Kubuntu KDE quicklauncher is confusing usability-wise

[Martin Böhm]

Kubuntu's quick-launcher is dangerously similar to the system tray and it has other usability problems.

In theory, it should be quite easy to distinct those two, especially for novice users who may have no experience with computers at all. Furthermore, the different visual appeance will "warn" the user that those two sets of buttons do something else.

Currently, it is very hard for a common user to find out what the difference between the set of icons on the left side and on the right side is. The only hint a user has is that in Microsoft Windows, the quick launcher and tray icons are positioned that way. However, trusting the user to know the Windows inner workings is a bad practice.

There should be a simple way for any user to recognize the system tray and the quicklauncher. For example, all the "Launching" buttons could be one size and the tray icons a significantly different size. Currently it is not so, as the "K Menu" launcher button or the Show Desktop launcher button is different in size to the other quicklauncher buttons.

Another option might be to change the icon set for the tray icons. Apple's OS X deals with "tray icons" this way, they are black and white while the launcher icons are big and colourful.

The current quicklauncher size is problematic in more ways, for example: at the current size, it is quite hard for a user to recognize what each icon means. The "envelope" symbol in Kontact and the "globe" symbol in Konqueror are too small to be easily recognizable.

[Martin Böhm (martin.bohm)]

When all the icons are the same size, you cannot mistake them with the tray on the right. Also, you can see that all the icons on the left fall into one category (Launching). The downside is the increased amount of space they require at the expense of the task bar. Personally I think that would not be a big concern nowadays, as most of the monitors today support sufficient resolutions.

[Martin Böhm (martin.bohm)]

I'll close it as nobody has confirmed this bug which indicates that users do not have any problems with the quicklauncher. I'll try to avoid this bug in KDE4.