
Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes - evo_9
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/hands-on-gnome-34-arrives-introducing-significant-design-changes.ars
======
onosendai
I've been forcing myself to use GNOME-shell for the past few months, just to
see if it was as bad as most people make it out to be, and I have to
grudgingly admit that some of the design choices are elegant.

For example, I find myself liking the activities overview more and more since
it combines together functionalities that you'd have to access separately on
other desktop environments, namely a keyboard based application launcher,
windows scale (or exposé for the Mac crowd) and virtual desktop manager. It's
problematic that each environment maxes out at 8-9 windows before it becomes
unmanageable, but the philosophy seems to be new desktops on demand, which are
quick to create (just drag a window to the blank desktop or middle click an
application to launch it in a clean desktop)

And the new Alt+Tab behavior does have a silver lining in that it scales
_much_ better for large number of windows since it allows you to drill down
much quicker to the window you're looking for: Alt+Tab until you reach the
application, Alt+<above tab> to reach the specific window you want. Or
Alt+Tab, then use the mouse to highlight the application and then the specific
window.

Another little know functionality is that the shell comes with a screen
recorder: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+R to start recording, again to stop, the video is
saved as WebM on the root of your home dir.

It's far from perfect, some functions take way too many motions to execute,
and I wish they allowed you to bind mouse shortcuts (it would be perfect to
enter the overview), but the basis for what could become a pretty decent
desktop environment are there.

~~~
mattbriggs
I find there are a few killer extensions like
<https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10/windownavigator/> and
<https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/60/overlay-icons/>. The first one
means you aren't forced to grab the mouse in overlay mode (which was my
biggest complaint), the second means you have a chance in hell of recognizing
what something is when you have more then around 4 windows open.

I like it too, but the big things for me (after stability issues) are

1) the notification area feels not well done. I am constantly triggering it
when I don't want to, and I find it is a pain to trigger when I do want it.

2) the search function in overlay mode is really choppy, which is funny
because I would consider this a solved problem in gnome (with gnome-do)

I think its a definite improvement over gnome 2, but it probably needs another
2-3 years of dev time before things are as polished as what you would expect
nowadays.

~~~
sandGorgon
<http://extensions.gnome.org> is really the killer feature of Gnome-shell. Its
really unfortunate that it is not publicised more.

I mean seamless installation and control of desktop extensions from the
browser? awesome!

~~~
downx3
The site is totally borked for me. Do I have to run it within Gnome 3?

------
GuiA
Browse the gnome-usability mailing list archives— you will see that there are
barely more than a dozen threads each month, none of them really touching
major usability issues that would come with significant design changes.

<http://mail.gnome.org/archives/usability/>

I used to be involved with Gnome a _long_ time ago (pre 2.14), and have lost
touch since— so maybe the accessibility mailing list is now outdated and I'm
looking in the wrong place — but I feel like there's a huge disconnect between
the various teams, and that design decisions are taken by isolated groups of
developers, with little regard for system coherency or good, consistent
usability.

Linux-world developers are good at many, many things— but in my humble
opinion, good usability and design are not amongst them.

~~~
bkor
Usability-list is not used for design. #gnome-design is.

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divtxt
_> Having the application's functionality split across two completely separate
menus does not constitute a usability improvement._

That's putting it mildly. A split menu may be correct from some design point
of view (e.g DRY principle) but from a usability point of view, it's recipe
for frustration.

On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches
apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes? (on grounds of being modal)

With both Unity and Gnome adopting these, I no longer have a compelling reason
to switch from Mac back to Linux.

Which is a pity really, because Gnome 3 is one of the prettiest and most
usable desktops I've seen: I love how the windows key gives you access to the
dock, all windows, workspaces and search at the same time.

~~~
whateverer
I know that the grievance is on the design decision, which is a point of a
trend which the dev team will follow, but as for the window switching, there
are several extensions you can install for that; just flip the switch on the
webpage and it'll get installed and activated immediately:

<https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/38/windows-alt-tab/>

<https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/97/coverflow-alt-tab/>

~~~
dchest
Or use Alt-Escape.

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kijin
No title bars when maximized, and menus in the top panel? They should
seriously consider merging back with Unity.

