usefulness.
  
  Use-cases for searching activities are much rarer than, for example, 
searching widgets. The current activity switcher UI clearly shows the search 
button, so there's no problem with discoverability. While the switcher also 
provides a clickless-UI for people who like to keyboard-navigate.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[uRohan Kun]

urohan added a comment.


  In D15011#342504 , @sharvey wrote:
  
  > In D15011#342503 , @urohan wrote:
  >
  > > Anyway, I am not yet a contributor so my words are weightless.
  >
  >
  > Not true! We listen to everyone's input. Unfortunately, it seems you're a 
little late to this party and the changes are rolling forward...
  
  
  :D Seems to be... I did not catch the last train.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Scott Harvey]

sharvey added a comment.


  In D15011#342503 , @urohan wrote:
  
  > Anyway, I am not yet a contributor so my words are weightless.
  
  
  Not true! We listen to everyone's input. Unfortunately, it seems you're a 
little late to this party and the changes are rolling forward...

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[uRohan Kun]

urohan added a comment.


  In D15011#342449 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > Ah, I didn't even know that the Activity Switcher had a search field. I 
suspect that @sharvey, the fellow who did most of the work to improve the 
Widget Explorer's search field, didn't know either.
  >
  > I agree that it's not ideal for these to be different. We should make the 
Activity Switcher's search field be like the one in Widget Explorer. @sharvey, 
since you have some familiarity with that code now, would you be interested in 
making basically the same change there too?
  
  
  It's funny... Frankly speaking, I prefer the way search field implemented in 
Plasma Activity Manager. It's pretty graceful. More so, search field is needed 
only on demand (like search in Dolphin file manager or search in the Start Menu 
of Windows 10).
  
  Anyway, I am not yet a contributor so my words are weightless.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Scott Harvey]

sharvey added a comment.


  
  
  Let's see what we can do...
  
  I'll make the `Activities` change a separate diff, since this one's the most 
epic I've personally encountered.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  Yeah, and I extended that to simply make it always visible (if it exists; 
apparently it only does when there's more than one Activity). That's what we 
want here too.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Scott Harvey]

sharvey added a comment.


  I can take a look at it. I didn't do anything regarding its visual 
appearance, just made it appear and disappear at will - by hiding or showing 
the row it was placed on.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  Ah, I didn't even know that the Activity Switcher had a search field. I 
suspect that @sharvey, the fellow who did most of the work to improve the 
Widget Explorer's search field, didn't know either.
  
  I agree that it's not ideal for these to be different. We should make the 
Activity Switcher's search field be like the one in Widget Explorer. @sharvey, 
since you have some familiarity with that code now, would you be interested in 
making basically the same change there too?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[uRohan Kun]

urohan added a comment.


  In D15011#315779 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > Awesome, thanks for introducing that additional information, @filipf. It 
seems like we have some inconsistency here in our Plasma search fields; I will 
summarize:
  >
  > | Interface   | Search field has keyboard focus by default? | Search 
field visible by default? | Search field visibly focused by default? | When 
does it become visibly focused? | After gaining keyboard focus, when does it 
lose it? |
  > | --- | --- | 
 |  | 
 | 
--- |
  > | Discover| Yes | Yes   
   | No   | After 
typing or clicking on it   | When you click on anything else
 |
  > | Klipper | Yes | Yes   
   | No   | After 
typing or clicking on it   | Never  
 |
  > | Widget Explorer | Yes | Yes   
   | Yes  | N/A; starts 
out focused  | After using the [⇥] key to move focus to the list   |
  > | Kickoff | Yes | No
   | N/A; not visible by default  | After 
typing or clicking on it   | Never  
 |
  > | System Settings | Yes | Yes   
   | Yes  | N/A; always 
focused  | After navigating to a KCM   |
  > | Kicker  | Yes | Yes   
   | Yes  | N/A; starts 
out focused  | After you start to navigate the list|
  > |
  >
  > It seems like for the most part the interfaces that make the search field 
invisible or have a different appearance by default are in the minority and are 
being inconsistent with everyone else. So I'm glad that we generally have 
consensus that fixing that for Kickoff here is a good idea. I may do the same 
for the Widget Explorer too; then we'll have 100% consistent visible-by-default 
search fields!
  >
  > After performing this investigation and all the accompanying behavioral 
tests, I realize now that there's a very good reason to keep keyboard focus on 
the search field even after the list of search results is being navigated with 
the up and down arrow keys: it's so you can edit your search query even after 
navigating the list. The only reason why Kickoff doesn't do this is because it 
has multiple lists that can be navigated between with the left and right arrow 
keys. Kickoff doesn't do that, so I think we have to keep that with this patch.
  >
  > So onto the next subject: whether or not to have the search field //visibly 
focused// by default, or instead to only show the focus when you click on it or 
start typing. All of the clients throughout Plasma give the search field 
keyboard focus by default, even if the visual appearance doesn't reflect this, 
but we are very inconsistent with the visual appearance: System Settings and 
Kickoff have it visible and focused by default; klipper and Discover have it 
visible but not visibly focused until you click or type; Kickoff and the Widget 
explorer have it invisible until you click or type.
  >
  > I'll admit that I have a preference for giving the search field visible 
focus when it actually has keyboard focus. From that perspective, this patch 
implements that preference, though I'm willing to continue the conversation to 
achieve consensus, because right now the HIG doesn't say anything about this 
subject, and it should. In fact it does not address the use case of using 
LineEdit controls as search fields, or even anything about focus behavior at 
all.
  >
  > However, regardless of what we choose, I would like to move towards 
unifying the interfaces in the above table, because inconsistency in something 
basic like this is not good. So if we decide to make search fields that have 
keyboard focus by default not visibly focused until clicked on or text is 
typed, then we should do it everywhere to maintain consistency. This is another 
reason why I prefer the shows-focus-when-it-has-focus approach, because 
deviating from this consistently requires custom code in every client. I feel 
like we are not really objecting to this concept behaviorally, but rather to 
the visual consequences of implementing it consistently.
  >
  > Thoughts?
  
