I have been reading some posts here and see that I am
pouring oil on the fire so it might be foolish to continue.
But "Who are a little wise, the best fooles be".
Exploring Gnome 3 under Fedora 15 beta.
So far: very nice to work with, great usability, but it could do
with some more configurability options and then it would also
be pleasing to LOOK at. Not unimportant eh.
(I am making the following remarks under the proviso that
I do not know if the standard (upstream) Gnome 3 is
included in Fedora 15 beta and wat Fedora has contributed
to the mix).
Are there any plans to increase desktop configurability in Gnome 3.
For example:
- I would like to be able to change the color of the top bar
The lid of my laptop is a shiny black and the addition of the
black colored top bar gives the desktop an even more funereal
appearance (and makes the bar hard to see/read).
- I would like to be able to REMOVE icons from applications
overviews under 'Applications' in the 'Activities overview'.
First I would like to remove ALL icons from the 'All' category.
* This overview is not really necessary because the same
icons are included under the other categories 'System Tools',
'Accessories', 'Graphics', etc.
* Furthermore given the stupid and unhandy 16:9 laptop screens you
have to scroll to see them all so having all icons available does
not really save time/work.
* Finding a particular icon among this plethora of icons is hardly
easy.
* Given the large size and the sometimes brash colors and
non-uniform design of the icons makes this desktop full of
large blobs not very aesthetically pleasing.
Second I would like to 'prune' the icons listed under the categories
retaining only the icons of the apps I use regularly (possibly
putting some of these 'pruned' icons in some 'Other' category).
- I would like to change the 'top bar' to an 'under bar' and have the
notifications pop up at the top (and why do pop ups and notifications
need to have a black background).
Personally I find these 'wishes' very reasonable and not detracting
from the design and usability of Gnome 3.
I could even understand the need to concentrate on other issues
at the moment but I do think that tools to make these kinds of
changes are necessary, even for beginning and inexperienced users!
PS Who designs/creates the icons/icon themes.
I find the icons (too) big, brash, glaring and sometimes downright
ugly with no consideration for the overall effect. (for example the
'Games' icons).
It would be much nicer if they were created with an overall effect
in mind using compatible colors and forms (say a sleek blue/silver
theme, uniformly applied).
PS If configuration options as specified above or comparable are
planned for updates or Gnome 3.2 then I would be even more
happy with Gnome 3. If not, is it possible to put forward things
like the above as 'suggestions' for the design team and what is
the best possible place for this.
NB I can not and do not code myself.
Alexander