this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
954 points (94.2% liked)
linuxmemes
20880 readers
3 users here now
I use Arch btw
Sister communities:
- LemmyMemes: Memes
- LemmyShitpost: Anything and everything goes.
- RISA: Star Trek memes and shitposts
Community rules
- Follow the site-wide rules and code of conduct
- Be civil
- Post Linux-related content
- No recent reposts
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I have used XFCE, KDE, and GNOME and in my opinion, Gnome provides by far the best the best workflow for me. The UI is very keyboard-driven, which makes navigation very fast and intuitive. Also it doesn’t look like an outdated Windows version (like Plasma or XFCE) and I had way fewer bugs with it than with any other desktop.
I find it interesting how everyone always talks about the „Unix philosophy“ („software should do one thing and do it well“) but at the same time everyone likes Plasma for having hundreds of useless, buggy features.
Gnome has a core featureset and a robust extension-system if you need more. There is no bloatware in Gnome. And please don’t tell me something like „Gnome isn’t usable without a taskbar/dock“. It is, lots of people use it that way, not every desktop needs to be like macOS or Windows.
Of course it’s okay to like another desktop environment more, but I just don’t get why Gnome gets so much hate.
I've used GNOME for a year now.
I don't understand people calling GNOME keyboard-driven, it doesn't even support keyboard shortcuts for more than 4 workspaces, and it doesn't support tiling other than left and right.
I also feel like the plugin system is not great. The plugins break on every.single.update and you have to beg the maintainers to update them.
I agree about a dock/taskbar miss me with that :P
What frustrates me about GNOME is that it's otherwise so well-polished and smooth but just refuses to be easily customizable.
Gnome is definitely keyboard driven, this is my workflow: Use
Super + type nameto launch apps, then tile them left and right withSuper + LeftandSuper + Right. Two apps are enough for a workspace, if you need more, move to a new workspace usingSuper + Alt + Right. Gnome automatically creates new workspaces as you go, so you always have enough space. Swap between apps usingSuper + Tab. Almost like a tiling window manager, right?The plugin system is indeed very good, extensions can do pretty much everything. They break on an update because it makes sense: The author designed the extension for a specific version of Gnome, and it can't be guaranteed that it still works as intended on a newer version. You surely don't want an outdated extension to really mess up your desktop when it hasn't been properly updated. This is the safe way.
And regarding customization? Funny story: when I started with Linux and I wasn't really into the meta yet, I started with KDE, but I switched to Gnome (GNOME 3.xx and GTK3) because I found it EASIER to customize. Gnome themes always looked way better than they looked on KDE and they were never bugged (e.g. missing contrast, wrong iconography). Also "extensions" were way less bugged than KDEs equivalent features. I only later found out that people preferred KDE because of its customization. However, I do agree that with Libadwaite, they really put an end to Gnome theming, but all in all, I think it's better because of app uniformity and an easier app development process (you can really see the Gnome app ecosystem flourish). Also, Adwaita looks pretty amazing nowadays, I don't really feel the urge to theme my desktop.
Heh, this is literally my workflow. I've been using gnome3 since release, and gnome2 before that.
They need to make the Audio switcher and gTile extensions part of "core" gnome, and then it would be perfect.
Do you mean an audio output/input switcher? Because they added one a few version ago.
What's the keyboard shortcut for switching to workspace 5? There isn't one. And you can't configure one either. That just blows my mind
I have never felt the need to use more, also I mainly navigate with
Super + Alt + {Left,Right}.Though Gnome workspaces are not intended to be used like they are on a tiling window manager; you should just use the workspaces you need and dynamically create them and move apps. Assigning an app to workspace 10 that just stays there all day until you need it ist not the intended workflow.
Sure, but this is exactly my biggest problem with GNOME, it's one specific workflow and anything that is even just slightly different is out of the box.
Don't get me wrong I have many positive feelings about GNOME but they've recently been overtaken by the negative ones :P