  
  

D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham closed this revision.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  In D15011#332631 , @cfeck wrote:
  
  > David is on holidays, so maybe someone else could approve if this is urgent.
  
  
  Ah, whoops, didn't know that. No, it's not urgent. I can wait until he 
returns, then.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Christoph Feck]

cfeck added a comment.


  David is on holidays, so maybe someone else could approve if this is urgent.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  @davidedmundson ping again. I believe we've resolved the outstanding visual 
issues and I have addressed all of the technical issues you found, so I will 
land this for Plasma 5.15 on September 31st if I don't hear any new objections 
before them.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  @davidedmundson ping.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  @davidedmundson Ping! This just missed the 5.14 window.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  It looks like we've generally achieved consensus on the visual changes. Could 
folks review  D15194  and D15206 
? As for the focus ring, I could use a hand 
with this. I tried editing the SVG to reduce the size of the active focus ring 
by removing the outer lighter line that increases its size, but the changed SVG 
was just sized back up to the original dimensions and looked even stronger. Am 
I missing something?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Root]

rooty added a comment.


  In D15011#318474 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > I'm working on patches to reduce the visual weight of the focus ring and 
add some horizontal separators to Kickoff. Those will be submitted as separate 
patches. Where are we with this one? Are people okay with it in conjunction 
with the aforementioned visual tweaks? I really don't want to go the route of 
tweaking the search field only here in Kickoff; I'd much prefer making 
everything consistent and then changing the visual style of the control itself, 
so everything is consistent.
  >
  > Are folks okay with that?
  
  
  +1

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andrew Crouthamel]

acrouthamel added a comment.


  In D15011#314963 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > To add more to the analysis, since Kickoff is a plasmoid, what seemed like 
a good idea to me was to have a look at how other plasmoids are designed 
(especially with relevance to the elements touched on in this proposal).
  >
  > The Clipboard plasmoid stood out to me because as another unibody plasmoid, 
it seems to me like it handles the search box gracefully. I created some pics, 
this time with Breeze Dark to switch it up a bit:
  >
  > F6213801: ClipboardSearch.png 
  >
  > Behavior: (1) non-selected it doesn't have an outer glow or a colored 
stroke; (2) when hovered over the stroke inherits the selection color; (3) only 
when clicked on or typed it does it turn on outer glow and the text selection 
line blings
  >
  > Copied into Kickoff it doesn't look too bad (left pic). Since Kickoff is 
and can be more transparent, if possible what would help blend it in more is to 
lower the opacity by maybe 15-20% (right pic):
  >
  > F6213813: ClipboardSearchKickoff.png 
  >
  > Now as for adding differentation in Kickoff, my observations were:
  >
  > - Kickoff isn't actually unibody -> if we look closely, Breeze Dark reveals 
that it actually places tabs into squares + other tabs such as the Application 
one already have separators
  > - Other plasmoids do make use of separators, adding them would not create a 
design inconsistency on the whole
  > - Although not as common, some plasmoids do also shade certain sections 
differently (e.g. plasma-pa), so at least what can be concluded is that shading 
a part of Kickoff differently also wouldn't be unprecedented
  
  
  I really like this look.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  I'm working on patches to reduce the visual weight of the focus ring and add 
some horizontal separators to Kickoff. Those will be submitted as separate 
patches. Where are we with this one? Are people okay with it in conjunction 
with the aforementioned visual tweaks? I really don't want to go the route of 
tweaking the search field only here in Kickoff; I'd much prefer making 
everything consistent and then changing the visual style of the control itself, 
so everything is consistent.
  
  Are folks okay with that?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  Aside from that, the outer glow should maybe be reconsidered on the whole. I 
don't see much of that visual element these days; it was trendy about 10 years 
ago and really feels like a bit of Oxygen in Breeze. I think just having a 
colored border when focused would suffice.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  Note that I just landed the Widget Explorer patch, so I'll update the table 
accordingly.
  
  In D15011#316875 , @romangg wrote:
  
  > What's up with the third column "Search field visibly focused by default"?
  
  
  That means whether or not  it has the blue focus ring when it has keyboard 
focus, but before you're typed anything. In other words, whether or not it 
//shows// the fact that is has focus.
  
  > My personal opinion is it should not have the blue outline just because it 
looks too strong. But consistency trumps looks. At the moment it's not though 
from what I read out of the table.
  
  I tend to agree regarding the appearance of the focus ring, but this is 
actually a good argument for making everything consistent and using the default 
behavior, because then we can change the visual appearance of the focus ring in 
one place rather than in 10.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Roman Gilg]

romangg added a comment.


  What's up with the third column "Search field visibly focused by default"?
  
  My personal opinion is it should not have the blue outline just because it 
looks too strong. But consistency trumps looks. At the moment it's not though 
from what I read out of the table.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  To wrap up, I think this patch is ready for review again, and we'll tackle 
the separator lines in another patch for atomicity's sake. Does that sound good 
to everyone?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  Yay!

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  Submitted a patch to make Widget Explorer consistent and always show the 
search field: D15101 . If that patch and 
this one both land, then the columns two and three in the table above will be 
entirely full of "Yes" values!

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  In D15011#315864 , @abetts wrote:
  
  > Interesting. I can change my opinion here. Should we then make sure that 
all the examples shown in the table behave the same?
  
  
  They all do //behave// the same, they just don't //look// the same:
  
  1. Most make the search field always look like a search field, but Kickoff 
doesn't (which this patch fixes)
  2. Most show the search field when typing will initiate a search, but Widget 
Explorer doesn't (the search field only appears once you start typing)
  3. Of the ones that have a visible search field by default, half of them 
(Kicker, System Settings) give the search field a focus ring by default, while 
the other two (Klipper and Discover) don't.
  
