What People Are Saying About GNOME [Part 2]

1901: - easier customizability, more choices by default (e.g. no need to install gnome tweak tool)
- better performance (e.g. application startup times, nautilus + folders with many items, search...)
- better visuals

Select the reasonable suggestions from the user feedback, and implement them.

1902: stop making interfaces that are designed for tablets/touch screens gnome 2.x was great 3.x is lacking

1903: Go back to Gnome 2
Go back to Gnome 2
Go back to Gnome 2

Hate the new UI "improvements".

1904: 1) It's very heavy. It would be nice to streamline it considerably. I shouldn't need dozens of different libraries for simple tasks. It's slow - it takes over ten seconds to get loaded on my laptop (yes, I know, I'm spoiled).

2) Evolution needs to evolve. It's huge, slow, buggy, and doesn't even do simple things like manage its windows well (the preferences window is too tall on my laptop and extends off the bottom of the screen, making the OK / Cancel buttons invisible, for example).

3) Documentation and naming. My father is a professional photographer. He tried GNOME, but kept saying "I thought I was using Linux, what is GNOME?" He couldn't take names like "GIMP" seriously, regardless of how useful the program was.

It might be nice to have one major revision of GNOME (say, GNOME 4 or something) be just a bugfix and streamline release, with no major feature additions. Make it smaller, lighter, faster. That would be worth a million new features to me.

1905: cut bloat
ditch gconf

1906: Better typography-
A theme with better use of white space.

No, great work! Thank you. But for your information I would like to have a simple and stable desktop manager. No fancy lights and bells. User interface stabilty: not having to re-learn aevery year, how to deal with the GUI and where are the things I normally use.

Thanks-

1907: Footprint, File Dialog

1908: The interface changes in GNOME 3 are complete and utter bullshit. If I wanted endless fisher-price interface faggotry constantly making things worse I would use the latest version of windows as soon as it was released.

My usage of GNOME is effectively over. Any Fedora install after 15 is going to be KDE.

You and the goofballs that came up with the MS Office ribbon should take turns stabbing each other in the face because you both suck ass.

1909: Being able to find and install programs easily without using command line.

1910: Put back in XScreensaver. Put back Gnome applets on the top dockbar. Put back the desktop switcher on the desktop screen.

Finish the feature list before releasing.

1911: keep it up i guess

1912: 1. A better search (both for applications and files) similar to mac os and/or unity.
2. The top taskbar crashes often then, I have to switch to command line and then restart gdm.
3. Gnome-do is an incredible tool. There are lots of things that can be done.

1913: I want my filemanager back
A simple toolbar completely under my control
focus follows mouse

GNOME 3 is unusable

1914: The Activities/app launcher view are terrible on a PC. Replace them with a menu living in the title bar.

Drag-and-drop app bundles living in an Applications directory.

Bring back minimize/maximize and a panel to minimize them to. The Dock could be recontextualized for this.

1915: i am not sure if this is a Gnome issue but the removal of "connect to server" has been a big issue for me. i use it every day.

1916: 1. keep it simple: have as many (even zero) bars (top, bottom, right, left, etc.) filled with addons.
2. more settings to change appearance. Unfortunately only themes using hidden settings can change granularly the window border and background colors, or the messagebox (dialog) window border and background colors
3. easier way to add small widgets to desktop (like ram or disk space)

follow #1 from previous question as much as possible

1917: The retarded minds of who control the project. No more "unified interfaces for all devices".

I'd keep the 2.x branch alive, and refrain from subtly excluding projects like compiz from the ability to work together with GNOME.

No more radical overhauls and if they are done, that they live in a testing branch until they are TRULY finished/usable.

MORE configurability, not LESS.

Yes. Y'all suck balls. I hate you for what you have done to the community.

1918: -Allow GNOME 3 to run like GNOME 2

1919: Focus on the desktop, not tablets. Give users a sane default, but emphasis on customization. NEVER remove an option,

1920: Bit more eye candy
Full customisation with Gnome 3.n
Full use of hw acceleration

Keep on asking the users what they want
Have better window dressing / theming possibilities

1921: Revert the interface to something more similar to GNOME 2.x
Revert the removal of all the options
Remove mono

Stop treating GNOME3 as an interface experiment.

