ermintrude the cow meets bessy

There have been some interface improvements in this release that are designed to improve the workflow significantly. As in the screenshot above, the taskbar can now be merged with the panel launcher and reside either above or below it in this mode. Significant work has also meant that this does not compromise any of the existing feature set within LDE(X) so autohide and autoraise of the combined panel is supported as well. This configuration has proved incredibly popular due to the reduced mouse travel involved.

The system tray has also been greatly improved with the adoption of a module called VTray. It supports scrolling so those users with a heavily filled system tray will no longer be encountering major problems - simply hit the gadget to scroll the icons. The taskbar has been improved internally, with much better layout code and the addition of a gadget to provide single click access to the related configuration options for this component. In the merged taskbar+launcher mode, this also brings in some panel launcher related options to improve access. The feature set has been further extended by the independent development of a number of new plugins (some included, some packaged independantly.

There have been major upgrades to the customisation support in LDE(X)6.1, including the ability to specify different icon sizes (as seen in the last screenshot above). Tekwyzrd has also contributed changes in relation to customising the look of plugins, etc. in LDE(X). The included BlueCurve-inspired icon package contrasts well with the existing default icon set and gives a fresh new look to the user interface.

The Core has seen a dramatic growth in its abilities with the integrated WSH-based WiSH modification written and maintained by Amtal (Scott Kearn). Sitting in parallel with the veteran mzScript LiteStep-native engines, each user can opt to use the native or WSH engine for themselves.

A concerted effort to squeeze some more performance out of the system has resulted in recompiles of both the LiteStep engine and the high-dependency modules (except LSBox) for use on i686 systems.