  It seems like we have agreement on fixing #1, which is what this patch does. 
We haven't discussed #2, and don't need to for the purposes of this patch. We 
can do that elsewhere. Regarding #3, my preference is to have them all 
consistently show a visible focus ring if they have keyboard focus. I think we 
might be able to alleviate possible aesthetic concerns of doing this in Kickoff 
by adding a few more subtle separator lines. I'd prefer to do that in a 
separate patch though, for atomicity's sake.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  In D15011#315863 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > In D15011#315816 , @abetts wrote:
  >
  > > I agree that our HIG needs to explain focus better. It doesn't really 
have to be a long HIG about it. It could just be a general rule about the way 
that fields get their focus. In my mind, adding a visual element that denotes 
focus is a bit unnecessary, unless you navigate your UI using TAB or this is 
actually a user with an explicit need to see where the focus is.
  > >
  > > My general opinion is that KDE has wanted every nook and cranny to have 
importance and we reflect that in the UI. Like the Kirigami HIG says, 
developers need to find the most important controls about their app UI and give 
those a certain priority. I think we could apply that here and remove the blue 
circle from the search fields and only make it show when the user is navigating 
using tab or because of some accessibility feature. I don't think that just 
because it is present in many areas, that it means it's the better approach. 
However, I remain open to the general consensus.
  >
  >
  > I think we'd need to be careful playing with this. In some cases, I would 
agree with you that a focus ring is unnecessary--for example around the main 
content view in Dolphin or Kate: it's obvious where focus is because of the 
underlined/selected files, or the blinking cursor (respectively). But for small 
text fields, I think it probably adds value. The important thing is that the 
user feels confident regarding what will be affected when they use their 
keyboard. That's why visible focus indicators exist. Our focus indicator is 
already pretty subtle compared to other platforms. We change a one-pixel 
monochrome line to a one-pixel colored line. On macOS, for example, there's a 
huge blue glow.
  >
  > Also note that if we want to change the focus indicator in Breeze, then we 
should land this patch as-is and not tweak the focus behavior here or else we 
may not automatically inherit whatever changes we make globally.
  
  
  Interesting. I can change my opinion here. Should we then make sure that all 
the examples shown in the table behave the same?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  In D15011#315816 , @abetts wrote:
  
  > I agree that our HIG needs to explain focus better. It doesn't really have 
to be a long HIG about it. It could just be a general rule about the way that 
fields get their focus. In my mind, adding a visual element that denotes focus 
is a bit unnecessary, unless you navigate your UI using TAB or this is actually 
a user with an explicit need to see where the focus is.
  >
  > My general opinion is that KDE has wanted every nook and cranny to have 
importance and we reflect that in the UI. Like the Kirigami HIG says, 
developers need to find the most important controls about their app UI and give 
those a certain priority. I think we could apply that here and remove the blue 
circle from the search fields and only make it show when the user is navigating 
using tab or because of some accessibility feature. I don't think that just 
because it is present in many areas, that it means it's the better approach. 
However, I remain open to the general consensus.
  
  
  I think we'd need to be careful playing with this. In some cases, I would 
agree with you that a focus ring is unnecessary--for example around the main 
content view in Dolphin or Kate: it's obvious where focus is because of the 
underlined/selected files, or the blinking cursor (respectively). But for small 
text fields, I think it probably adds value. The important thing is that the 
user feels confident regarding what will be affected when they use their 
keyboard. That's why visible focus indicators exist. Our focus indicator is 
already pretty subtle compared to other platforms. We change a one-pixel 
monochrome line to a one-pixel colored line. On macOS, for example, there's a 
huge blue glow.
  
  Also note that if we want to change the focus indicator in Breeze, then we 
should land this patch as-is and not tweak the focus behavior here or else we 
may not automatically inherit whatever changes we make globally.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  > However, regardless of what we choose, I would like to move towards 
unifying the interfaces in the above table, because inconsistency in something 
basic like this is not good. So if we decide to make search fields that have 
keyboard focus by default not visibly focused until clicked on or text is 
typed, then we should do it everywhere to maintain consistency. This is another 
reason why I prefer the shows-focus-when-it-has-focus approach, because 
deviating from this consistently requires custom code in every client. I feel 
like we are not really objecting to this concept behaviorally, but rather to 
the visual consequences of implementing it consistently.
  > 
  > Thoughts?
  
  I agree that our HIG needs to explain focus better. It doesn't really have to 
be a long HIG about it. It could just be a general rule about the way that 
fields get their focus. In my mind, adding a visual element that denotes focus 
is a bit unnecessary, unless you navigate your UI using TAB or this is actually 
a user with an explicit need to see where the focus is.
  
  My general opinion is that KDE has wanted every nook and cranny to have 
importance and we reflect that in the UI. Like the Kirigami HIG says, 
developers need to find the most important controls about their app UI and give 
those a certain priority. I think we could apply that here and remove the blue 
circle from the search fields and only make it show when the user is navigating 
using tab or because of some accessibility feature. I don't think that just 
because it is present in many areas, that it means it's the better approach. 
However, I remain open to the general consensus.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham requested review of this revision.
ngraham added a comment.


  Awesome, thanks for introducing that additional information. It seems like we 
have some inconsistency here in our Plasma search fields; I will summarize:
  
  | Interface   | Search field has keyboard focus by default? | Search 
field visible by default? | Search field visibly focused by default? | When 
does it become visibly focused? | After gaining keyboard focus, when does it 
lose it? |
  | --- | --- | 
 |  | 
 | 
--- |
  | Discover| Yes | Yes 
 | No   | After typing 
or clicking on it   | When you click on anything else |
  | Klipper | Yes | Yes 
 | No   | After typing 
or clicking on it   | Never   |
  | Widget Explorer | Yes | No  
 | No   | After typing 
or clicking on it   | Never   |
  | Kickoff | Yes | No  
 | No   | After typing 
or clicking on it   | Never   |
  | System Settings | Yes | Yes 
 | Yes  | N/A; always 
focused  | After navigating to a KCM   |
  | Kicker  | Yes | Yes 
 | Yes  | N/A; starts 
out focused  | After you start to navigate the list|
  |
  
  It seems like for the most part the interfaces that make the search field 
invisible or have a different appearance by default are in the minority and are 
being inconsistent with everyone else. So I'm glad that we generally have 
consensus that fixing that for Kickoff here is a good idea. I may do the same 
for the Widget Explorer too; then we'll have 100% consistent visible-by-default 
search fields!
  
