What People Are Saying About GNOME [Part 2]
1801: Allow more than 4 keyboard layouts... I need 5 for my work.
That's all.
1802: The ridiculous maximizing of windows in gnome 3 should change. And better customization of current gnome themes (adjustment of all UI colors, button layout)
Better support for KDE/other DE themes, applets, widgets and such. Gubuntu release would be nice after canonical dropped Gnome from ubuntu (you could push canonical or make "unofficial" release).
1803: I'd fire which ever gates blowing dick head is stearing this shit.
Quit drinking on the job!
1804: GNOME 3 is unusable to me. I'm looking into switching to xfce. It's a huge step back, but it's way better than GNOME 3!
Have GNOME 2 style desktop experience as option in GNOME 3 or I'll have to switch permanently. GNOME 3 is unworkable. I need multiple terminals with SSH sessions to multiple hosts aligned next to each other. I need to define my own shortcuts/icons.
1805: trim the fat.
tablet computing is not a cure-all.
i don't own a tablet.
i don't expect to buy a tablet in the next 2 years.
1806: 1. Merge Applications/Places/System into one menu, at least in the ubuntu flavor they are together. I like how openSUSE merged them in 11.0, but I hate the way you have to wait for a dialog to appear if you want to run other applications (when not using search or the shell).
2. Create a shortcut to be enabled by default that opens the applications menu with the windows key (not always present I know).
3. Nautilus tree view and breadcrum is functional but looks ugly and is kind of hard to look at them and immediately know where you are. Compare it to other file browsers and I think you will notice that there's room for improvement.
I appreciate very much your work. Since I learned about the GNOME project almost from the beginning, I liked it more than the other options. I'm not too convinced about the new Unity interface, but haven't used the latest (only what came with ubuntu 11.04). I'm not closed to the idea like many, but there were a couple of things that bothered me:
1. I couldn't distinguish between running apps and those just sitting on the left-hand-side bar (not running)
2. The lack of customization, or I just couldn't find some settings fast like for example, to make the taskbar smaller or put it somewhere else (e.g. at the bottom).
The way to find/run programs is nice and fast, but don't remember if it also covered looking for apps that aren't installed yet.
1807: 1. I want both screen to change when switching virtual workspaces with a dual-monitor setup.
2. I miss a lot of my compiz plugins: grid, expose, visual effects, etc. I know a lot of these have similar functionality in gnome3, but it just isn't the same.
3. ?
Keep up the good work!
1808: Restart support of GNOME 2
1809: Don't rush madly to implement the latest UI fad, and be especially wary of forcing existing users to adopt something radically new.
1810: I use Linux Mint and Ubuntu, and I'm not sure what is under GNOME's control and what isn't, but stick to normal scroll bars and don't move close/minimize/maximize buttons. Change should only be made when it will benefit users (and you need to talk to users to figure that out - developers/designers can't make the call).
Conduct usability studies - it's important to find out how real users interact with the interface and what they want/need, not use guesswork or make change for change's sake.
1811: 1. The runtime size. I know it takes a lot of code to provide the nice conveniences, but it doesn't run super snappy on lower end machines.
2. The move to a tablet-friendly interface (similar to what Unity is doing now) is a turn-off to me. I like a good, solid Windows95-esque workflow that has been prevalent for the last decade+.
3. Any requirement for 3D acceleration is also a turn-off. As long as it isn't mandatory for basic functionality, that's fine.
I really appreciate all of the work that the GNOME team has done to help give Linux a great user experience over the last decade or so. It generally has always improved. Many things "Just Work" with no problems. I know that takes the work of many people in addition to the GNOME team, but when a user is sitting at a screen, they tend to attribute anything that happens (good or bad) to the UI.
Near term, I will probably stick with Xfce, as it gives me the closest experience to GNOME 2.x that I've enjoyed for the last few years.
1812: - more configurability (not hidden ones, but front-end)
- not losing functionality when switching from Gnome2 to Gnome3 (e.g. not being able to see system load, network speed, etc anymore because applets were cancelled and no suitable replacement was made available)
see question 22
1813: Better fonts, clearer icons, simplified file navigation
Keep up the good work!
