KDE Plasma 5.21 - New look, new menu, and Wayland 100% usable

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Plasma 5 continues its release cycle, and we are days from the release of Plasma 5.21, a pretty big release if we compare it to the ones that came before. On the menu, we have a bit of a redesign, a new application menu, manu, many wayland improvements, and a whole new system monitor.

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The desktop is what received the most attention this time around. It's good to see KDE focusing on the user experience of the actual desktop instead of refining the settings, even though that work was necessary and welcome.

To being with, we have a new look for titlebars and windows. Where before, the titlebar was dark and separate from the contents of the window, now the titlebar blends with the menu bar, and the toolbar, in a grey, solid background.

Now, for users who like having their windows light themed, but prefer their panels and widgets a bit darker, KDE ships the Breeze twilight theme by default, which keeps the default light color in the application windows, but puts all plasmoids into the breeze dark theme.

The other important change here is the new application menu. This new menu also offers quick system actions, like sleep, restart, shut down, or log off, right from the bottom.

There is also a new media applet, that shows tabs for every audio source that you have, so you can control all your audio playback through one single applet, without having one for each app you usually interact with.

Finally, the Sound applet now displays the main microphone's volume.

The Apps

Now let's move on to the applications. The core Plasma apps haven't changed much here, but there is a whole new arrival: a new system monitor.

This won't revolutionize the way you use your computer, but it's still a nice tool to have when you need it. The old KSysGuard is out, and the new System Monitor tool is is, then, with a modernized interface. It's actually based on the recent plasmoids for system monitoring, which means it looks good, and it's very flexible.

The settings still see some changes, as the effort to revamp and make these look more coherent continues. First, there is a new Firewall c ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbAuxp_I0zk