1922: A window list that shows the window titles, so that notification that surface through a browser title (e.g. new emails in gmail, new google chats) are apparent would be very helpful in Gnome 3.

1923: Bring back more configuration options.
Bring back more configuration options.
Bring back more configuration options.

Lose the 'drink our cherry koolaid' attitude. Don't assume you know how best we should be using our computers.

1924: Default input method = X, not cedilla

Stop removing (support for) some *other* part of my configuration at nearly every version upgrade.

Simplifying choices for non-geek users is good, but please don't hurt geek-type users in the process.

1925: The most important thing for me is always to be able to do everything that can be done with a mouse, without a mouse. For example, in 3.2 when I press <super> I should be able to navigate with the arrow keys.

Also, I want to move towards a more coherent keyboard shortcut world. It is not generally clear which types of keyboard shortcuts work on what level. For example, if I'm interacting with a java applet inside a tabbed browser, and <ctrl> + key shortcut might be operating on the applet, the tab, the browser or on a higher level.

Evince isn't gnome, but more than anything I want a tabbed document viewer

Keep up the good work

1926: don't focus on 'simplicity' or whatever the GNOME team is doing. Try to make the DE move forward (oh and maybe not look like unity)

1927: Quite happy with gnome 2.

Thank you for all your hard work. I really appreciate it.

1928: I like it. Keep up the good work.

1929: Kill Gnome Shell.
Neuter the people responsible for the above.
Put nautilus back to how it was.

Stop thinking you know best for users. Tablets are great, but create a separate product instead of wrecking an already functioning one. Javascript in gnome shell was the worlds dumbest idea ever.

1930: Drop Gnome 3
Drop Gnome 3
Drop Gnome 3

Please stop messing gnome up ....
Give up on Gnome 3 PLEASE...

1931: Better desktop integration for notifications, better options for multiple desktops

1932: 1) Better developer message (think apps/android/iPhone)
2) Better html5 integration for cross-platform apps (an idea for #1)
3) ...

Keep up the good work, ignore the luddites who moan about gnome 3!

1933: Yakuake or clone, aptitude support

1934: Revert the OS X style window application grouping back to that of 2.x
Change nautilus to not use spatial mode by default

1935: 1. Window manager needs improvement in handling multiple monitors (may be partially or fully the fault of X).
2. Reduce the size/complexity, maybe making it modular where you could more easily install only the pieces you need and your hardware can handle.
3. Give some attention to the various apps/utilities that come with Gnome so they are all consistently tested and polished.

1936: I don't need gnome-shell
My "activities" are just fine with gnome 2

1937: Drop Gnome3.
Return to a sane Gnome2.x
Don't castrate power users in the (futile?) march to desktop dominance.

See #22.

1938: 1) Look at the new application menu, or lack there of. If you don't know an application exists you better hope your searching skills are up to par.

2) Gnome shell - it feels weighted down and overdone.

3) What did you do with my minimize button? Why should the buttons ever be on the panel, the panel is not part of my window. That limits how programs can interact with the DE.

Gnome2 was not perfect by a long stretch, but it made sense. So much got changed for gnome3 in ways that almost feel as though they were done to be different as they do not help, but often hinder, productivity.

1939: Try to discourage large distros from using Gnome 3.x until it's ready for prime time (it is not) - e.g., Ubuntu 11.10

1940: Stop faffing around with the current Gnome3 interface and come up with some usable thing. You are wasting my time and yours. If I have the chance, I would rather kill myself intead of using Gnome3.

Stop removing functionality and easy configuration options. Stop pandering to the idiots.

1941: I have no intention of switching to GNOME 3.

1942: Responsiveness and package size.

1943: Get rid of pulseaudio.

Please get rid of pulseaudio.

1944: 1. Accessible advanced user settings (I'd rather not have to muck around "under the hood" in order to modify certain things that used to be easily done).
2. More straight-forward method for adding wallpapers to a "rotating" wallpaper.
3. Ability to adjust the length of time a notification is shown or cause new notifications to be displayed above an old(er) one if the old notification is still displayed. For example - After logging on, I typically get a wireless connected notification which lasts for approx. 3 (5?) seconds. If I were to increase the volume, that notification would have to wait for the wireless notification to disappear before showing.