1814: - more configurability (not hidden ones, but front-end)
- not losing functionality when switching from Gnome2 to Gnome3 (e.g. not being able to see system load, network speed, etc anymore because applets were cancelled and no suitable replacement was made available)
see question 22
1815: Better focus management. For instance, closing the last window of a virtual desktop leaves nothing in focus and pressing Ctrl-Alt-Arrow doesn't switch desktops anymore. You have to click on the BG to get it to work again. Another example is that sometimes an app is frozen (chrome for example), and it's just because there is a modal popup somewhere on my virtual desktops. So I keep hunting...
MacOSX Lion has a *very nice* new addition in that you can choose to give every app it's own desktop in one click. Now, THAT's what I call fullscreen, and I *love* fullscreen for most things. The various bars (taskbar & stuff) are still there on the main desktop. Now, how to mix that with dual screens is another matter. I'll leave it to you guys ;-)
I'd also like some place to put my "monitoring" stuff. Here again MacOSX introduced a "dashboard" which is a place where I can put all my widgets. I vould have a conky, meteo, stocks, rss reader, all that stuff in this place that I could switch to from a keyboard shortcut. Right now I have a conky, but since all my windows are maximized, I have no simple way of looking at it.
Keep up the good work! And do my three wishes on question 22 ;-)
1816: Some kind of persistent "urgent window hint" should be available for gnome-panels
There should be an easy way to save gnome configurations, like panel settings
1817: Re-add a common applications and settings menu.
Stop making change for change's sake.
Do some goddamn usability studies and see what users actually do with their desktop environments so you can make things easier for users, and not more complicated.
1818: make windows tileable an option
1819: Boring ui, sluggishness, feature availability
1820: 1. No package breaking with updates
2. No 3D acceleration requirement for gnome-shell
3. Shutdown capability with logged in user
1821: 1) changes should be focused on the user
2) users want to configure gnome how they want it
3) lighter memory footprint (because xfce is a delight to use it's so fast and responsive in comparison to gnome 2 or 3)
I was temporarily running gnome under arch linux - when gnome 3 came in the build - I found it totally unusable and changed to using xfce. Whats going on ? Please don't copy apple - it's just not a comfortable place to go
1822: 1)Power management needs a solid fix - i continuly find my netbook being brought back from idle, just to have the lock screen event trigger a few seconds later, seemingly ignoring that i brought it out of the idle state.
2) More advanced screensavers, such as displaying recent photos from your pictures directory, etc.
3) better video recording with cheese, seems to usually not work right
1823: improve 'classic' gnome 3. I am using xfce/fluxbox since unity/3 came out.
1824: Being able to switch between logged-in users from the login (greeter?) thingy
Being able to simply connect to an active desktop, or to a single running application, on a remote machine.
I don't want popups, or automatically started apps/new windows to ever take keyboard focus unless it is the result of something I have just explicitly caused to happen in the currently focused window. Eg, keyring asking for password when I type ssh is good, firefox asking about updates for plugins while I am typing in a terminal is bad. That is what I hated most about OSX and why my MacBook Pro runs Debian.
Remember that many users are software developers. Keep their needs in mind and don't dumb things down in frustrating ways for them. That's not to say you can't simplify, just give developers an easy place to go to get back the functionality they like.
Try to find a way to get more feedback on a more regular basis (good luck with that).
Be proud and happy. Gnome is, on the whole, very good. Thank you so much.
1825: * Customization
* Customization
* Customization
GNOME 3 seriously lacks customization options. Both when it comes to system settings which have been slimmed down to almost nothing, and also when it comes to appearance. For power users, one of the big strengths of linux desktop environments have tradionally been customization, so I don't really understand why both Unity and GNOME 3 has taken all that stuff away; making it easy for "regular" users does not mean removing customization options completely!
1826: A single supported Window Arragement plugin to allow simple standardisation of desktop "fluff".
