Who uses pure GNOME (no extensions)

I really like gnome and how it looks. However every time I try it I find myself in need of more functionality and so I install a bunch of extensions. For example I can’t live without a dock and some sort of system tray that shows which apps are running in background.

Sometimes the extensions have small UI inconsistencies or use more memory than usual. That’s why I totally ditched gnome and switch to KDE.

Also I tend to think it’s been designed for people who are more comfortable using a keyboard. I’m mostly a mouse person.

Do any of you run pure gnome with no extensions? How do you cope with the lack of a dock and system tray?

nik282000, (edited )
@nik282000@lemmy.ca avatar

I used GNOME with no extensions for about 5 years. Recently I started using a window tiling extension but that’s only for for convenience, I wouldn’t say it’s fixing anything that is broken.

MonkCanatella,

I don’t really see any benefit to using pure gnome. Extensions aren’t a negative if they improve your workflow.

vox,
@vox@sopuli.xyz avatar

i onky use minor stuff, like a tray and rounded corners on legacy applications.

selokichtli, (edited )

I do. I miss the system tray, to be honest. My way to deal with it is to just push applications I need running all the time to the last workspace and leave this alone. Sometimes I close them unintendedly, oh well…

gerryflap,
@gerryflap@feddit.nl avatar

I use mostly pure GNOME on my PC. The missing system tray is very annoying, though I really don’t care about the missing dock or desktop icons. I start programs by searching for them, not by clicking on a desktop icon or in a dock. That’s my preferred method. And the alt+tab menu of GNOME is nice enough to find anything when I need it, together with having workspaces to organize everything.

I tried KDE, but it just felt more messy to me. For instance, I tried to move the bottom bar to the side of my screen, accidentally moved something on the bar itself, and then everything looked off and I couldn’t figure out how to get it back. It all felt a bit janky and unrefined. On some systems I also use i3, but that’s only for productivity. For daily use I prefer GNOME, where everything just seems to work.

kzhe,

I use the pure GNOME workflow with the exception of pop shell and scroll panel. Few aesthetics here and there.

serratur,

The only extension I really need is hot edge, I never liked the hot corner and I will never like it, especially since I have a super ultra wide.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah pure gnome would be great if they:

  1. provided desktop icons (like they used to);
  2. had an option to disable the activity BS on startup and go straight to the desktop.

But oh well, the GNOME team is more occupied with censoring comments on their blog and trying to re-invent the desktop environment experience with animations and whatnot instead of focusing on what really delivers productivity.

vox, (edited )
@vox@sopuli.xyz avatar

you’re using it wrong. ™
activity should be treated as the “default” mode of gnome (also you need to go to it do launch anything anyway)
also desktop icons suck

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

lol

kzhe,

Both of those would, to me, seem like negatives.

Desktop icons have no benefit for me and would look ugly. Opening in the desktop would mean that I would have to press super before launching all my apps, which would be annoying.

TCB13, (edited )
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Why can’t we just have toggles under settings (like we did in the past for desktop icons), works for you, works for me. Everyone will be happy.

fossisfun,
@fossisfun@lemmy.ml avatar

Because it takes manpower to develop and maintain these features?

Especially desktop icons are difficult to get right (see workarounds like “ReIcon” on Windows). E. g. keeping icon positions across multiple monitors and varying resolutions and displays (which can be unplugged at any time). They can also be a privacy-issue, e. g. when doing a presentation.

But most importantly: GNOME doesn’t want to be a traditional (Windows-like) desktop, so why would they implement features that don’t align with their ideas for a desktop experience?

There are lots of other desktops, like Cinnamon, that offer a traditional desktop experience within the GTK ecosystem. There is also plenty of room for desktops, like GNOME, that have a different philosophy and feature set.

In my opinion it would be boring, if every desktop tried to do the same thing. And there wouldn’t be any innovation, if no one tried to do things differently.

_cnt0,
@_cnt0@sh.itjust.works avatar

Innovation or regression? Gnome used to have optional desktop icons. They removed them. Let’s settle on gnome is progressing, while keeping in mind, that progress is neither necessarily nor inherently good.

fossisfun, (edited )
@fossisfun@lemmy.ml avatar

Innovation or regression?