> _Windows are maximized by default_

Thanks again for catering to tablet users at the cost of the rest of us! How
many times do we need to remind these people that there is no such thing as a
one-size-fits-all user interface?

~~~
bkor
You assume that things are just one way. Suggest to try out GNOME 3.4.

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mindstab
Applications now start maximized? Why the continual push for small screen
sized low input phone paradigms for big screen rich input desktop interfaces?
It doesn't make sense and it's incredibly limiting. We're trading rich
desktops for phone interfaces? Why?

~~~
bkor
If that is your conclusion, it is incorrect. Some applications start maximized
by default. Only some, and they'll remember their size. Meaning: if you do not
use them maximized, next time they won't be maximized.

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virtualeyes
At some point I'm going to have to get off of Gnome 2, not looking forward to
it.

Gnome 2 + Compiz + Gnome-Do completely and utterly rocks, particularly with a
dual monitor setup.

KDE was a bit of a mess last I checked. Some people are saying XFCE is maybe
somewhat Gnome-2-ish?

~~~
archivator
I was in the same boat as you. I looked long and hard and realized that 1) KDE
has truly magnificent window management and customizability and 2) the only
environment comparable to Gnome 2 in resource footprint is XFCE.

I chose KDE but your requirements may vary. The cool part about linux is Live
CDs/USB drives. It's not difficult to try out new things.

~~~
virtualeyes
Yeah, good point, live usb has been a life saver beyond os install and
preview.

I've intentionally been sitting on the fence for over a year now. Once Fedora
14 goes EOL, going to have to make the move.

What I have now is a dream setup (gnome 2, gnome-do, compiz, emerald theme
mamnager), so have been in no rush. Was hoping Gnome issues would get sorted
out; i.e. they'd listen to the power users screaming bloody murder. Apparently
not, or not entirely.

I'll take gnome 3 for a spin, it can't be thaaaat bad (I hope); if I'm
appalled, check out XFCE, and then, if need be, KDE (KDE felt complex/clunky
compared to Gnome 2 when I made the comparison a couple of years ago, maybe
things have changed)

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bergie
I'm quite happy with GNOME 3 on an 11" MBA. Most things, like browsers running
fullscreen, gvim and terminal side-by-side, each taking half of the screen, no
need to fuss with resizing and moving windows.

This might not be optimal for large displays and desktop computers, but if
with Windows 8 the future of computers looks like [1], then GNOME might have
made a very smart move with the shell.

1: [http://liliputing.com/2011/12/samsung-series-7-slate-pc-
revi...](http://liliputing.com/2011/12/samsung-series-7-slate-pc-review.html)

------
unicornporn
I really hate nit picking on open-source software, but... Gnome 3.X is without
a doubt one of the worst pieces of UI design I have ever spotted (KDE 4
included). Almost everything looks like it was done by someone that does not
have the slightest clue. It's sad, Clearlooks on Gnome 2 was quite good.

~~~
bkor
Suggest to look at GNOME 1.x.

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hevical
Does the Gnome foundation think they'll acquire users because they're
resembling the user interface of tablet? They won't they'll continue to lose
users who are annoyed with trying to use a tablet interface where a desktop
environment should be. I'm so sick of the horrible design _innovation_ coming
to the Linux Desktop. Fact of the matter is, the Linux Desktop is still for
power users, becoming more and more different without innovation will only
aggravate those power users and they'll switch to other alternatives. When
KDE4 came out, many switched to Gnome 2, and now those users are switching to
XFCE or looking for other nice alternatives, such as tiling window managers.

~~~
bkor
Power user is just meaningless. Explain what you're doing and why. Saying
"power user" and expecting that to mean something is not going to work. Design
needs use-cases to consider.

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codesuela
as a Gnome 3 user I dislike the move away from title bars but I am sure there
will be a switch somewhere to restore them. But overall I have to say (after
reading only this article) I don't really see any compelling reason to upgrade
because I feel rather "meh" about the changes in 3.4

~~~
JoshTriplett
GNOME 3.4 doesn't eliminate all title bars; it just introduces the ability for
applications to specifically mark themselves as not needing a title bar when
maximized. Specific GNOME applications do so when they have appropriate levels
of integration and UI such that the title bar really does become fully
redundant.

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VeejayRampay
1994 called, they'd like their directory icons back.

~~~
whateverer
Yes. For how smart the shell looks, the windows and its contents look very
bleak, sterile in the best of cases. I guess they aimed for neutrality there,
but I can't say I dig the paper-polypropylene look.

