Desktop desires and questions

[Marko Vojinovic]

On Saturday 18 February 2012 12:17:53 les wrote:
> 	I want more efficient use of my desktop.
[snip]
> 	Here is what I find in using the desktop as it exists in F16:
[snip]
> This is so ergonomically inefficient, so slowing that it adversely
> impacts my progress.

I sympathize. Gnome3 is anything but ergonomically efficient. :-) Although, some 
people find it quite efficient and well adapted to their workflow. Each to their 
own. ;-)

> Anyway, that is only the most irritating bit I have found so far, but it
> is worse.  I don't see anyway to move the icons, change their sizes,
> move them to various menus, expand the menus, or do anything at all to
> change the current layout which is not at all conducive to my work.  I
> put this off long enough to hope that these issues had been addressed,
> but they are not.

These issues will probably never get addressed. Gnome3 was deliberately 
designed to look and function the way it looks and functions now, and I doubt 
that Gnome designers and developers want to change it. If you file a bug with a 
RFE, it will probably get closed as WONTFIX, NOTABUG or similar.

Don't ask me about the rationale of Gnome3 designers, and their design 
decisions. I'd like to read more about that myself, for curiosity's sake, but 
haven't found any good resources where the design of Gnome3 has been explained 
seriously.

> 	I want to know where the documents and or utilities are that will let
> me do something to improve my working environment and get back to
> efficiency.  If you have useful information, please send it on.  I am
> sure I am not the only one who wants this information, nor should it be
> hand editing xml files, although if that is the only method, I will do
> it until I get too frustrated with Fedora.

Fedora != Gnome3, please do not mix them. If you are frustrated with Gnome3, 
that doesn't mean that Fedora is bad. It just means that you have poorly 
chosen your desktop environment.

> Please keep it civil and provide solutions for this desktop, don't say
> change desktops, don't start flaming, just help me and others get this
> thing to do what we need.

Change desktops. Gnome3 was not designed to do whay you need, and trying to 
force it will not get you too far.

> With all that said, the basic needs as I see it are:

Based on what you described, I suggest that you switch to KDE. It has all the 
stuff you were talking about, it is configurable beyond your imagination, and 
works extremely well.

> 	8. Stop the messing around with the open desktop in any way whatsoever.
> It is distracting and interferes with efficiency.

I'm afraid this is not going to happen --- desktops are evolving according to 
latest fashion, most common usecases, form-factor redefinitions, etc.

The only thing I value in a DE is its configurability. I prefer to adapt the DE 
to fit my workflow, rather than the other way around. In that sense, KDE is 
light years ahead of Gnome. And based on what you were asking for above, I 
think you would also find KDE much more satisfactory than Gnome.

HTH, :-)
Marko