1827: Easier/better selection of font sizes.
1828: I would suggest multiple shells. i.e. gnome-shell-tablet, gnome-shell-desktop, gnome-shell-pda etc.
1829: Make panel's applets back in Gnome 3 !!!
1830: Remove unnecessary "logo" thingy beside the Activities button
Rename the activities button to something useful.
Get rid of the tabs in the overview.
Look into the Zeitgeist related extensions.
Work more closely with the users giving feedback. It not be always accurate but this is the only input GNOME will get... People who are satisfied don't really visit such forms.
1831: 1: Change _less_ from the 2.x-direction
2: Revert 3.x-changes back to 2.x- behavior
3: Expose more options to the user.
Please stop changing for the sake of changing. Try not to make every computing device on the planet a tablet, fact is; most are not.
1832: 1.) The "keep things simple" philosophy applied so strictly as to force things to be too simplistic.
2.) Inability to fix bugs in a timely fashion. An example is the gnome-terminal transparent background. Had to wait till a whole new version came out? Really..? Also, don't point fingers, I don't care whose fault it is.. I just want it to work correctly.
3.) Reiterating the first item, I really want much more EASY configuration for gnome. Yes, I know there are command line tools and patches, but seriously, some times I just want to change something simple.. like the presence of the accessibility icon.
1833: Better platformwide configuration.
Actually informative documentation.
Better file explorer (less horrible, buggy and slow DBUS plugin based features).
Stop changing things for the sake of changing them (see: GNOME 3). Try to improve what you already have instead of reinventing the wheel with tacky glitz added on top.
1834: 1) No GPU acceleration ( I have a AMD GPU enough said)
2) close windows/app from the activitity menu.highligh windows when we drag over app things to make a link between app/windows within activity
( with 20 windows open it becomes a mess either add config to open app in a desktop # by default or auto organise windows)
3) more custumization
4)* emacs/vim keybiding system wide
GNOME 3 is my principal frustration with Fedora, sometime I wish I had a mac like my brother. There's too much stupid things like : no setting for movie in energy, emacs broken suspend, emacs is not kill on log off/restart/shutdown causing UI to freeze, Gedit-latex still not working, the app bar on the right have no option to close/kill/ app/windows, The clock stop working on lockscreen. You have to install tons of gnome-shell-extension to make gnome USABLE which make no sens!
Hoo I forgot, I can't use my left hand it's quite easy to hold and press alt & use the mouse with the same hand to shutdown the computer. The guy who had this idea is a fucking genius!
I consider switching to OS X
1835: simplify menu by adding search but keep high-level categories
expand drawers to allow sub drawers
quick pop-up of most recent applications that were launched. I'd think 25 a reasonable limit. this could be a fade-in/out on the desktop.
I've been unable to make my peace with Gnome Shell despite a very open mind and plenty of trials of fedora alpha and beta of their 15 and 16 version distributions.
1836: 1. I would like a faster / more convenient way to switch between windows (e.g. Window list in task bar) as in Gnome 2
1837: Notifications (such as calendar events or Empathy messages) are basically worthless. There is no way to know at a glance whether you missed seeing a notification when you turned away from the screen for a few moments.
Multiple-monitor support: Having only one monitor capable of workspace-switching is inefficient. It would be best if each monitor maintained its own workspaces.
Multiple-monitor support (pt. 2): Secondary monitors should have a representation on the workspace screen in the overlay mode.
Not at this time.
1838: Would like to have desktop back. Liked it.
1839: Right click customization
GNOME 3 is unusable, I'm sticking with F14 until I can find a window manager that is. It is a serious hamper on productivity. I switched from KDE when 4 came out and I don't want to switch to something else.
1840: Discard the god-damned configuration system that sticks data in opaque registry-wannabe structures. Configure the bloody thing with text files that grep can understand, and which a config management system can maintain.
Stop trying to compel the user experience: give options, not mandates
You are servants, not masters. The fact that many users are incompetent to shrug you off should make your more circumspect, not more cavalier.
