Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)
In light of the GNOME switch, this release seems like more of a homecoming than an entirely new voyage. But that said, Ubuntu 17.10 simultaneously feels very much like the start of a new voyage for Ubuntu. The last few Ubuntu desktop releases have been about as exciting as OpenSSH releases—you know you need to update, but beyond that, no one really cares."
Posted Nov 28, 2017 18:09 UTC (Tue)
by flussence (guest, #85566)
[Link] (5 responses)
Posted Nov 28, 2017 18:42 UTC (Tue)
by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
[Link] (4 responses)
Posted Nov 28, 2017 19:04 UTC (Tue)
by troglobit (subscriber, #39178)
[Link] (3 responses)
The overall top-bar design of Unity is SO much more well thought-out and accessible. With a few Gnome plugins, e.g. Unite + AlternateTab, you can sort of get the same look-and-feel. But usability wise Gnome is a train wreck ... don't get me wrong, it's certainly got its good and great points as well: the multiple screens support, for instance, where the secondary screen by sticks and the primary can move between virtual desktops.
Here's to hoping for future Ubuntu releases can combine the best of both worlds, maybe 2018 truly is the year of Linux on the desktop! :-)
Posted Nov 30, 2017 6:44 UTC (Thu)
by Tov (subscriber, #61080)
[Link] (2 responses)
Posted Nov 30, 2017 15:13 UTC (Thu)
by raven667 (subscriber, #5198)
[Link]
Well there should be some sort of default always-visible bit of UI for status indicators, menus, etc. and every OS has something very similar, GNOME is most like macOS but iOS, Android have very similar UI. On Windows the bar is on the bottom, maybe to prevent Apple from suing back in the day, and you can auto-hide it but it fulfills much of the same function. This is an expected piece of UI.
> it is really nice to only use the size of a single bar (title/menu). Gnome on the other hand seems to use two or three times that (activities+title+menu).
That's a good point, the title bar by default in GNOME is very chunky and you do lose like 5-10% of of the vertical space with a normally maximized application that doesn't have a dedicated fullscreen mode. There are extensions which can change anything, such as No Title Bar, but that doesn't seem to work if the app provides its own client-side decorations, which many native apps do, there might need to be some protocol between the compositor and the app to turn off decorations when fullscreen to make this work fully.
Posted Dec 6, 2017 10:50 UTC (Wed)
by daenzer (subscriber, #7050)
[Link]
Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)
Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)
Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)
Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)
It is of course a very subjective issue, but one thing Unity really got right was the savings in vertical screenspace. On a 13 inch laptop it is really nice to only use the size of a single bar (title/menu). Gnome on the other hand seems to use two or three times that (activities+title+menu). So when using Gnome with LibreOffices new ribbon interface the effective work area is really claustrophobic.
Can someone explain the reason behind the seemingly useless "activities" bar in Gnome?
I did not pay for an expensive HiDPI screen to use a considerable amount of screenspace to tell me the time of day!
Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)
Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME (ars technica)