  After performing this investigation and all the accompanying behavioral 
tests, I realize now that there's a very good reason to keep keyboard focus on 
the search field even after the list of search results is being navigated with 
the up and down arrow keys: it's so you can edit your search query even after 
navigating the list. The only reason why Kickoff doesn't do this is because it 
has multiple lists that can be navigated between with the left and right arrow 
keys. Kickoff doesn't do that, so I think we have to keep that with this patch.
  
  So onto the next subject: whether or not to have the search field //visibly 
focused// by default, or instead to only show the focus when you click on it or 
start typing. All of the clients throughout Plasma give the search field 
keyboard focus by default, even if the visual appearance doesn't reflect this, 
but we are very inconsistent with the visual appearance: System Settings and 
Kickoff have it visible and focused by default; klipper and Discover have it 
visible but not visibly focused until you click or type; Kickoff and the Widget 
explorer have it invisible until you click or type.
  
  I'll admit that I have a preference for giving the search field visible focus 
when it actually has keyboard focus. From that perspective, this patch 
implements that preference, though I'm willing to continue the conversation to 
achieve consensus, because right now the HIG doesn't say anything about this 
subject, and it should. In fact it does not address the use case of using 
LineEdit controls as search fields, or even anything about focus behavior at 
all.
  
  However, regardless of what we choose, I would like to move towards unifying 
the interfaces in the above table, because inconsistency in something basic 
like this is not good. So if we decide to make search fields that have keyboard 
focus by default not visibly focused until clicked on or text is typed, then we 
should do it everywhere to maintain consistency. This is another reason why I 
prefer the shows-focus-when-it-has-focus approach, because deviating from this 
consistently requires custom code in every client. I feel like we are not 
really objecting to this concept behaviorally, but rather to the visual 
consequences of implementing it consistently.
  
  Thoughts?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  I really like the last suggestion from Filip. It blends well with the theme.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Michael Tunnell]

michaeltunnell added a comment.


  This is great! This is pretty much exactly what I originally suggested 
 and yet has some tweaks to make it even 
better. Thanks for doing this. :) 

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  To add more to the analysis, since Kickoff is a plasmoid, what seemed like a 
good idea to me was to have a look at how other plasmoids are designed 
(especially with relevance to the elements touched on in this proposal).
  
  The Clipboard plasmoid stood out to me because as another unibody plasmoid, 
it seems to me like it handles the search box gracefully. I created some pics, 
this time with Breeze Dark to switch it up a bit:
  
  F6213801: ClipboardSearch.png 
  
  Behavior: (1) non-selected it doesn't have an outer glow or a colored stroke; 
(2) when hovered over the stroke inherits the selection color; (3) only when 
clicked on or typed it does it turn on outer glow and the text selection linen 
blings
  
  Copied into Kickoff it doesn't look too bad (left pic). Since Kickoff is and 
can be more transparent, if possible what would help blend it in more is to 
lower the opacity by maybe 15-20% (right pic):
  
  F6213813: ClipboardSearchKickoff.png 
  
  Now as for adding differentation in Kickoff, my observations were:
  
  - Kickoff isn't actually unibody -> if we look closely, Breeze Dark reveals 
that it actually places tabs into squares + other tabs such as the Application 
one already have separators
  - Other plasmoids do make use of separators, adding them would not create a 
design inconsistency on the whole
  - Although not as common, some plasmoids do also shade certain sections 
differently (e.g. plasma-pa), so at least what can be concluded is that shading 
a part of Kickoff differently also wouldn't be unprecedented

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Root]

rooty added a comment.


  In D15011#314812 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > I like the idea of conditionally adding a little magnifying glass icon to 
the text field to indicate that it's a search field. If other folks are on 
board too, I can probably put together another patch to add that as an optional 
feature of the PlasmaComponents TextField (rather than just here in this 
patch). That way we could also have that for KRunner, Kicker, Application 
Dashboard, etc.
  >
  > Meanwhile, what's our path forward here? Are we migrating towards agreement 
about keeping the current visual style and default focus behavior? Should we 
separate the header and tab bar from the content area with single-pixel lines? 
Should we do something else?
  
  
  the magnifying glass icon idea is really nice
  
  the box seems like a good idea; the single pixel lines? dealer's choice, 
personally i feel the separator lines look good in your screenshots but please 
keep them gray (subtle / easier on the eyes, i personally feel the single pixel 
icons in breeze are too coarse, so on my rig i swap them out for adapta icons)
  
  P.S. can you please post a screenshot of what it would look like in breeze 
dark for comparison?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Safa Alfulaij]

safaalfulaij added a comment.


  In D15011#314738 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > Exactly! In your second proposal I don't think the serachbox sticks out, 
even as it is. At least to me it looks fine. At the same time it is drawing 
back, albeit not totally, to old Kickoff so there would have to be good 
designer conceptualization and solution for how to keep it modern.
  >
  > When I look at Kickoff now and just think narrowly: how can I make the 
search more prominent and keep designer consistency, what makes most sense to 
me is to reuse the horizontal blue line we already have as a Kickoff tab 
selection indicator, and even as the indicators of open windows and plasmoids. 
These lines are indeed minimalist. Unfortunately that looks terrible:
  >
  > (deleted screenshot from reply)
  >
  > Not even making it a classic Breeze 1px line feels right, although I guess 
it's a bit better:
  >
  > (deleted screenshot from reply)
  >
  > I've had a look at that setup. It's pretty sleek. But we have to consider 
that YouTube still keeps a full-fledged serachbox on their homepage, and the 
channel is a less important of a place. So if we apply that to Kickoff, it 
looks like this:
  >
  > (deleted screenshot from reply)
  >
  > And then when it's opened it would look like this:
  >
  > (deleted screenshot from reply)
  >
  > IMO we still haven't solved the problem of it not being obvious that you 
can search. Maybe having a search icon isn't a bad idea though, but I think 
we'd still have to make it more obvious somehow:
  >
  > (deleted screenshot from reply)
  >
  > This was just a little foray into what is possible, nothing definitive or 
great. In the pictures I've shortened the search box so that there is equal 
distance from the left and right edge of Kickoff, for symmetry reasons mostly, 
but also because I am a bit bothered that the Favorites tab is wasting about 
60% of horizontal space on nothing and I didn't want to drag attention to the 
right side. This may be fixed when we get a new Home tab and isn't too 
important right now anyway.
  