1841: I would like there to be a purpose to the desktop instead of just having all of that wasted space.
I miss the widgets I used to have and would like to have them back
I would like screen savers again
1842: Alt+mouse for moving, resizing windows just like in KDE. Open Terminal in location shown in file browser isn't there by default. Can't live without that.
Get rid of silly Gnome3 nonsense. Or give it a totally different name. Continue improving the Gnome2 desktop. Make it lighter, faster, more like icewm.
1843: 1) I don't ever want to have to open gconf-editor again.
2) lighter weight utilities, not more utilities.
3) Return the config dialog for the login window (2.28 doesn't have it).
1844: Make it easier to edit menu entries from the menu entry itself.
Make VPN setup easier for static-IP systems not using NetworkManager.
Restore theme-ability to GDM.
Allow the basic WIMP interface in future versions of GNOME as an option at least. Those of us who use GNOME in production work don't need the tablet look-n-feel and changing this significantly impedes our workflow.
1845: Gnome 3.x has caused the usability of gnome to go way downhill. Configuring simple things is now overly complicated and interacting with different windows of different or even the same application has become a burdensome mess of clicks.
The poor usability of gnome 3 has pushed me into other / custom desktop environments. I no longer recommend gnome desktop to friends or family, instead pushing XFCE as it presents a far more usable interface.
1846: 1. Keep GNOME 2.x alive until 3.x fully materializes.
2. Add a command line Backup Restore for all panels and settings to easily put things back when they change.
3. Avoid the debacle that drove me away from KDE.
Just keep on keeping on and avoid the debacle that drove me away from KDE.
1847: 1). I want my applets on the toolbar again. 2). I want desktop icons. And 3) Most importantly - I want multiple terminals - not just in one window.
Fix the items in question 22.
1848: 1. Solve the rendering problems in GNOME 3.
2. Make the applications window faster.
3. Expand the configurability of GNOME 3.
1849: Revert to Gnome 2.x series. Classic mode is usable but the full-fat gnome 3 experience is a shocker.
Having to mode switch (hit control key or "applications" etc) to access application launchers is painful. Gnome 3.0 doesn't have an easily dicoverable way to force launchers to be always visible either through the online docs of by browsing the settings through gconf-editor.
The desktop makes it too hard to easily jump to minimised wndows or flip to an alternative desktop. This is sure to be a lack of patience (dropping into Fluxbox etc. to "just work") but flipping between applications is now much more difficult than it needs to be.
Please take a hint from the mass defections to xfce and back to plain old window managers. Competent users don't like to be treated like fools and won't evangelize for a desktop environment that drives them crazy.
1850: less key strokes/mouse clicks to achieve basis operations
1851: Fix the bugs that have cropped up. For example, I recently uninstalled gnome-power-manager from my X64 Ubuntu 10.04 because it continually grows in RSS after starting. Also, I used to use "xset dpms force off" in an after-10-seconds screen-off gadget, but it hasn't worked for a couple of years. It's a known issue, I believe, but its never been fixed, at least in the Ubuntu updates.
I spend hours per day programming. I live in Gnu emacs. My monitor is rotated to portrait mode. I have a single status/menu bar on the right-hand side of my display. This maximizes the lines of program text in my emacs window. It also puts the gnome menus, etc. on the right-hand side, which is where my mouse pointer usually sits (ragged-right text typically has whitespace on the right where the pointer can sit without obscuring anything). This display setup allows two 80-column xterms (with no scroll bars) side-by-side in my 1024x1280 display.
Let me do the above in gnome3, then I can use it instead of having to switch to Unity or something non-gnome when 10.04 is no longer supported.
1852: Make it easy to turn off all stupid 3D effects, you can still make it look nice without adding 3D effects.
I like a clean simple design, but not at the expense of usability (see unity for how NOT to do it)
Stop making e use the command line to edit settings. Seriously.
Please support the continued development of GNOME 2 and focus on making GNOME work better, not look better. If I cared about looks I would add a custom theme.