Innovation doesn’t necessarily mean that all past functionality needs to be carried over. Actually innovation often means that past technology becomes obsolete and gets replaced with something new.

Gnome used to have optional desktop icons. They removed them.

They removed them because with GNOME Shell those icons no longer made sense. There was no longer a concept of dragging apps from a panel menu to a desktop, instead apps were now pinned from the fullscreen app overview to the dash.

Since the code was no longer used by the default GNOME experience, it became unmaintained and eventually got removed.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Especially desktop icons are difficult to get right

This doesn’t just affect desktop icons, icons in general suck under Linux. Things have strange behaviors when selected, long names don’t work properly etc.

But most importantly: GNOME doesn’t want to be a traditional (Windows-like) desktop, so why would they implement features that don’t align with their ideas for a desktop experience?

Because GNOME is the only DE with some potential and by not having 2 or 3 simple optional features aren’t getting more traction. I bet half of the KDE users would be glad to use GNOME only if it had desktop icons. Using other DE doesn’t make much sense as you’ll inevitable run in GTK and parts of GNOME and having to mix and match to get a working desktop experience.

Again, GNOME had icons, v3.28 discontinued them for no other purpose than trying to re-inveting something that worked for a ton of people.

fossisfun,
@fossisfun@lemmy.ml avatar

Because GNOME is the only DE with some potential and by not having 2 or 3 simple optional features aren’t getting more traction.

But everyone has different requirements and my “2 or 3 simple optional features” that are missing are completely different than what you think is missing. I couldn’t care less about desktop icons or system trays. I even prefer not having a system tray, as this functionality should be provided via notifications and regular application shortcuts in my opinion.

But in the end, a software project only has a limited amount of resources available and developers have to decide where they want to focus on. GNOME chose not to focus on desktop icons:

GNOME had icons, v3.28 discontinued them

Because the code was “old and unmaintained” and probably no one was willing to modernise and maintain it. Desktop icons were already disabled by default before 3.28, so they didn’t “re-invent” this feature with the removal of the code in Nautilus.

Using other DE doesn’t make much sense as you’ll inevitable run in GTK and parts of GNOME and having to mix and match to get a working desktop experience.

I use GNOME and KDE and use the same applications (as Flatpaks) on both desktops: I use GNOME Calculator on KDE, because I dislike both KDE calculators, and I use Ark on GNOME with a Nautilus script, as File Roller doesn’t allow me to set the compression ratio (I need to create zip files with 0 compression for modding games). So for me it has become the norm to mix applications created with different toolkits. Thanks to Flatpak I still have a “clean” base system though.

Btw. I am getting tired of these re-occurring complaints that GNOME works differently than other desktops. I am not constantly complaining about what features KDE is, in my opinion, missing all the time either (e. g. dynamic workspaces, same wallpaper and desktop configuration across all existing and new monitors, online account integration, command line config tool, etc.), instead I accept that this is how it is at the moment and either use KDE the way it is (like I do on my desktop PC) or use something that better suits my needs (like I do on all my laptops).

brunofin,

Since GNOME disabled desktop icons years ago, I liked it so much that I disable them in every OS I use, even on Windows.

They are just ugly and make the whole system feel messy. I do t need that. I can use the search or a favourites thing in a hidden drawer like the start menu or the gnome dock.

RickyRigatoni,
@RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml avatar

I spent the past three months with desktop icons and disabled them two days ago when I realized I was almost never using them.

turbowafflz,

I get understand wanting desktop icons even though I don’t like them personally, but what’s the advantage of starting at the desktop instead of the overview? It seems like you would probably want to open an application when you log in so it seems more convenient to already be in the overview

KISSmyOS, (edited )

I do. Gnome is a special case because it doesn’t give you a lot of options. It’s take it or leave it, and it doesn’t follow the traditional mouse-centric desktop workflow.
But in my opinion it’s absolutely perfect for a laptop where you use the keyboard and touchpad. With a few key combos and swipe gestures you can fly through the UI and it only ever shows you what’s relevant at the moment.