  
  Well, I think the one with the line seems nice, the thinner one of course.
  And about the icon, maybe we should just keep it an icon to the right of the 
user@host label, and that's it? Something like this?
  
  F6213215: Screenshot_٢٠١٨٠٨٢٤_١٩٢٢٤٧.png 

  
  (I was trying to make a video but then bindings failed, so stepped back).
  We can add a “Search…” text to that button, or a tooltip (not sure about HIG 
stuff). But I think that such a button (as is) is more than enough to inform 
users about the search functionality.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  I like the idea of conditionally adding a little magnifying glass icon to the 
text field to indicate that it's a search field. If other folks are on board 
too, I can probably put together another patch to add that as an optional 
feature of the PlasmaComponents TextField (rather than just here in this 
patch). That way we could also have that for KRunner, Kicker, Application 
Dashboard, etc.
  
  Meanwhile, what's our path forward here? Are we migrating towards agreement 
about keeping the current visual style and default focus behavior? Should we 
separate the header and tab bar from the content area with single-pixel lines? 
Should we do something else?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  In D15011#314744 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > Of your mockups, I like the last one the best, but nonetheless I'm just not 
a fan of defining a custom textfield style here; I think we should follow the 
HIG. If we had a dedicated "search field" control that was more subtle than 
general textfields, we could use that, but we don't. Until and unless we create 
one, I think we should err on the side of internal consistency and use the 
pre-existing textfield control.
  >
  > I too am bothered by the amount of horizontal wasted space, which is one of 
the reasons why I proposed T9041: New "Home" tab for Kickoff 
. But that's a discussion for another phab 
task :)
  
  
  Agreed, consistency all across the UI is preferable to bursts of design ideas 
in particular places. After the proposal by Safa it occurred to me that maybe 
we overlooked adding an icon so the minimal change I see that can be done is to 
add a search icon to the left of "Type to search..." and remove the code that 
shows the "uname -a" information. Small improvement I'd say, but I don't know 
if it's enough. If not and if we can't modify the search box style too much, 
then functionality reasons triumph and the search box as is has to be shipped, 
but with still keeping in mind the future tasks of perhaps updating the HIG 
and/or redesigning Kickoff to not be as unibody.
  
  And yep, saw that task, that's what I was referencing! Don't get me wrong, 
the Favorites tab is great at what it does, but a Home tab as a default tab 
would be an improvement.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  Maybe something I can explain, for us designers, is that we have a set of 
defined rules and guidelines for visual design on KDE and we should strive to 
first search for an option that is adapted or allowed by these guidelines. If 
that doesn't work, we could propose other control styles and see if there is 
willingness in the community to create them. Then we can move forward. You can 
find all these guidelines at hig.kde.org

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  Of your mockups, I like the last one the best, but nonetheless I'm just not a 
fan of defining a custom textfield style here; I think we should follow the 
HIG. If we had a dedicated "search field" control that was more subtle than 
general textfields, we could use that, but we don't. Until and unless we create 
one, I think we should err on the side of internal consistency and use the 
pre-existing textfield control.
  
  I too am bothered by the amount of horizontal wasted space, which is one of 
the reasons why I proposed T9041: New "Home" tab for Kickoff 
. But that's a discussion for another phab 
task :)

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  In D15011#314514 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > I wonder if we wouldn't feel like the search field was so jarring if there 
were better differentiation between other elements. For example:
  
  
  Exactly! In your second proposal I don't think the serachbox sticks out, even 
as it is. At least to me it looks fine. At the same time it is drawing back, 
albeit not totally, to old Kickoff so there would have to be good designer 
conceptualization and solution for how to keep it modern.
  
  When I look at Kickoff now and just think narrowly: how can I make the search 
more prominent and keep designer consistency, what makes most sense to me is to 
reuse the horizontal blue line we already have as a Kickoff tab selection 
indicator, and even as the indicators of open windows and plasmoids. These 
lines are indeed minimalist. Unfortunately that looks terrible:
  
  F6212876: kickoffserachbox(1).jpg 
  
  Not even making it a classic Breeze 1px line feels right, although I guess 
it's a bit better:
  
  F6212878: kickoffserachbox(2).jpg 
  
  In D15011#314553 , @safaalfulaij 
wrote:
  
  > Why don't we have a simple search icon that indicates that one can search 
in the kickoff, and once you click on it you get switched to the search layout, 
where you'll find a note saying you can also search by direct typing, and a 
“Got it” as many websites does? Youtube doesn’t force a long search input in 
the channel page.
  >
  > I believe that we need such a concept in Plasma and KDE apps. Some notes 
that are displayed only if it’s the first time you are using this, and can be 
easily dismissed. Even an iteractive walkthorght for filled-with-features 
applications like the PIM suit.
  
  
  I've had a look at that setup. It's pretty sleek. But we have to consider 
that YouTube still keeps a full-fledged serachbox on their homepage, and the 
channel is a less important of a place. So if we apply that to Kickoff, it 
looks like this:
  
  F6212885: kickoffserachbox(3).jpg 
  
  And then when it's opened it would look like this:
  
  F6212888: kickoffserachbox(4).jpg 
  
  IMO we still haven't solved the problem of it not being obvious that you can 
search. Maybe having a search icon isn't a bad idea though, but I think we'd 
still have to make it more obvious somehow:
  
  F6212892: kickoffserachbox(5).jpg 
  
  This was just a little foray into what is possible, nothing definitive or 
great. In the pictures I've shortened the search box so that there is equal 
distance from the left and right edge of Kickoff, for symmetry reasons mostly, 
but also because I am a bit bothered that the Favorites tab is wasting about 
60% of horizontal space on nothing and I didn't want to drag attention to the 
right side. This may be fixed when we get a new Home tab and isn't too 
important right now anyway.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Root]

rooty added a comment.


