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Maniphest T7914

Use a prettier background for the lock & login screens
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Description

Subtask of T7682: Proposed look-and-feel changes
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=381407

Right now, we use a plain blue background for both SDDM and KScreenLocker, which generates complaints from users that it's ugly and doesn't match their wallpaper. We had a big discussion in the VDG telegram room and arrived at the following conclusions:

  • SDDM and KScreenLocker should both default to using the current default KDE Plasma wallpaper
  • If the user changes this default wallpaper to anything else, SDDM and KScreenLocker should do nothing

In essence, we are simply moving from a plain blue background to the current Plasma wallpaper. One really cool effect is that when Plasma is updated, the SDDM and KScreenLocker backgrounds should change to match it! This is a big branding win.

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Commits
D11308 / R133:6e5e6adad191: Use the default Plasma wallpaper on the lock screen

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ngraham created this task.Feb 7 2018, 9:07 PM
ngraham updated the task description. (Show Details)
broulik added a subscriber: broulik.Feb 7 2018, 10:47 PM

So this is basically back to where we were before the blue background? Also this won't do away with the "doesn't match their wallpaper complaint"

ngraham added a comment.Feb 7 2018, 10:48 PM

Right.

  • It will match the wallpaper for people who opt not to change it (a surprising fraction of people)
  • The current approach also does not match the wallpaper, and is uglier
abetts added a comment.EditedFeb 7 2018, 10:51 PM
In T7914#127106, @broulik wrote:

So this is basically back to where we were before the blue background? Also this won't do away with the "doesn't match their wallpaper complaint"

That is exactly my thought. We wanted to tie it all together in the bootup process by using one or two colors and move away from wallpapers because they weren't matching. They "couldn't" match either. So it is one of those situations were either answer is "yes". I think it will come down to majorities rather than a right or wrong approach. I am happy to agree to the change. I just think that it is one of those personal ideas that you want to take to a default. Thoughts?

Either way, +1

zzag added a subscriber: zzag.EditedFeb 7 2018, 11:10 PM

If the user changes this default wallpaper to anything else, SDDM and KScreenLocker should do nothing

IMO, this is a broken design, -1

Is it possible to do something like Unity did with lightdm?

Edit

Forget about it. It has some issues with privacy.

mmustac added a subscriber: mmustac.Feb 8 2018, 12:04 PM

I can't help me but I have some trouble to unterstand the privacy issue which comes up every time when such a topic gets discussed.
Okay I can imagine ehy it can be a privacy issue but then it would mean thaht the the background itself is one. So lets say I am sitting with my notebook on some public place like the airport und someone looks over my shoulder then he other peobple walking by can see my wallpaper too (if there are no maximized windows of course).
So privacy issue = yes but not only a problem of the login/lock-screen.

broulik added a comment.Feb 8 2018, 5:38 PM

So lets say I am sitting with my notebook on some public place like the airport und someone looks over my shoulder then he other peobple walking by can see my wallpaper too (if there are no maximized windows of course).

Which is 100 % of the time the case on my laptop with its small screen.

jnoack added a subscriber: jnoack.Mar 14 2018, 5:02 AM
In T7914#127190, @mmustac wrote:

I can't help me but I have some trouble to unterstand the privacy issue which comes up every time when such a topic gets discussed.
Okay I can imagine ehy it can be a privacy issue but then it would mean thaht the the background itself is one. So lets say I am sitting with my notebook on some public place like the airport und someone looks over my shoulder then he other peobple walking by can see my wallpaper too (if there are no maximized windows of course).
So privacy issue = yes but not only a problem of the login/lock-screen.

Yesterday I saw a thread on the reddit about blurring the wallpaper, wouldn't this be a good compromise for sddm/screenlocker?

I'm talking about this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/836al4/automatically_blur_your_kde_plasma_wallpaper_and/

richardbowen added a subscriber: richardbowen.Mar 14 2018, 6:29 AM

How about showing the Photo of the Day from somewhere like unsplash as the wallpaper for the login/lock-screen, with a little blur or slightly opaque black overlay (around 10-20%) on password input focus.

abetts added a comment.Apr 22 2018, 2:31 PM
In T7914#132641, @richardbowen wrote:

How about showing the Photo of the Day from somewhere like unsplash as the wallpaper for the login/lock-screen, with a little blur or slightly opaque black overlay (around 10-20%) on password input focus.

Would this slow down the bootup process?

zzag added a comment.Apr 22 2018, 2:46 PM
In T7914#139279, @abetts wrote:

Would this slow down the bootup process?

I think it can be fixed with caching.