1853: More, and more easily accessible, options, and more ways of doing the same thing in a different manner; not everyone works in the same way, so the more ways something can be accomplished without breaking consistency, the better.
File manager interface even as capable of that of Windows 95.
Speed.
Don't be trapped into simplifying work flows to match what you think are the most common workflows.
1854: Keep the 2.x branch alive.
1855: I would go back to Gnome 2.3. I tried to like Gnome 3, I really did, but it's terrible.
1) I want my normal menus back
2) I want the application tray back
3) I want to be able to use all the little panel applets I have been using for the last 3-4 years still AND to be able to easily add launchers to the panel AND to be able to add extra panels as I see fit
4) I want applications to not default to full screen
5) I want the application menu tied to the window, not to the screen (especially when using Gimp with several panels open. My mouse gets an extra couple miles going up to that menu every 3 seconds)
6) I want to be able to use the left edge of my screen without triggering the menu opening
As Gnome 2.3 was nearing perfection as a user friendly, productive and good looking work environment some thugs jumped him, beat him to a terrible pulp. Gnome had to go to a plastic surgeon where they replaced all his normal useful features with robotic prosthetics which look nice but aren't nearly as functional.
Since Gnome could no longer do his job, he was soon out of work and living off of charity hand outs.
In short, I'm currently shopping around for a new desktop environment because the changes to Gnome 3 make it useless.
1856: window management with a toolbar (gnome 2.x and others). As a developer, Gnome 3 is really slowling me down. Switched to fallback mode makes my life easier.
An obvious Reboot/Shutdown button.
1857: 1. Future direction should allow for past preference.
I like where GNOME has been.
I *do not* like where GNOME is going.
Please let me choose.
2. Everything must be configurable.
I *do not* like KDE's cluttered config guis.
I like the option of seeing an 'advanced' set of config controls.
3. More surveys like this one.
1858: I would like to see beta or some kind of advanced release channel pushed into major distributions. Being a Fedora user, I tend to stick to stable (as of writing fc15). However, there is not easy way I can find to try out 3.2 on top of fc15. Even if there were some API-diff compatibility layer added allowing at least parts of GNOME 3.2 to run on systems based for the previous major release.
Other than that the UI seems to be going in directions I like. In 3.x having two screens doesn't seem to be 100% when changing workspaces but I have not checked that in 3.2.
1859: - More ability to tweak/customize
- tighter integration (for example, Banshee in the sound menu is nice, but perhaps a "download" notification icon to handle all file transfers, etc)
- get rid of the hotspots; actions should be triggered from a mouse-click, not the position.
1860: Implement a better zoom (arbitrary zoom levels) like Compiz has.
Let me right click on the desktop for a customizable context menu.
Use Thunar or at least adobe its user customizable actions.
An arbitrary zoom, like Compiz has, is needed because Adobe Flash sucks horribly. Sometimes you want to watch some Flash video full screen but either A), they don't have a full screen button or 2), they do but performance sucks.
Compiz handles this great.
1861: 1) provide an old school option without all the bloaty frilly stuff
2) kill that side bar thing
1862: These suggestion regard GNOME 3 (which I'm testing out on some spare partitions), though they also apply to Unity. I have no real suggestions for GNOME 2.
1.) I want to be able to "Click, move the mouse a *bit*, and click again in order to launch any program/systemconfig". You could do this in GNOME 2 with the Applications/Places/System Menu (click once, navigate with mouse, click again), and this was very helpful for those "once in a while" programs whose name you don't always remember (or whose names change!).
2.) I'd like an easy way to mount other partitions. Currently, I have to load nautilus, then click on the partition in question, then close out nautilus. In GNOME 2, you could just use the "Places" menu to do this. I do *NOT* want unmounted partitions sitting in the shortcut bar (or whatever it's called) on the left in GNOME 3, that would get *FAR* too cluttered.
3.) FONT SETTINGS!!! Why did they vanish? I now have to install gnome-tweak-tool (or manually edit gconf?) in order to change the fonts and sizes used by applications and the desktop? That is, quite literally, insane.
