I used Xfce for weeks, but it made me realize how much I need KDE

Recently I decided to try using Xfce as my main desktop environment on my primary tower PC. I typically stick with KDE Plasma on most devices, and after weeks with Xfce, I just feel more affirmed in my preference for KDE for daily driving.

I've already been asked why I was doing this, and the answer is simple: to try something different. In the context of desktop environments, you can't know what you're missing out until you start actually trying to fit it into your daily workflow.

Notifications aren't as informative

It's hard to describe exactly, but the way notifications work on Xfce just doesn't sit right with me. Or rather, notifications for my specific workflow don't work as well as they do on KDE Plasma.

For example, I like to use the Notification log to review recent messages to me in the Slack web app by clicking the notification icon in the system tray. In Xfce, I can see Slack notifications represented, including what channel the notifications are associated with.

But if I want to see the message contents—the most important part—I have to launch the notification settings dialog and switch to the log review tab. At that point, I'm better off just opening Slack itself.

I know that's a very niche complaint, so not many people will relate, but it's a niche situation I'm stuck in nonetheless. I also acknowledge that I might have overlooked a setting that adds the message contents to the system tray notification log, so let me know if you find that. Until then, I'm itching to get back to KDE's full-fat in-tray notification log.

Fitting my workflow took a lot of customization

On my KDE Plasma desktop, I'm used to launching the Krunner to accomplish all kinds of tasks . I use it to run web searches, do math calculations, and find files on my PC. All of this functionality just works in KDE without any setup required.

However, in Xfce's Application Finder, there's no file search nor calculation function, and, except for Wikipedia and AUR searches, I found no web search shortcuts built-in.

One of my Xfce workflow optimizations was to add a custom DuckDuckGo search shortcut. I even solved a problem where quotemarks and apostrophes weren't being escaped properly. Admittedly, it brought me a lot of pride in the end to successfully build my own solution.

Still, there remained other functionality I was missing, like calculations and file search. I'd need to either concoct more of my own solutions or find someone on the web who had created them and pray that they still work in the latest version of Xfce. I'd probably do that if I had more time and more loyalty to the Xfce platform, but it's increasingly seemed simpler just to fall back to KDE.

KDE just feel more cohesive

Aside from my notification and Application Runner grievances, I also just prefer the cohesive feel of KDE Plasma and the KDE ecosystem. For most jobs I need to do on a computer, there's a setting in Plasma or a KDE app for that.

In contrast, putting together my ideal desktop on Xfce has involved not just several settings tweaks but also the installation of several separate applications made by distinct development teams. This results in a hodgepodge of applications that I'll need to install on any other desktop I plan to daily-drive Xfce on.

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder here. What I might think of as a Frankenstein's monster kind of desktop, you might call a beautiful collage of FOSS craftwork from people of diverse backgrounds and influences. I can respect that, and I might even prefer it if I had a less demanding workflow.

I also respect it's just the nature of Xfce. The desktop is meant to be lean by default as a lightweight desktop environment , which is why it isn't pre-packed with services and complex tooling. Still, the ideal version of Xfce in my head would have a list of all those services with checkboxes next to them so I could easily enable the ones I want.

Xfce is still great on the right device

I'm not trying to trash the Xfce name. In fact, I don't plan to fully abandon it. I expect I'll keep using it on PCs that don't have as many resources at their disposal as my tower PC. Indeed, if I ever have to use it as my primary desktop, for the reasons I've outlined I'll be a bit frustrated. Still, thanks to my experience with it, I'm more prepared than ever to squeeze a lot of functionality out of Xfce.

And if I'm being truly self-reflective, I have to admit if I have a vision for a better Xfce in my head with detailed web app notifications and optional plugins, I should just fork or contribute to Xfce's code myself. That is what makes permissively-licensed open source software great, after all.