Keep up the good work! I've been a GNOME user for quite some time, and in my opinion, it's the best all-around GUI for *nix.

1945: Make it more configurable for the end user. I has to install another app to get icons back on my desktop.
Make the application menus quicker of first use, it can take 10secs to open on a machine with lots of options.

1946: Alt+Tab functionality was massacred in GNOME 3, by far the primary reason I stopped using GNOME.
Task management functionality was hindered. The second biggest reason I stopped using GNOME was the weird default behavior of focusing on an existing window when I wanted to open a new instance of the window. The dock/menu/whatever should be solely a task launcher and not a window selector.
Window manager compositing wasn't ready for primetime - window transparency and several other issues stand.

Unlike most people who took one look at GNOME 3 and dismissed it, I installed it and gave it a serious try. I used it for 5 months before the small annoyances in launching and switching windows (i.e. Alt+Tab and dock behavior) added up and started to make me mad every 5 minutes. Otherwise, it was beautiful and quite decent.

1947: I would remove task management from the Dock in the Activities view. It's completely superfluous. The only thing I use the 'dock' for is to launch apps and spawn new windows, and rarely the latter. Easier to just pick a window in the Activity view or use Alt+Tab.

The expand/contract behaviour of notification icons in the lower right is annoying. Hover over an icon and BOING it runs away. This needs to be fixed somehow.

Make better use of the "Application" menu up by the Activities button, top left. Maybe a submenu to allow switching to other windows of the current app, or an option to open a new window of the current app?

Don't be disheartened by all the anti-GNOME-3 bullshit. I loved GNOME 2, and I loved GNOME 3, and I was around in the GNOME 1.x days. I'm officially old guard I think, and if I can adapt then anyone can.

You're all doing great. I hope to contribute more than just bug reports one day. You have my admiration.

1948: The overlay scrollbars add delay to scrolling, especially on a machine without a scroll wheel.

Stop hiding the ability to tweak the user interface.

1949: Gnome 2.x: more panel and launcher menu options (stable integrations of Gnomenu and DockbarX

Keep the ability to not use the Netbook/Mobile style interface.

1950: Better keyboard support, currently I use xmonad for that reason. With mostly gnome applications.

Less gnome-control-center reliance.

1951: Revert GNOME 3 to classic desktop configuration for desktop machines.
(Repeat 2 times more)

No, they have shown the world they won't listen to anything that isn't part of their predefined "vision".

1952: return to the windows 9x-XP' destop paradigm.
MORE configurable option

Using gnome is like playing a music instrument, you can polish it, change it's internal part but not something so important that the mucle memory is not useful anymore.I like the "eye candy" of other desktop envrornments like enlignenment but I think there should be a "vanilla" desktop environments on linux like bash is for cli and gnome was fitting the place.GNOME team should work on the stability, performance and basic feature (samba and wifi configuration for example, not email and web browser)

1953: I used GNOME without any complaints or strong feelings.

1954: better user interface
faster response
better look & feel

Great job!

1955: make it better able to move large numbers of files without locking up

spend less time making it look pretty and more making it actually function

abolish gnome 3

see above

1956: Go back to 2.x!

1957: Thank you for all the hard work!

1958: Keep the 2.x interface or at least add the option for that interface in 3.x
nothing else, it works great

Love the package, enjoy it on my faster boxen, for slower ones I generally use xfce, but gnome is preferable in a multi-monitor setup.

1959: Since GNOME 2 & 3 are so different, questions 2 through 8 are meaningless.

Viva v2.32! Return to the desktop users that have been faithful to GNOME for so long!

1960: I've not tried Gnome3.x some say it isn't very good. I'll reserve judgement if/when my distribution upgrades.

1961: Forget the GNOME 3 vision. It's a cumbersome and unproductive environment. It takes way too many mouse clicks to achieve the same results as GNOME 2.x did.

The whole world has not suddenly changed to using tablets. Don't inflict a UI that is optimized for finger pointing on the majority of the world that is still using mice and keyboards.