Keep things "uncluttered" by default if you wish, but you *HAVE* to make it easier to change things (such as visibility of "Power Off", font sizes, etc.) by *default*. A user should not have to install a tweak tool or plug-ins in order to do these *trivial* things on the desktop. After upgrading to GNOME 3, I spent more time configuring the default install (and installing extra "tweak" packages) than I have for any upgrade in the past 4 years just so that I could have a sane desktop experience the way *I* want it.
1863: give me more options, instead of less, or atleast an "advanced options" button like vlc
dont try to become windows or macos, im not dumb, thats why im using linux...
keep up the good work
1864: It is so for from what I want I feel that by the time I had given my opinions it wouldn't be gnome 3 anymore
I think it is a poor desition that you decided to force gnome users to use 3d drivers when the only stable 3d drivers available for my card is proprietary.
1865: Get back to a level that gnome 2 was at
Its definitely looking better and I am glad they are trying new things
1866: Put the minimize button and task bar back.
Put the minimize button and task bar back.
1867: The ease of customizing interface options
Option for Taskbar free interface
Provide an alternative window manager for power users
Provide a proper tool for advanced UI customization.
1868: -be able to use compiz with gnome 3
-be able to configure gnome 3 as much as gnome 2
-be able to theme gnome 3 as I can gnome 2
(see 22)
1869: Fork Gnome 2.x and continue with it.
Fork Gnome 2.x and continue with it.
1870: IMHO focus less on adding more miscellaneous features and more on polishing what's already there.
1871: Stay with gnome 2 style. gnomee3 and unity are bad for using a mouse or touchpad.
quit re-inventing the wheel.
1872: 1)Add maximize and minimize to windows.
2)Alt+(Button above tab) should scroll all similar windows, not only two of them
3)Better integration with qt toolkit
4)More configuration options the gui way and not though dconf only.
Please collaborate more with the kde team.
1873: The name for something a little more mature. Allow (more) custom options without making a painfully UGLY UI like KDE.
Stop dumbing down. Make it so it is by default easy to use but allow for custom options as well.
1874: I'm happy with it as it is (v2)
Don't fall for hype, just because something is possible, does not mean its a requirement. Many users are happy with 2.0 and have no wish to fiddle with Unity.
1875: I would like to see a way to get a classic panel back in GNOME 3.
1876: Reverse course.
1877: 1. More plugins for the top bar. This has been changing, but 3.0 was released with few if any. (Mainly weather & status bar).
2. Access to the old menu. My parents and other less savvy users are not always aware of the name of the program they are looking for.
3. And as always: more easily accessible user customization. Before gnome2 a user was given many options, after gnome2 the user is given only a few if any. I don't mind hiding some behind another tool (gnome-tweak-tool) but not all of them.
I really enjoy the dynamic virtual desktop option. Also dragging a window to the left, right, or top to size it for half or full screen is a nice addition. Dragging icons from the fav bar to a particular desktop is handy as well.
1878: more integration with screenlets / compiz. More GUI tools to customize the environment for basic users. Many advanced features of Gnome are hidden in configuration files.
1879: Panels and their stupid configuration and customization. There surely needs to be an easier way to configure which panels are on the desktop without actually having to right click and add/modify each panel directly on the desktop. It's time consuming and the default panel configuration is horrid.
better theming support, better configuration options for panels and customization of the desktop. Better user experience in the form of cleaner UI and max screen real-estate. A theme editor for those who are new to theming with an editor that allows one to put the images in without having to edit markup code...
1880: Actual settings available in a reasonable place, not com.canonical.whatever.thisisnotusable
Quit redoing EVERY UI design every 6 months, just to copy the new Apple crap
Customization is great, but some things DON'T need it. Stick to what does
1881: I have not tried Gnome 3.X but I did not like Unity, so I am sticking with Ubuntu 10.04 until Gnome 3 gets more polished. I like adding those small applets right on the taskbars. I like Gnome's simplicity, with additional advanced configuration easy to use. I tried KDE and I was overwhelmed by the amount of configuration. I use my computer on my TV and KDE had too small of font. I tried increasing the font sizes but there were too many scattered all around and even then I couldn't get everything to be uniform, in gnome 2.x it was easy and straightforward.