  In D15011#314514 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > Actually both Kicker and System Settings give their search fields visible 
focus by default. Kicker does make the field visibly lose focus after you start 
using the keyboard to navigate through the list of returned items, though. 
That's a nice touch and I'll do that here.
  >
  > But maybe we should think through why we're objecting to having the search 
field be visibly focused in the first place--because in general, the thing that 
accepts keyboard input //should// look visibly focused. Rather than violate 
that principle, let's try to figure out what's making us want to in the first 
place.
  >
  > Perhaps the white background and blinking cursor appear too 
attention-getting in comparison to the rest of Kickoff, which tries very hard 
to be flat and gray and avoid separators (e.g. between the different sections 
and the tab bar at the bottom or the header on top). I wonder if we wouldn't 
feel like the search field was so jarring if there were better differentiation 
between other elements. For example:
  >
  > F6212312: It works.png 
  >
  > Or perhaps if the list views used a lighter background color:
  >
  > F6212335: It works.png 
  >
  > Just a thought, crude mockups, etc.
  >
  > Also probably the header area will look better defined if @sharvey's patch 
to put the avatars inside a circle (D13415 
) lands.
  
  
  I like the first one, but only if you make both lines of equal length 
(preferably the length of the line below Search...). I think the idea to 
emphasize the fact you //can// search in the launcher is a good idea, but you 
also don't need a box - you can also just make the "Type to search" message 
stick around and prevent it from changing to "username@machine (distro name)" 
because that's confusing to someone that hasn't been using Plasma from the 
getgo (they're not aware that they can, in fact, run a search).
  
  But yeah imo it looks fine.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Safa Alfulaij]

safaalfulaij added a comment.


  Why don't we have a simple search icon that indicates that one can search in 
the kickoff, and once you click on it you get switched to the search layout, 
where you'll find a note saying you can also search by direct typing, and a 
“Got it” as many websites does? Youtube doesn’t force a long search input in 
the channel page.
  
  I believe that we need such a concept in Plasma and KDE apps. Some notes that 
are displayed only if it’s the first time you are using this, and can be easily 
dismissed. Even an iteractive walkthorght for filled-with-features applications 
like the PIM suit.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a subscriber: sharvey.
ngraham added a comment.


  Actually both Kicker and System Settings give their search fields visible 
focus by default. Kicker does make the field visibly lose focus after you start 
using the keyboard to navigate through the list of returned items, though. 
That's a nice touch and I'll do that here.
  
  But maybe we should think through why we're objecting to having the search 
field be visibly focused in the first place--because in general, the thing that 
accepts keyboard input //should// look visibly focused. Rather than violate 
that principle, let's try to figure out what's making us want to in the first 
place.
  
  Perhaps the white background and blinking cursor appear too attention-getting 
in comparison to the rest of Kickoff, which tries very hard to be flat and gray 
and avoid separators (e.g. between the different sections and the tab bar at 
the bottom or the header on top). I wonder if we wouldn't feel like the search 
field was so jarring if there were better differentiation between other 
elements. For example:
  
  F6212312: It works.png 
  
  Or perhaps if the list views used a lighter background color:
  
  F6212335: It works.png 
  
  Just a thought, crude mockups, etc.
  
  Also probably the header area will look better defined if @sharvey's patch to 
put the avatars inside a circle (D13415 ) 
lands.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham planned changes to this revision.
ngraham added a comment.


  In D15011#314167 , @romangg wrote:
  
  > In D15011#314138 , @ngraham 
wrote:
  >
  > > So basically, you want it to be unfocused by default, and typing (or 
clicking in it, obviously) makes it focused.
  >
  >
  > True that. With the exception that beginning to type should activate it. A 
similar field can be found in the SySe. But it has white background always and 
does not activate automatically when beginning to type (it's activated at the 
beginning though)
  
  
  I think Kicker provides what we're looking for: its search field only shows 
the focus highlight when you're typing or hovering the mouse over it. It's 
subtle, but effective. I'll see if I can do that here too.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  In D15011#314181 , @davidedmundson 
wrote:
  
  > > @davidedmundson, does this look okay now?
  >
  > Code wise, yes.
  >
  > UI/Concept wide, I don't want to have an opinion either way
  
  
  Thanks Dave

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[David Edmundson]

davidedmundson added a comment.


  > @davidedmundson, does this look okay now?
  
  Code wise, yes.
  
  UI/Concept wide, I don't want to have an opinion either way

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Roman Gilg]

romangg added a comment.


  In D15011#314138 , @ngraham wrote:
  
  > So basically, you want it to be unfocused by default, and typing (or 
clicking in it, obviously) makes it focused.
  
  
  True that. With the exception that beginning to type should activate it. A 
similar field can be found in the SySe. But it has white background always and 
does not activate automatically when beginning to type (it's activated at the 
beginning though)

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  In D15011#314154 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > Yeah Nate, but if you look at your responses they're predominantly on a 
much higher level of abstraction (e.g "next step", "change is scary") than the 
issues raised. That's why for me they don't address them completely.
  >
  > The fact here is that you have a unibody Kickoff and yeah there is 
certainly a legitimate need to add a box in there. The goal would be to avoid 
having it stick out too much. The problem right now is that the background is 
too white and that the outer glow is too strong. Moreover, outer glow is sort 
of a remnant of Oxygen isn't it?
  >
  > I still think it's best to have an option, but couldn't we at least make it 
more subtle?
  >
  > Example (the corners needs to be rounded):
  >  F6211394: It_works_2.png 
  
  
  Well, this is exactly the sort of thing that we can help with as designers. I 
have trouble explaining technical concepts while others may struggle with 
graphics. I would consider your proposal from a visual POV. What do you think 
@ngraham ?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  Yeah Nate, but if you look at your responses they're predominantly on a much 
higher level of abstraction (e.g "next step", "change is scary") than the 
issues raised. That's why for me they don't address them completely.
  
