https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma5.0/screenshots/apps...
If you care deeply about the latest fashions and what the new black of UI design is this season, then KDE is definitely not for you. If you just want something that works then it can be fine. I don't find any of those things to hinder my actual use of KDE, quite the opposite.
The bad design isn't of this trivial sort. If you think of stereotypical web pages from 90's you don't think that their design isn't current, you think that that their design is intrinsically bad.
> the latest fashions
KDE's analogue in clothing fashion is wearing potato sack. That is - this isn't even a mater of fashion. This isn't like ror, node or react.
> rather than usability
Nobody denies potato sacks can have nonzero usability. Visual clutter affects usability. That they completely fucked UI, even if usability were perfect, doesn't give users needed confidence that other areas were done competently either.
Turn off that option in the OS; it's not an app thing. One of the nice things about KDE is that it still gives you old-school configurability.
It's a matter of accesibility, not taste.
I love the sheer amount of customizability and options KDE offers.
I recommend Flattr icons[0] and the Hex QtCurve Style[1]
I'd have comments on other points as well but if there is one thing KDE apps generally aren't then they consistently aren't pretty. I know, eye of beholder, but it's almost as bad as TK. In the link you provided there are:
- grooved borders between every second UI element.
- icons are way too colorful with gradients everywhere.
- underscore hints on menus are ugly.
- places panel takes up way too much space and eats away at the tree view panel.
That said, I use Dolphin, but only because other file browsers on Linux are for various reasons bigger catastrophes.