KDE 4.x default web browser is Konqueror, I'm not sure, but I think it used to be the only web browser for KDE (if there were others, I apologize with you for the omission), until now. Rekonq is based on Arora (which is a pure Qt application), Arora itself is quite good and fast, Rekonq is as good, as fast but more integrated.

It's still on early development, but I would, sincerely, love to see an official K browser which could be... just that... a WB. Because it simplifies a lot the interface, and this will mean more development on the Browser and WebKit parts I assume...

Let's have a quick look at it ;-):

It renders the pages beautifully (webkit godness):

Tabs, unlike Konqueror... Firefox... Safari... Opera... and pretty much all web browser except for Google Chrome (and Chromium obviously), open extremely fast, the transitions are perfect, aka instantly (if you use Bespin, fade in and out between tabs will look plain gorgeous):

It handles flash quite well too (thanks to Qt-Webkit):

Somebody asked for something more complex than Youtube, so here it goes: Vimeo with HD ON, fullscreen works well too:

Bookmark editor:
It also follow the KDE 4.x HIG. The configuration dialogs are very easy and straight forward (and I hope devs can keep it this way (simple) even when they start adding more options) 100% self-explanatory:

Of course, this alpha software, it lacks many features; like remembering passwords, or adblock, and so on) , it has many little bugs too, like extremely small fonts or, sometimes, when you click on a link it would look as it isn't loading (even if it is).

Anyway, congrats to the Rekonq (and Arora and Qt-Webkit) developer(s). I'm looking forward to this application! I'm truly falling in love here (it's already my default K Web Browser).

I'm not a designer, but I tried my best to reflect my idea of how a Music Player for KDE could look like. Of course it isn't suppose to look so primitive, but, then again, I'm not a designer.

This is the initial mockup (I hope to publish one article with all windows and sections soon). Hope you like it:


Thanks for your attention :-)

In the last article I was very positive toward the Kontact suit. However, Contacts is the exception to this. The interface is way too cluttered and wastes too much space. From the main interface to the Contact editor, everything seems like it could be fairly better.

On the other hand, If I recall correctly, a new Contact application is being developed (and makes use of Akonadi), the interface of this new one seems a lot better (a lot like the Mac OS X Contacts application, which isn't bad in this particular case). It's called KContactManager.

Critics aside, let's have a look at KAdressBook:

By default it shows the "Address Books" resources, which is absolutely no-sense for 90% of the usage scenarios, so I got rid of it (fortunately, it's 2 clicks away):

Also, for some reason, while using any Distribution list instead of "All contacts" the information is presented differently. The first one (When all contacts is selected) shows more information, but on an awful white background, while in the second one, you get much less information (just the email actually) but the info in now presented using the theme background itself. Check it out youself:

All Contacts:

Distribution Lists:

The distribution list editor, looks simple, it works kinda weird, but it's easy to understand (you start writing a name, and it autocompletes, once you're done with it, it makes another space, for another contact), however, it gets extremely cluttered without doing much:

The contact editor will probably scare new people, which just wanted a space for putting a name, a phone number, an email and an address (and it looks waaay more cluttered if you use Oxygen instead of Bespin). But, even if it's a little scaring, it is extremely complete:

On the other hand, the simple editor is too... well... too simple XD.


One thing I find to be great is the "integration" with google maps. Once you click and address it will launch Konqueror and get you to google maps while searching for the direction you just click in. It's cool, but I wonder if they shouldn't be using marble instead:


And, at last, the configuration dialogs, which are more or less simple and easy to follow:


It has LDAP support too:


As you can see, KAdressBook has a decent interface, but if you checked out the link I gave to the commit diggest, you can clearly see that the new approach is better :-)

Yet, my biggest complain is against the wasted space and the overall interface, not to the features of the application (because it's a very rich feature package).

As always, I hope you like it :-)

Next Issue: Kontact: Calendar.

My name is Luis Augusto Fretes and I'm from Mexico.

I'm not a developer, but I started a while ago to write a blog about KDE 4.x. Originally, I was making one article per week, but my computer died. Then, when I got a new one, I start writing them again. I though it could be a good idea to have them here at Planet, and, apparently, they administrator thought the same, so he made an exception (because I'm not a developer... yet). If people likes it, it can stay. I truly hope you enjoy reading them as much as enjoy writing them :-)

I will upload a new article soon, but, for those who haven't read this blog (99.999999999% of you probably), I'll put a list with the articles:

• Dolphin
  
• Okular
  
• GWenview
  
• KWin (with Composite)
  
• KRunner
  
• Plasma
• Little Plasma Updates
  
• Introducing KDE 4... on Windows
  
• Kontact: KMail
  
• Off-Topic: Improved Amarok GUI proposal
  
• Dragon Player and SMPlayer
  
• Amarok 2.0
• Amarok with Bespin hacks

Another video, hope you like it :-)