Additionally, GNOME 3 was put out there way before it was ready. All I keep hearing about is how future GNOME releases (i.e. 3.2) are going to bring back the 2,x functionality that went missing in GNOME 3. When that functionality is actually there is the time when it should have been generally released. As it is now. 2.x is still the only release to provide that functionality but because you released 3.0 too soon, distributions have grabbed on to it, abandoning 2.x and forcing the users to give up their productive environments for the way-too-many-clicks GNOME 3.

Listen to the users. Stop censoring their input. I actually had one of my posts to the gnome list rejected because it was not pro-GNOME 3. That is just totally dirty pool.

1962: - stability (applications started via gnome-terminal crash on resume after sleep; when network-manager applet hangs, my entire gnome session hangs)
- after using gnome 3 for a few weeks, I missed having a fixed number of virtual desktops. The placement of windows on different desktops is intuitive for me, just as I know in which pile of papers to look on my real-life desk.

- I do applaud you for trying to do things differently, but perhaps smaller incremental changes more quickly tell you what users find useful, and lead to greater acceptance.

1963: Stop hiding all of the options - I should have the ability to "override" defaults if they do not suit me.

Good luck - it's difficult to shape the future of computer interfaces, and I don't envy you with the challenge you're facing.

I do appreciate all the effort you've put forth, even if I don't agree with the decisions you've been making.

1964: Even with the new Gnome 3 interface I still miss driling down to an application as it is done in Gnome 2 (or most other desktops). I think it takes entirely too long to find an application using the Activites->Applications-><category>. I usually just end up typing the name of it in the filter or just using ALT-F2. I think there must be a faster way to run an non-favorite application. Part of it may also be sensory overload. For some reason I find that a menu based drop down where I drill down to an application is more satisfying, and feels more efficient, it may just be that I'm used to doing it that way.

Keep up the good work.

Some of the features are available on some distributions and not on others. For example, I recently switched from Ubuntu to Fedora 15 and there is no Gnome Script Manager package for Fedora. This kind of thing needs to be consistent across distributions.

1965: Stop trying to make a method of viewing a few terminals look like a gay phone interface. Take the good UI designs from things that are genuinely new (Like Xmonad). Remove bloat and interpretted crap.

Gnome 3 sucks

1966: -1 Nautilus: the only bad thing about nautilus is that it is slow, In my opinion it is the slowest file manager out there...sometimes it makes me miss the speed of windows file explorer! however it is very user frendly.

-2 Gnome shell: Seriously, i did try it and i tried to like it but i can't! Mostly because it is slow and it requires much more clicking around to simply move from one task to another than gnome 2.X

-3 I very much love gnome 2.X as is!

Quite often, when double-clicking an icon, the double-click is not registred for whatever reason. Thereby the app or folder won't open and I end up waiting a few seconds for nothing. I love the small animation KDE added to their cursor when launching an app to validate the launch. Something similar in gnome would greatly be appreciated. Something simple like the cursor flashing back or something...

Why is gnome 3 so much slower than gnome 2.X ?

1967: A nice modern look, like KDE.

take evolution & epiphany out of gnome-core

1968: 1) Faster mouse task switch (like an optional task bar. I hate going to the Activities panel having so much unused space in the top bar).
2) More useful top panel (merged with titlebars like Unity, maybe).
3) Better use of vertical screen real state (like top panel + titlebar + menu bar + toolbar + tabs + status in gedit. that's alot of space used for nothing).

I love Gnome 3!

I just would love to have more customizable features. I understand the pursue of simplicity. Still, I would like some opt-in advanced features.

I don't use Ubuntu, but Unity looks great as well. I would love to see some of the ideas of Unity ported to the Gnome Shell.

1969: simplify text based configuration (i.e. destroy the registry)

remember the Unix design philosophy and the cathedral vs the bazaar. It is possible to provide a unified, easy to understand desktop experience without creating an opaque monolith.

1970: 1) Stop changing design paradigms that aren't broken. Gnome, from a UI standpoint, hasn't really become any more usable since v1.0.4.

