Selecting a Category

KControl have the top level entries listed in the table below. Legacy modules which yet does not conform to these guidelines may have Categories entries which is not mentioned below. What these legacy entries correspond to can be found in kdebase/applnk/kde-settings.menu. Old entries will not be valid for KDE 4 and it is preferred if these are converted as soon as possible.

The top level entries and each KCM are usability wise very expensive. Each top level and KCM is information which every user is exposed to, not only those the content is relevant to. Thus, when adding a KCM be 110% confident it is suiting to have it in KControl and that it cannot be solved in another way. Also, when adding functionality, try to find an existing KCM instead of creating a new one. For example, this is why the tab "energy" in "Hardware/Monitor" is not an stand alone KCM.

Don't let the selection of category be influed by whether the KCM is a "Administrator" KCM or not. The user can't do this distinction and will thus not find the KCM when looking - the user orientates after what it does and contains, not after how it is implemented. Hide the implementation/system specific parts from the user.

As of rule of thumb, it is a good idea ensuring each category stays around 5 entries(KCMs) each. It is also preferred to have roughly the same amount in each category. This makes it easier to use different KControl layouts as well as each "portion" is not too big to interpret and makes it easier to remember. This should be taken lightly, but can be good to keep in mind when a case otherwise is "tie".