1882: More configurability in Gnome 3 (perhaps this has changed with 3.2?) Right now the Tweak utility is very immature and doesn't cover the ground that it should. There should be significant push to identify some basic configuration options that users desire and build out the Tweak app to provide these options. Gnome 3 is supposed to be about working efficiently (and it does help) but I think there's room to improve.
More aesthetically pleasing themes. I'm not talking about forced refits from other version, but more options than just the default. Showcase what can be done in Gnome 3 by provide 3 slick themes. Others will quickly adapt these in to 30 themes of varying quality.
More stable Nautilus. Though I do most stuff on the command line, some of that would be obviated through an improved and stable file manager. Nautilus has come a long way, but it still needs some TLC. For instance, when I'm dragging 100+ images from my DSC to a folder on the desktop, half the time Nautilus just crashes. It's possible it's a distro issue (Fedora) but this is what I classify as standard behavior for Nautilus. I'd use it much, much more if I didn't have to deal with those frustrations.
I recently had a co-worker stand behind me as he was waiting on me to complete a task. He watched as I launched numerous applications, and moved them to their respective desktop and switched between them fluidly. He commented, sincerely, "wow, a real window manager."
Gnome 3 is a great environment and I'm looking forward to further refinements.
1883: Less intrusive desktop experience. Easier manual configuration (not XML/merging). More unified look and feel both in presentation (on screen) and construction (libraries).
For a bit of background, I used to run Gnome back in the Fedora Core 1/2/3 days. After struggling to get each new release configured in a way which I liked, I finally switched over to KDE and fell for their overall look and feel being far more consistent. I also enjoyed the easier to use configuration UI and the fact that they used a relatively simple config file format. In addition, their terminal application Konsole blew Gnome terminal out of the water. Maybe I'm tainted by the defaults that both Fedora and Ubuntu provided for Gnome. But it started seeming completely targetted at a non-technical user and counter intuitive for technical users. For example, do you want a terminal? Ok, just go up into the System menu, go to system tools and try to find Terminal in there, as opposed to right-click on the desktop and choose terminal, or alt-f2, "konsole". In addition, the configuration menus were a mish mash of over simplification and over-configurability. Although KDE isn't perfect, it's still a far cry better than the recent Gnome desktops I've tried.
It's always seemed to me that Gnome was moving towards trying to replace OSX and Windows. Targetting the lowest common denominator is all well and good, but it means that you're missing most of your target audience while trying to expand into new markets. Stop trying to replace Windows and Mac. It's never going to happen. Start recognizing who your userbase is and make a product for them.
1884: Put desktop icons again by default, and add, also by default, an app launcher like the old in Gnome 2.
1885: 1 - The top/bottom bars in the default Gnome configuration in Ubuntu are poor design when many home users have widescreen displays.
2 - Configuring the bars is kludgy.
3 - ???
4 - Profit!
Switch to KDE! Just kidding. Keep up the good work guys.
1886: Go back to classic. GNOME has really "new coke"d GNOME with GNOME3.
See #22
1887: - Bring back theming and panel customization. Power users like control :)
- Bring back theming and panel customization. Power users like control :)
1888: Being able to configure gnome 3.2 to enable the best stuff from gnome 2.
Gnome applets are missing in my distro (Ubuntu 11.10)
Being able to discover features better than search (which assumes you know what to search for)
Cater for power users too! Not just beginners.
I would have preferred an evolutionary approach to many changes that Gnome 3 has, rather than suddenly changing.
1889: More configuration options, more flexibility.
Removing features and options does NOT simplify the user experience.
