KDE Still Isn't For Client-Side Decorations But Has Been Selectively Using Some D.W.D.

With word this week that KDE's Dolphin file manager has adopted a hamburger menu that has re-ignited the discussion once more over client versus server-side decorations for the KDE desktop.

KDE developers still seem to be overall against the notion of client-side decorations for all windows in having the clients be responsible for the rendering of their windows in full. KDE developers still prefer the notion of server-side rendering, but they are sort of embracing Dynamic Window Decorations (DWD) as a partial hybrid of CSD in specific areas where it makes sense.

KDE developer Nate Graham who is known for his weekly development summaries was the one writing today about KDE CSD vs. SSD decorations. In the post he noted that they are sort of using Dynamic Window Decorations already when it comes to KDE Plasma's System Tray. With the system tray and its applets, there is sort of the concept of dynamic window decorations for letting the applet pass various actions/information to the window manager for placing it on the titlebar. Graham commented, "This arrangement was actually not deliberate; we kind of re-discovered the DWD concept by accident. But it turned out to work really well here. This is because the System Tray popups don’t suffer from any of the remaining problems plaguing CSDs."

Graham concluded the Sunday post with, "So like KHamburgerMenu, we now have another tool in our toolkit. We can apply it to the parts of our software where it makes sense, without feeling the pressure to force it everywhere. Because the best craftsmanship really does come from using the right tool for the job."