One of the most popular graphical interfaces in the Linux world, KDE Plasma, has many new features coming to the next LTS.
In its blog, the project presented the news that I will see in the final release of KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS, as a simplification in the most complete configurations and better integration with GTK. 
The implemented novelties were divided into four (4) fronts, which can be highlighted:
Plasma
New global editing mode that replaces the monitor's tool area button and allows you to easily customize its layout;
Support for GTK applications that use client-side decorations (CSD's), adding appropriate shadows and scaling areas for them. GTK applications also automatically inherit Plasma definitions for fonts, icons, cursors, among others.
Notifications
The timeout indicator on notification messages is now circular and surrounds the close button. There is now a draggable icon in the "downloaded file" notification that you can drag to locations and that you can do interesting things with;
Plasma now shows you a notification notice when a Bluetooth device is connected and is about to run out of battery
System Configuration
Plasma has gained optional User Feedback settings (disabled by default), allowing you to provide detailed system and statistical information about the frequency with which individual Plasma features you use.
Discover
In the search field of the KDE Plasma online store, it now receives the default keyboard focus, which means that when you open it, you just start typing the name of the application for the search to start. It is also now possible to search for extensions on the main page.
These were just some of the new features that I saw in KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS, you can check the others in the full post on the project blog here.
So far, to install and use this version of KDE Plasma, it is only possible through the source code and compile on the nail or through some rolling release distro, such as KDE Neon Unstable Edition for example or any other distro that delivers the package. Most likely, KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS can come in Kubuntu version 20.04 by default, as well as in the Stable version of KDE Neon as well. Distributors like Fedora, Manjaro and Arch will also be able to make them available in the repositories as soon as possible.
To me, this KDE Plasma version looks very promising and has a big makeover. And you, what do you think? Leave it in the comments.
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