Software Update: KDE 3.1 Alpha 1

Anonymous: 27614 announced that KDE 3.1 Alpha 1 released is. This alpha version is being released for people who want to experiment and for those who want to know the new features. The screenshots show what has been renewed on the outside. It is possible to run your current KDE version alongside KDE 3.1 Alpha 1, how and what is here explained:

New Features / Enhancements:

KDE 3.1 promises a number of welcome improvements and additions (* indicates a work in progress):

Web browser. By popular request, the web browser (Konqueror) offers tabbed browsing! (screenshot).* SSL certificate policies can now be defined on a domain name basis.*

Email client. The email client (KMail) has merged in several privacy and security enhancements – namely S/MIME, PGP/MIME and X.509v3 support – in collaboration with the Aegypten project, an IT security project sponsored by the German government (screenshot).*

File browser. The file browser (Konqueror) has gained a number of new features:

• folder icons which reflect a folder’s contents; a new video thumbnail generator, in the multimedia package (kdemultimedia);*
• an optional 256×256 image preview in an image tooltip;
• use of a pre-generated thumbnail by the image thumbnail generator if available within an image;
• a number of KFile plugins now provided enhanced information about various file types (such as .diff, .cpp, .rpm, .deb, .html and .tiff files) (screenshot);
• a detailed list view with meta-information about files in the side-bar;* and integration of file meta-information and multimedia files searches in file search utility*

desktop sharing. A new VNC-compatible desktop sharing framework allows KDE users to share a KDE desktop across multiple machines (screenshot).* Both a desktop-sharing server (KRfb) and client (KRdc), as well as a new network chat program (KChat) , have joined the network package (kdenetwork).

Newgames. A number of new games have been added to the games package (kdegames), including a golf game (Kolf) (screenshot), an Atlantik and Monopoly-type game (Atlantik), a Blackjack game (Megami). and a Same-like game (Klickery).

Multimedia. The multimedia framework (kdemultimedia) includes a new framework for video.* In addition, a new multimedia player (Noatun) plugin for searching lyrics (Lyrics Plugin) has joined the addons package (kdeaddons).*

Address book. The address book (KAddressbook) has gained the ability to fetch contact information from one or more LDAP servers. It can also print contact information and import industry-standard vCards.*

desktop panel. The panel (Kicker) supports fully customized menus, such as may be desirable in a kiosk or office environment.* Moreover, the panel can now be set to hide underneath other windows and raise itself when the mouse pointer covers the panel’s area.

theme manager. The theme manager provides improved theme style and color decoration previews.

terminal emulator. The terminal emulator (Konsole) can now bookmark commands which start a new shell, such as ssh://[email protected]. It also displays an information dialog now when the user presses Ctrl-s, as some users do not realize this action can activate scroll locking. The emulator’s copy-to-clipboard behavior has been modified to conform to the KDE standard (now one must select the Copy entry in the Edit menu to copy to the secondary “Windows” clipboard, while highlighting continues to copy to the primary “X11” clipboard).

Advanced editor. The advanced text / programmer’s editor (Kate) provides improved code folding and translucent menus.

Application finder. The application finder (KAppfinder) provides a nice tree view for selecting the applications to include in the KDE desktop menu hierarchy.

Japanese reference. (Kiten) has joined the edutainment package (kdeedu).*

User notifications. The desktop now has two new user notification methods to provide non-obtrusive informational messages: a passive popup widget (KPassivePopup), which pops up next to the application’s taskbar window entry, without stealing the focus, as well as a window information class (KWindowInfo ), for displaying messages in a window’s title [ and icon ]† Moreover, a new notification dialog (KNotifyDialog) provides an easy method for users to select for which events an application should provide notifications.*

KDE usability. The KDE Usability Project has made some usability enhancements to the panel (Kicker), the desktop calculator (KCalc) and the screenshot utility (KSnapshot).

eye candy. On the glitzy side, KDE 3.1 will ship with a new default theme style, Keramik. And, for something to look forward to, the post-KDE 3.1 alpha1 CVS sports attractive drop shadows for menus and other desktop windows.
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KDE 3.1 Alpha 1 is available for download at HTTP and FTP†