Updating to Slackware 11 — Part 3
© Copyright Darrell Anderson.
The next significant updating issue for me was that the KDE developers modified the Kate text editor in a way that distressed me greatly. I like Kate. I detest all console based text editors. So much so that I will wait while booting X/KDE simply so I can use Kate instead of those tortuous programs called console text editors.
I am one of those people who dislikes the single document interface (SDI) and much prefers the multiple document interface (MDI). The MDI versus SDI topic is one of those debates where people tend to side with one interface or the other and often are passionately supportive of their choice. Neither interface design is “right” or “wrong,” but one of those things that always should be decided by the end-users.
Prior to KDE 3.5.x, Kate provided a Settings option to easily toggle this preference. I prefer the MDI and I configured Kate accordingly.
![[Image: Screen capture of the Kate 3.4.3 MDI opton.]](../images/kate-mdi.png)
With the new release, however, this option is no longer available. Kate still supports multiple documents, but does not enforce that desire. If I open files from outside Kate, such as using the context menu within the Konqueror file manager, each file will open in a single instance of Kate, rather than opening in the one instance already opened. This one modification distressed me so much that I again considered abandoning KDE. Because I do not like any other GNU/Linux desktop environment, that decision would lead me considering abandoning GNU/Linux altogether. As some people know, I dislike GTK apps, so do not bother me with such suggestions.
The KDE developers modified Kate in a similar manner in the previous major step from KDE 3.3.x to 3.4.x. The developers removed the option to configure the number of Recently Used Files to display. I had grown happy with a list of 25 files because I found that the popular Pareto 80/20 principle applied to my file editing. That is, with 25 files in my Recently Used list, I had an 80% chance of that file already appearing in my list. I did not need to scroll through a dialog box to find the file I wanted to edit. With the enforced reduction to 10 files, I since have had to regularly the file dialogs to find the file I want to edit. This is a usability regression, not progression. Likewise with disabling my desire to always use the MDI.
Along the same lines, patiently I wait for KEdit to support the MDI as well. I enjoy Kate for the many options provided, especially syntax highlighting for editing shell scripts and web documents, but there are times when all I want is a simple text editor. In Windows, for many years I have used EditPad Lite and EditPad Pro. The former is similar to KEdit and the latter to Kate. Although not a true MDI product, EditPad Lite does use tabs. Not KEdit. I do not know why the KDE developers resist the MDI. Many people prefer MDI to SDI, so why not provide simple configuration toggles for end-users? Let the end-user decide. The MDI is a significant reason (among others) why I have little motivation to migrate from Word 97 to OpenOffice Writer. Word 97 supports the MDI and subsequent versions of Word do not.
Kate now uses a new feature called sessions. Early in my distress I suspected this new feature had something to do with not being able to prohibit running multiple instances of Kate. I am not a full-time programmer or developer, and although this new sessions feature might be useful for such people, I detest having the feature rammed down my throat. Although my future needs could change, today I have no use for running Kate sessions. Yes, the source code is open and free and I am free to modify the code to my tastes. Get real. I am not a software developer and am unable to perform any such task.
After resolving my KDE sound issue I again hit the web looking for clues. Eventually I found that I could indeed restore the MDI manner of using Kate. There is no front-end configuration option to reset this preference and this is a significant usability issue. Users must manually edit configuration files. I am quite comfortable editing configuration files and do so regularly, but the shift from MDI to SDI is significant and users should have that option available to them within the Kate Settings. Based upon the information provided, my solution was to edit the /opt/kde/applications/kde/kate.desktop file to enforce the MDI globally.
After modifying the configuration file I discovered that my distress with Kate was hardly finished. The modification did indeed restore my preference for keeping Kate in MDI mode, but when opening a file into Kate from outside of Kate, such as from within a Konqueror file listing, Kate would not receive the window focus. Instead, the Taskbar icon flashed. Back to the web to waste more time looking for a solution that I should not need.
Eventually I found that I could restore the window focus if I modified the Control Center option of Focus Stealing Prevention Level. For the past few years I had the option set to Low but I had to modify the option to None if I wanted Kate to hop to the front of the desktop.
![[Image: Screen capture of the KDE focus prevention option.]](../images/kde-focus.png)
But that was not enough. After that modification, the Kate window jumped to the front of my screen as expected and desired, but Kate still did not receive the focus! If I started typing I actually was typing in Konqueror rather than Kate. I had to manually click somewhere within Kate to force the focus. No combination of the option seemed to work. This is another usability regression. And I still have no solution. Is this a bug or another developer “feature”? Does anybody have a solution?
Finis.