  The fact here is that you have a unibody Kickoff and yeah there is certainly 
a legitimate need to add a box in there. The goal would be to avoid having it 
stick out too much. The problem right now is that the background is too white 
and that the outer glow is too strong. Moreover, outer glow is sort of a 
remnant of Oxygen isn't it?
  
  I still think it's best to have an option, but couldn't we at least make it 
more subtle?
  
  Example (the corners needs to be rounded):
  F6211394: It_works_2.png 

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham updated this revision to Diff 40306.
ngraham added a comment.


  Remove FIXME now that it's being worked around with D15021 


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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  Thanks for the kind words. I don't think the objections have been ignored, 
though:
  
  Objection:
  
  > but my question is: is it possible to somehow make a toggle to keep the 
status quo ie. have no search box? [...] I urge you again to please consider 
leaving an option to have it the same as it is.
  
  
  
  > I'm -1 for this, it's not needed to click in just start typing witch is 
more intuitive. Adding this optional by config?
  
  Response:
  
  > Sorry, it almost never makes sense to have user-facing options for this 
kind of very specific thing. I know that change can be a bit scary at times, 
but design evolves, and we have a theming system for people who don't like the 
defaults.
  
  Objection:
  
  > Also please note that the clear button functionality is working wrong with 
RTL layouts.
  
  [Irrelevant to this patch; it's an issue with the TextField itself that 
should be fixed there.]
  
  Objection:
  
  > Heh, flip-flopped back to 
https://userbase.kde.org/images.userbase/thumb/f/fe/Kickoff_Menu_Style.png/300px-Kickoff_Menu_Style.png
 till we get the next bug report about how it should be hidden.
  
  
  
  > The original issue (in Neon/Kubuntu task, not sure) was that Kickoff is not 
clear if one can search or not, because of text changing. Why not just keeping 
the current “Type to search” label as is, and move the user@host text up as in 
the patch?
  
  
  
  > There is nothing cold, stark or undifferentiated about Kickoff and its 
search bar now. [...] And slapping on a white opaque box with bright blue outer 
glow just like it was in KDE 4 doesn't seem like preserving minimalism either.
  
  Response:
  
  > [...] I see this as the natural next step in refining what "minimalism" 
means to KDE, which is a microcosm of a larger trend throughout the design 
world vis-a-vis minimalism:
  
  More generally, one of the reasons why we have a HIG  is 
so that we can all agree to abide by a series of common rules rather than 
having to re-argue the same subjective aesthetic matters over and over again. 
And on this subject, the HIG says 
:
  
  > Application specific theme
  > 
  >   Only set a custom color scheme, never set a custom widget theme.
  
  Kickoff isn't an application, but the message is clear: abide by the 
appearance specified by the global widget theme, and don't apply custom styles 
to common controls. But that's exactly what Kickoff is doing, in violation of 
this recommendation.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  I've joined partly because feeling some blunders on my skin; I'd like to 
contribute so that something like the 5.13 media icons thing doesn't happen 
again (ie. find potential problems for non-Breeze users), but also due to 
feeling like that some changes get proposed without thorough analysis and 
without taking into account some arguments, and if they get opposition they 
just get reposted a few months later.  I've also noticed that this has 
alienated some people and I feel a bit concerned. The posts I've commented here 
on are the simply the posts that I felt competent enough to comment on and 
where I saw potential issues; I have no coding knowledge and can't comment on 
anything beyond the simpler things. If you remember me from Reddit 
 you will find I've had nothing but 
praise for you. It isn't personal, please take my arguments into account 
instead of looking at it that way. I'm not a part of KDE nor can I accept any 
patches so of course I can only be useful if I point out the issues :)
  
  As for this task, I can't say I'm not disappointed with ignoring the 
arguments presented, but I will leave it to other people to discuss.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts accepted this revision.
abetts added a comment.


  I like this idea, it is easier to discover.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  In D15011#314078 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > There doesn't have to be one solution and this is hardly an issue where 
such a hardline approach is warranted. There is nothing cold, stark or 
undifferentiated about Kickoff and its search bar now. It's just that it's a 
problem for people who aren't as intuitive with finding their way in a UI. And 
slapping on a white opaque box with bright blue outer glow just like it was in 
KDE 4 doesn't seem like preserving minimalism either. It isn't even just about 
design because there is no need to have that kind of a prominent box sticking 
out there the whole time if it's not being used the whole time. I can even 
support you in making the searchbox show up at all times as a default, but I 
urge you again to please consider leaving an option to have it the same as it 
is.
  
  
  Sorry, it almost never makes sense to have user-facing options for this kind 
of very specific thing. I know that change can be a bit scary at times, but 
design evolves, and we have a theming system for people who don't like the 
defaults.
  
  Things should look like what they are, and it's generally not considered good 
design to have the same UI element look different in different contexts. Text 
fields should look like text fields, otherwise discoverability suffers and the 
user interface becomes unpleasantly inconsistent.
  
  Also, Filip, I notice that you only just signed up for a Phabricator account 
8 days ago and //literally 100%// of your activities have consisted of 
objecting to patches I've submitted. We value user input, but it's not very 
considerate to show up in a developer environment simply to gum up the works. 
There are always a thousand reasons not to do something. But in all systems, 
stasis is death. The users' need for stability (which is indeed very important) 
must be balanced against the system's need for flexibility and 
adaptability--without which, the system eventually dies or loses its appeal to 
users, both current and future. I ask that you give me and other developers the 
benefit of the doubt when we are working on evolving the design. We might not 
be as dumb as we look! :-)

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  There doesn't have to be one solution and this is hardly an issue where such 
a hardline approach is warranted. There is nothing cold, stark or 
undifferentiated about Kickoff and its search bar now. It's just that it's a 
problem for people who aren't as intuitive with finding their way in a UI. And 
slapping on a white opaque box with bright blue outer glow just like it was in 
KDE 4 doesn't seem like preserving minimalism either. It isn't even just about 
design because there is no need to have that kind of a prominent box sticking 
out there the whole time if it's not being used the whole time. I can even 
support you in making the searchbox show up at all times as a default, but I 
urge you again to please consider leaving an option to have it the same as it 
is.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added a comment.


