LXQt 1.1.0 Promises Major Visual Uplift and Improvements

LXQt desktop team give us some exciting details about the upcoming LXQt 1.1.0 in the official announcement.

When I think about a lightweight Linux desktop environment, LXQt is the obvious choice. The LXQt desktop is perfect for older hardware and follows the legacy user interface principles with the standard menu, icons and panels. Due to these reasons, LXQt is still dominating a particular user base.

Although the development of LXQt doesn’t get much attention and contribution because it’s old and probably not a “desktop of interest” compared to the modern GNOME 42, Plasma 5 and others.

The team announced some exciting and nice features of the upcoming first point release of LXQt 1.0, which is due soon.

LXQt 1.1.0 Feature Accouncement

Firstly, new colour palettes in the Widget Style maintain a uniform look across the desktop. With this release, you get to experience two new application menu options. They are Compact and Simple. The Compact menu option is narrow, and the width is less than the Simple one. However, both look nice and simple.

Secondly, the Appearance of the Directory menu is improved with additional style options, as depicted below in the image. Also, the GTK Style menu in the Appearance is moved to a separate settings window to improve accessibility.

Other than that, the LXQt team improved certain user experiences in the default desktop behaviour settings. For example, the main menu search clean itself up when you open the desired application. This change reduces the need to press backspace to delete the last search items.

Not only that, but the default experience also reduces the width of the taskbar buttons. LXQt 1.1.0 also changes the default wallpaper, icons and theme, while Home, Network, Computer and Trash shortcuts are now placed on the desktop.

Moreover, some tiny yet impactful features in the native LXQt desktop applications improve the desktop experience. For example, the default file manager PCmanFM-Qt shows ‘Recent Files’ in the File menu. Also, when you click ‘Show in Folder’ after downloading in Firefox/any browser, the downloaded file is selected in PCmanFM-Qt.

In addition to that, the system tray Battery icon sees improvements in LXQt 1.1.0. Now you can have three new batter icons showing battery percentage with remaining time. This nice change improves the overall usability.

Finally, some initial work for the Qt6 port of LXQt is in progress as per the announcement and should land in the LXQt 1.1.0. However, it would not be everything but a timely, logical start to migrate to updated Qt6 at this moment.

Overall, pleasant and welcome changes in the LXQt 1.1.0. The LXQt 1.1.0 releases around May-August 2022 timeframe.

How to try or test

You can refer to the official GitHub page for cloning the repo and build. The compilation is tricky for Qt-based components, so I recommend you read the building guide here.

https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt

Visit the official blog post depicting the LXQt 1.1.0 announcement for more details.

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