1890: Retain ability to use applets
Retain notification area behaviour
Re-implement power-user functionality (re-mapping mouse buttons, keys, menu-options, etc) without recourse to config editor
Think of the veterans as well as the newbies, without just telling them to change and shut up.
1891: Support the classic layout, pre 3.0, instead of forcing the 3.0 layout on the users.
Thanks for the great software.
1892: Preconfigured window-position and -size management hot-keys with grid-layout. Current system requires a pointing device.
I love how one screen stays static while the other switches, but the one with the panel should stay still, especially if it's not the screen normally used to display video/full-screen.
The colour scheme for the shell is great, especially the use of colour to draw attention to low battery, for example. Please tell your down-streams to make their window borders less colourful as well, and definitely 90% less luminous. Light and colour draw us to the task at hand.
None of the people I know who've used GNOME 3 have a bad word to say about it. I have a few grumbles that I could probably fix if I could commit time to it, but none are deal-breakers.
Just remember the number of VMs that use the GNOME 2 fall-back because they have no composition capabilities. This is the default screen for what I look at much of the day, even though I'm using GNOME 3 to do it, and it should not become a second-class citizen (it has been castrated on Fedora 15). Even if the VM could be delivered with 3D, accelerated, composited graphics, that's a lot of overhead for wanting only that little bit beyond a naked console with the usefulness of GNOME.
Overall, keep up the great work!
1893: I'd change just one: Rollback to GTK2 / GNOME 2.x
Stop failing.
1894: Continue with the Gnome 2 product, Continue with the Gnome 2 product, and Continue with the Gnome 2 product. Gnome shell (and Unity) don't fit the needs of power users AT ALL. These power users tend to be strong advocates, and these are exactly the people that are leaving in droves. The loss of mindshare for Gnome is going to be huge if Gnome Shell is the only option. I don't see how it can survive as anything but a niche player, if at all, without a full desktop product.
I heard a quote on-line recently. "Gnome has captured the market for the disabled and grandmothers" This dumbing down and tablet-ification of the interface is not all that helpful to newcomers, who wouldn't know to try Gnome anyway, and an abomination and regression for experienced users. And yet little features that I used to use everyday in Gnome, at work, have been taken away. Something is horribly wrong with the forecasting and direction of Gnome. Most importantly: ITS NOT TOO LATE. Don't think that you can't reverse course and save the ship. The current direction however, if left to stand, will result in people talking about Gnome in the past tense.
1895: A mix of Unity and Gnome Shell, i.e. no dashboard as in Gnome Shell but still a global menu as in Unity.
Keep it up, guys! You're doing a great job.
1896: Better integration with compiz. More help in settings.
1897: I miss virtual screen switching with the mouse. In Gnome 2.0 with Compiz I could go to the left or right of my screen and with the middle button/scroll wheel which I could push to left and right I could switch to the next virtual screen.
I really would like to have zones for the mouse I can configure. Like the top-left zone fo Activities, I want to be able to move it to the top-right. I know I can do this with a gnome-shell extension, but I want other zones to configure with different mouse actions.
I would be perfectly happy if this was a plugin, like the many plugins for Nautilus or the (fast growing in numbers) gnome-shell extensions.
1898: * disable login sound and 3d-stuff.
* place "lock screen" and "powersafe" button in the upper right corner by default.
* name external block devices.
make suspend to disk avail. via keyboard shortcut.
allow addons like cpugraphs for panel. make it customzable again.
allow easy theming, also for ?DM.
remove epiphany, evolution, empathy, totem, gcalctool.
share sound/mount/video/printer/$devices-backends with other desktop environments.
dont make users start archiving/sorting/tagging their passwords/pictures/music/videos every 2years from the beginning.
1899: Gnome2 was pretty much perfect.
We trusted you to be the custodians of the tools we use to do real productive work, and you abandoned the tools and us in a misguided effort to manufacture toys.
If you found the task of maintaining something so important to so many people boring and wanted to work on something shiny, new and exciting instead, you should have left the project instead of corrupting it for your own entertainment.
1900: GUI more like Mac
Integeration of a desktop search engine