  To address the design and aesthetic angle, I see this as the natural next 
step in refining what "minimalism" means to KDE, which is a microcosm of a 
larger trend throughout the design world vis-a-vis minimalism:
  
  1. People go crazy with decorations, frames, lines, colors, highlights, etc
  2. There's a natural backlash against this excessive ornamentation
  3. All of those things are removed in the name of minimalism
  4. This goes too far and destroys the boundaries between dissimilar elements, 
creating an uncomfortably cold, stark, undifferentiated appearance
  5. A process of refinement takes place where differentiating elements are 
re-added where appropriate, while preserving the overall minimalistic aesthetic
  
  This patch is in step 5. :)

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Kai Uwe Broulik]

broulik added a comment.


  The fact that the search field in Kickoff isn't permanently visible is a 
criticism I heard at various exhibitions where I showcased Plasma.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham added inline comments.

INLINE COMMENTS

> davidedmundson wrote in Header.qml:66
> What's this about? Negative offsets are weird, and we also have a 300ms 
> animation to move 1px?

I was copying this from the original, but yeah, it did seem weird to me too. 
Removed.

> davidedmundson wrote in Header.qml:153
> We can't do this. You're assuming lots of things about the user's font that 
> you can't do.

Oops, this was left over from an earlier idea that I abandoned. Removed.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham updated this revision to Diff 40300.
ngraham marked 5 inline comments as done.
ngraham added a comment.


  - Address review comments
  - Stop working around TextField bugs
  - Remove the timer; it was overkill and didn't work perfectly

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CHANGES SINCE LAST UPDATE
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AFFECTED FILES
  applets/kickoff/package/contents/ui/Header.qml

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Safa Alfulaij]

safaalfulaij added a comment.


  The original issue (in Neon/Kubuntu task, not sure) was that Kickoff is not 
clear if one can search or not, because of text changing. Why not just keeping 
the current “Type to search” label as is, and move the user@host text up as in 
the patch?
  
  Also please note that the clear button functionality is working wrong with 
RTL layouts. The button must depend on the text's direction itself not the UI 
language being used. You can type Arabic in English UI, and the clear button 
should be to the left of the text (and mirrored). Check normal Qt lineedit 
widget behaviour (in Qt Designer for example)

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Øystein S . -Alværvik]

oysteins added a comment.


  In D15011#313872 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > although if I think of my parents for example I do see how they might miss 
it
  
  
  This was the rationale behind my bug report about this; that some users might 
be puzzled about the apparent lack of a search field.
  
  In D15011#313872 , @filipf wrote:
  
  > is it possible to somehow make a toggle to keep the status quo ie. have no 
search box?
  
  
  +1 for this, if it is doable. Perhaps the search field could be toggled only 
for new installs, so upgraders can stick to the status quo?
  
  In D15011#313874 , @anthonyfieroni 
wrote:
  
  > I'm -1 for this, it's not needed to click in just start typing witch is 
more intuitive. Adding this optional by config?
  
  
  The patch seems to retain this functionality. Maybe the patch could keep the 
text 'Type to search…', or does it become redundant?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Anthony Fieroni]

anthonyfieroni added a comment.


  I'm -1 for this, it's not needed to click in just start typing witch is more 
intuitive.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Filip Fila]

filipf added a comment.


  Heh, in my opinion the blended in searching is what added elegance to Kickoff 
compared to its KDE 4 version. The search box just sticks out quite a bit and 
for me "type to search" is indicative enough, although if I think of my parents 
for example I do see how they might miss it... but my question is: is it 
possible to somehow make a toggle to keep the status quo ie. have no search box?

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Andres Betts]

abetts added a comment.


  I like this idea

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[David Edmundson]

davidedmundson requested changes to this revision.
davidedmundson added a comment.
This revision now requires changes to proceed.


  Heh, flip-flopped back to 
https://userbase.kde.org/images.userbase/thumb/f/fe/Kickoff_Menu_Style.png/300px-Kickoff_Menu_Style.png
 till we get the next bug report about how it should be hidden.

INLINE COMMENTS

> Header.qml:66
> +opacity: 0
> +y: -1
> +}

What's this about? Negative offsets are weird, and we also have a 300ms 
animation to move 1px?

> Header.qml:144
>  left: faceIcon.right
> -top: faceIcon.top
> -right: parent.right
> +bottom: queryField.top
>  leftMargin: units.gridUnit

and here

> Header.qml:153
> +level: 5
> +font.letterSpacing: -0.4
> +opacity: 0

We can't do this. You're assuming lots of things about the user's font that you 
can't do.

> Header.qml:164
>  anchors {
> -left: nameLabel.left
> -top: nameLabel.bottom
> -right: nameLabel.right
> +left: faceIcon.right
> +bottom: queryField.top

This will no longer elide as the right is not constrained.

If you have a long username this will just overflow out the box.

When dealing with text items, it's easier to think in terms of bounding box 
rather than where the text itself.

Include the rightMargin back too.

> Header.qml:211
> +// Implement our own clear button because the PC3 version doesn't 
> have one
> +// (https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=396828)
> +// FIXME: Replace this Row and everything in it with 
> "clearButtonShown: true"

No working round Plasma code in Plasma.

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D15011: [Kickoff] Make the search field always look like a search field

[Nathaniel Graham]

ngraham created this revision.
ngraham added reviewers: Plasma, VDG.
Herald added a project: Plasma.
Herald added a subscriber: plasma-devel.
ngraham requested review of this revision.

REVISION SUMMARY
  This patch makes Kickoff's search field always look like a search field, 
instead of on;y after you start typing.
  
  BUG: 397581
  FIXED-IN: 5.14.0

TEST PLAN
  [stuff goes here]

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