2) Add the ability to change the mouse cursor size from the Mouse preference dialogue... this confuses the hell out of my users.

3) Add the ability to enlarge the rendering size of everything (fonts, icons, etc.) to scale without changing the resolution.

Gnome3 should have been just a platform API cleanup but instead brought a radically different UI with it. I don't want to change my UI workflow! I don't have the time or the motivation to beat gnome shell into submission. I just want the platform (APIs) to advance and get better while retaining most of the UI elements I depend on.

1971: I would avoid trying to unify the interface into a system similar to that found on touch-screen devices. The requirements are too different for the choices to match.

Also, give back control to the user about how to setup the desktop(s). Using virtual desktops in a vertical way only, and have them disappear when no longer used is not a pleasant concept for power users. The Dashboard-like feature is nice, but other ways should still exist (icon bar a-la OS X, or apps menu as in GNOME 2.x come to mind).

Have ways of keeping track of what the system is doing. This isn't a system for a server, so make it easy for the power-user to check what his system is doing. This can be done without keeping the interface simple for new users.

I appreciate the efforts you've put into GNOME 3, but please, remember that the core of your user base is not your average user. It's a user that wants to use Linux, because of a number of reasons, but there's always one in common: they're looking for something more than they can find on OS X or Windows.

For most people, that would be ways to have the flexibility of increasing their productivity based on the way they work. If they wanted a simple system, they would have gotten an Android tablet or an iPad. Your work should not be to compete with those contenders, but rather with OS X and MS Windows, to provide a production system.

1972: 1. Better integration of the DE with applications. This is where KDE really wins for me.

1973: 1) Stop dumbing down the GUI. At least provide Advanced vs. Newbie kind of workflows.

2) Stop dumbing down the GUI.

3) More compositing manager goodness.

When simplifying for the average user, provide some way to still get to the advanced stuff in the GUI. I believe things are getting WAY too simplified now. I need a desktop OS, not a tablet OS.

1974: Greater flexibility in changing window size.

Easily change the deafault calendar.

Make it more light weight.

Consider, but don't be disheartened by, critisism. Remember that people who are unsatisfied with a change will scream the loudest, so it may seem like resistence to your changes is overwhelming, but it may not be. It may be, but it may not be.

Keep innovating. If developers were too afraid to make drastic changes because of people's potential reaction, we'd still be in the dark ages. With any luck, people will ease up and realise the benefits of the changes.

1975: Better theme support.
Better email integration.

1976: Configurability, above everything. Your way is almost never my way. That includes workflow too.

Rest of the things is fine I suppose.

Please, I _so_ want to use it, but I just cannot make it do what I want, in terms of adapting it to my workflow. KDE makes everything configurable, GNOME does barely anything in that sense. I've contacted GNOME devs in that regard, and the response I got was "we're not going to add configuration options just for the sake of adding them"; that was just after the GNOME 3 release. I want to adapt my desktop to my way of working. Sane defaults are great, but the must not be the only choice.

1977: improve icon change UI. better theming tools. consistent theming even when using gksu.

Do not forsake traditional PC form factors in new versions. just because the industry says we are in the post-pc era doesn't make it so.

1978: Simple, but without removing configuration options.
Needs to work well on netbooks, with better options for tuning what visual enhancements to add depending on the capabilities of the device.

I'm in the process of moving away from Gnome, currently to xfce, because I don't like the direction of either Gnome or Unity. I used KDE prior to KDE 4, and left it for similar reasons. I'd rather stay with a more direct descendant of Gnome 2.

1979: Make 2.32 bug free!

Nothing else

Drop Gnome 3. Its useless. Crap.

1980: Make it easy to create launchers in the menu.

More hot chicks.

1981: Better gobject-introspection documentation. (although I haven't had time to play with g-ir-doc-tool yet, as it's not in my distro yet)

1982: Honestly, Gnome 2.x does just what I need - so the only thing I can really think of is to go back to the 2.x interface - I am not a fan of Unity, it buries things too far down.

If it isn't broke - don't fix it! :)

1983: Better theme support.
Better email integration.

1984: Stabilazation of Gnome 3, It doesn't seem very polished yet. Have only tried it for a few minutes yet though.