Spectacle8011,
@Spectacle8011@lemmy.comfysnug.space avatar

I use both GNOME and KDE. I do have a system tray, but it’s for a single program: fcitx-mozc. If I didn’t need to build ibus-mozc from source, I would just use that. iBus IMEs get their own spot in the top right without needing appindicators. That being said, I don’t need the system tray either as I can just switch between Japanese and English with CTRL+SPACE. But it’s nice to have some kind of constant indication what IME I’m using.

On the subject of a dock, though, I love the way GNOME completely separates it from the workspace. It just takes up space and I don’t have any utility for it. Windows and macOS only allow you to hide the dock; not remove it completely. I’ve accidentally opened the dock by moving my cursor to the corner of the screen way too many times and it is sooo annoying. This never happens on GNOME because it’s just not possible.

Also I tend to think it’s been designed for people who are more comfortable using a keyboard. I’m mostly a mouse person.

That’s absolutely true, but you can navigate GNOME completely with a mouse. If you’re on a laptop, you can use the trackpad to flick between workspaces with three fingers. Every aspect of the GNOME desktop is navigable with the mouse, including the Activity Overview. GNOME’s workflow changed the way I use computers.

One thing I miss from KDE is GNOME’s tiling. KDE’s is far more inconsistent. But there are a lot of things I like more about KDE too. I use it in basically the same way as GNOME.

finder, (edited )

That’s me!

Keyboard centricity is a bonus to me. I don’t like having visible UI elements that don’t do anything for me (docks, task bars). I also dislike the trend of programs not closing when I close them (system trays).

In addition to these things, I value a degree of minimalism, and I’m a heavy user of virtual desktops.

I don’t need to cope with any of these potential downsides, as they’re not downsides to me in the first place. All of this said, the KDE community seems a lot more welcoming. I tend to suggest KDE Plasma for any people trying out Linux.

Hope this helps 👍

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention the most controversial one of them all. I love single click to open.

yum13241,

For your last sentence, single click can prevent things like carpal tunnel, but at the same time that’s undoing decades of habit.

Gutless2615,

Pure psychopaths and masochists.

Presi300,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

I used to use gnome with just a system tray extension until very recently, though I’ve now switched to plasma… And copied my gnome workflow there

TheGrandNagus,

I use blur my shell, but I don’t really need it.

I started liking Gnome a lot more once I let go of trying to recreate the Win95 UX that pretty much everyone else uses.

It was such a pain at first, but then it just clicked and now I couldn’t go back to that clunky workflow.

I know most people like it that way, but IMO Microsoft didn’t create the perfect UX paradigm back in the early 90s

shapis,
@shapis@lemmy.ml avatar

How long did it take for it to click for you? I tried for about a year and it never did to me.

I ended up quite fast at it but it never became natural.

TheGrandNagus,

It took a couple of weeks of irritation

So maybe it’s just not for everyone! Good thing we have plenty of options

yum13241,

I agree. I prefer a windows 7 like Superbar more.

Please XFCE, stop wasting my dock space. I use KDE solely because I couldn’t get a normal taskbar on XFCE.

ronweasleysl, (edited )

I have extensions that do small QOL things. I can still use GNOME just fine without a single one of them enabled.

How do you cope with the lack of a dock and system tray?

I don’t cope with that. I don’t really see a huge benefit to having a system tray. Before GNOME 44 added the background apps view to the quick settings menu I just put anything that was ‘background’ into a workspace. Even after 44 I still have this habit and rarely actually need the background view.

As for the dock argument I’m not sure what an always visible dock would provide that the current dash does not. I think I might even prefer the current dash over an always visible dock. Whenever I want to switch windows I just go to the overview and pick out whatever window I want. It’s a lot easier to hit a huge window than to have to target a small icon at the bottom of the display.

I understand that some people might disagree but I actually love what GNOME does (most of the time).

lemmyvore,

How do you tell when you’ve got mail, or someone messaged you?

ronweasleysl,

Notifications?

lemmyvore,

And if I wasn’t there for the notification?

mfat, (edited )

The thought of not being able to tell how many apps are running at a glance is unsettling for me.

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