What's new in KDE Applications 19.08

Dolphin

Dolphin is KDE's file and folder explorer which you can now launch from anywhere using the new global Meta + E shortcut. There is also a new feature that minimizes clutter on your desktop. When Dolphin is already running, if you open folders with other apps, those folders will open in a new tab in the existing window instead of a new Dolphin window. Note that this behavior is now on by default, but it can be disabled.

The information panel (located by default to the right of the main Dolphin panel) has been improved in several ways. You can, for example, choose to auto-play media files when you highlight them in the main panel, and you can now select and copy the text displayed in the panel. If you want to change what the information panel shows, you can do so right there in the panel, as Dolphin does not open a separate window when you choose to configure the panel.

We have also solved many of the paper cuts and small bugs, ensuring that your experience of using Dolphin is much smoother overall.

Gwenview is KDE's image viewer, and in this release the developers have improved its thumbnail viewing feature across the board. Gwenview can now use a "Low resource usage mode" that loads low-resolution thumbnails (when available). This new mode is much faster and more resource-efficient when loading thumbnails for JPEG images and RAW files. In cases when Gwenview cannot generate a thumbnail for an image, it now displays a placeholder image rather than re-using the thumbnail of the previous image. The problems Gwenview had with displaying thumbnails from Sony and Canon cameras have also been solved.

Apart from changes in the thumbnail department, Gwenview has also implemented a new “Share” menu that allows sending images to various places, and correctly loads and displays files in remote locations accessed using KIO. The new version of Gwenview also displays vastly more EXIF metadata for RAW images.

Developers have introduced many improvements to annotations in Okular, KDE's document viewer. Apart from the improved UI for annotation configuration dialogs, line annotation can now have various visual flourishes added to the ends, allowing them to be turned into arrows, for example. The other thing you can do with annotations is expand and collapse them all at once.

Okular's support for EPub documents has also received a push in this version. Okular doesn't crash anymore when attempting to load malformed ePub files, and its performance with large ePub files has improved significantly. The list of changes in this release includes improved page borders and Presentation mode's Marker tool in High DPI mode.

The new version of Kdenlive, KDE's video editing software, has a new set of keyboard-mouse combos that will help you become more productive. You can, for example, change the speed of a clip in the timeline with Shift+Resize, or activate the thumbnail preview of video clips by holding Shift and moving the mouse over a clip thumbnail in the project bin. Developers have also put a lot of effort into usability by making 3-point editing operations consistent with other video editors, which you will surely appreciate if you're switching to Kdenlive from another editor.

Video Soundtrack: "modern jazz samba" by Kevin MacLeod https://filmmusic.io/song/4063-modern-jazz-samba/

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews