Configuring your KDE step-by-step.
So, you have your pretty-new KDE-based system. And you want to make it yours completely by personalizing it. Here I'm writing my usual way to do this. It's very easy and logical.
First of all we need to open System Settings.
I prefer tree-view (it could be changed by clicking on "Configure" button.
Go to Common Appearance and Behavior -> Application Appearance
1) Choose style option. Oxygen is a default one, and as for me - best one. You can choose different Style and play a little with it's preferences in Fine Tuning. Style changes a form of your buttons/tabs/boxes.
2) Go to Colors. You can either change them by your own hands, or click "Get New Schema" button and download pretty scheme made by some community's noble men.
3) Icons. You can download a lot of beautiful themes. Also you can do some additional changes (in "Advanced" menu) like changing icon's gamma (selected/ not selected/ inactive), or making them monochrome.
You can easily change default icons or applications icons too. For folders you need to make a right click on folder, choose "Preferences" and then left-click on icon image.
You can look through themes icons in different menus (like Applications, Categories and so on). Different authors prefer to have a fun with different classes of icons. You just need to find where it is. (Usually Categories or Applications).
Also you can choose your own icon by "Other icons" menu.
It's little more difficult with changing application's icon.
You need to right-click up-part of menu shown by application launcher and choose "Edit Applications".
Then you need to choose an application (or submenu) icon of which you want to change. And then the same way - click on icon and change it.
By the way - you can add downloaded applications to menu if you need too (like downloaded Eclipse for EE Developers, or Tor browser, or Wine app).
4) Desktop Effects. (You need to go to Workspace Appearance and Behavior).
KDE has lovely effects, you need to try look through them and choose those you prefer. Important thing is, that some of them need OpenGl, which could be turned in "Advanced" submenu. You can play with another settings too, but carefully, and it's better to use default options if you can't see any changes.
You just need some time to make effects look as you want them to look, to choose your favorites. Enjoy!
5) Window Decorations. You can find a lot of Decorations (like usual - click "Get New Decorations" button. (like Mac style, or Windows, or a lot of better then this) Best of all - you can configure them. "Configure Buttons" give you a possibility to choose which buttons you want to have and where. It's simply drag&drop principle. You may put your buttons at left, or at right, or in the center, you may have two or more "X" buttons.
"Configure Decorations" - configuring shadows and lights around the windows (or pop-ups) and some other useful stuff.
6) Cursors. "Get New Theme" button - there are really a lot of them, for any taste and machine, with different animations.
7) Desktop Theme. It changes your panel's style, some widgets and a style of "Search and Launch" desktop layout.
8) Change your splash screen. Don't forget to test them first - because not all of them had been made well, but there are a lot of very good ones.
9) And the last thing we need to look at System Settings - on System Administration -> Login Screen. It's intuitive: choose background and so on. (On earlier systems you could install a theme, but system is safer this way, I think).
May be this is not last thing. If you want to have different backgrounds on your virtual desktops, or different layouts
You need to go to Workspace Behavior and turn on "Different widgets for each desktops". Also you may want to change a number of your desktops or number of rows.
10) I have 5 panels and different widgets on each of them. You can add new panel by clicking on "Activity" button on your desktop, or just right click on existing panel and then -> "Add new Panel". Then you can change it's position by using Screen Edge button, By clicking "More Settings" you will be able to change visibility (auto hiding and similar things), positioning (left, center,right).
If you want to Add Widgets - click the button, and drag and drop them into a panel or desktop.
Don't forget to Lock Widgets afterwards - system will be simpler to use.
11) Last step of our tutorial: by right clicking on your Desktop you can change layout (try Search and Launch for example, it's amazing), change Wallpaper type (Single or slide show) and of course you can change your background.
Use Positioning menu for cropping images the way you like.
Enjoy your system, and do not forget about time and work of many people, who creating it all the time.