1985: I'm mostly a KDE user. Gnome has seemed a bit more fragmented to me than KDE. I like that KDE apps seem to look and behave similarly. That said, I haven't used Gnome for a while.

In particular I like that KDE has consistent keyboard shortcuts and management.

A good text editor is important to me; gedit seemed to be lacking some key features. (I know that at least one of my concerns has been addressed: re's)

I like the direction of simplicity with Gnome. I don't like spending a lot of time configuring my desktop.

I reevaluate about one every year or two, so will give Gnome 3 a go sometime.

Thanks for providing great free software!

1986: -Keyboard shortcuts in 3.0 on the search screen.
-Poor documentation of non-C bindings (and the C documentation isn't great either).
-gconf setting changes don't take effect immediately, which is really frustrating when doing things like setting up keyboard shortcuts.

Stop aping OSX's design! You're not nearly as bad about it as Canonical, but ugh.

1987: managing multiple application windows is clumsy
make it easier to customize the clock display
Make it possible to run Gnome 3 in VMWare sessions without using a "legacy" mode.

I suggest that people who want to use a "traditional" WIMP interface with (for example) minimize/maximize buttons should be able to do that going forwards while still enjoying all the new features and capabilities of GNOME as it evolves.

1988: stop nautilus crashing at the end of a file transfer

1989: 1. More configuration options.
2. No holding down a key to shutdown the computer.
3. More flexible workspaces. (ie more than applications + 1 workspaces availabe.)

Please stop taking away all the options, the desktop should form to fit the user, not the other way around.

1990: I'd make it more user customizable

1991: Make it more customizable without having to use Compiz. Make it work with less powerful graphics cards.

1992: Smaller buttons on default theme, ability to use fallback mode with effects when preferred to default Gnome 3.2, without having to resort to compiz.

Too much eye candy, not enough usability. My wife will not use it at all, as it is difficult for her to accomplish anything. Gnome 2.x, Unity and KDE are different stories as she is able to navigate those easily.

DE's should be simple on the surface, with a lot of options underneath to make it how the user wants. Stop dictating to users how the desktop should be, and give us an option to configure everything, with a nice default for those that don't care.

1993: Be able to customise things easier, have Gnome-tweak- tool default and thats it.

1994: Built in clipboard management
Keep the window titles up to date
Respond properly to double clicks

Good job on keeping a full-featured desktop platform stable and usable.

1995: I would roll back to Gnome 2.x, which was sort of usable, and then proceed forward based on the needs of actual users, rather than the needs of a mythical target audience that will never use the product anyway.

Simplify things as much as possible - NO MORE.

Hating on and frustrating your users is not a road to success.

1996: expert mode with all the settings KDE offers

1997: Easily accesible places style menu in gnome 3
Less focus on virtual desktops in gnome 3, I don't use these
Easier theming/customisation

Perform more user testing and surveys before assuming you know what your users want

1998: 1. Shutdown and Reboot (duh)
2. Network Connection is an improvement of presenting NW info, but the edit is still not useful enough. Where's the DHCP release/renew? Show the actual IP info there. Start on the IPv4 tab rather than the useless ethernet one.
3. The top bar (where activites is) is still mostly wasted space and then a maximized window also has tons of wasted space for the title bar. On wide aspect screens, this kinda sucks. I don't have a suggestion (and I don't particularly like Unity moving the menus there ala MasOS) but it seems like that space could be used more effectively. Maybe bring back the app list for this workspace.

Great work and keep it up! I have heard many criticisms of the new desktop, but I think it's a very polished and modern interface. It still needs some work, but you guys are on the right track!

1999: - more user friendly, for computer beginners and keeping things runnig for power users

2000: 1) Get rid of gnome 3.X
2) Get rid of gnome 3.X
3) Get rid of gnome 3.X

Each version of gnome gives me less control than the previous version. I really like gnome, but I've slowly been switching to XFCE for various reasons. One of the main reasons is that gnome 3.x is terrible on netbooks.

In general, I like some of the features in gnome 3.x, however, I don't want to lose the control/features/abilities I had in the past (with previous versions of gnome)