I posted the following mail to gnome-list@gnome.org. The person who replied suggested that some of my items where 'theming' issues and as such the responsibility of the distro. Can somebody 'in the know' at Fedora comment.
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. (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 absurd 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.
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 3.1 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
On Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:18:08 +0200 Alexander Volovics wrote:
- 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.
You are not alone :-). On the 46" HDTV I use as a monitor (when TV isn't on :-), you have to back up a few feet to get any idea what the icons actually look like.
On 04/26/2011 12:18 AM, Alexander Volovics wrote:
Are there any plans to increase desktop configurability in Gnome 3.
Judging from the way things have been going with Gnome the last few years, this would run counter to the direction the Gnome devs have decided things should go. This, of course, is only my opinion, but it's one of the big reasons I no longer use Gnome.
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 11:22 AM, Joe Zeff joe@zeff.us wrote:
On 04/26/2011 12:18 AM, Alexander Volovics wrote:
Are there any plans to increase desktop configurability in Gnome 3.
Judging from the way things have been going with Gnome the last few years, this would run counter to the direction the Gnome devs have decided things should go. This, of course, is only my opinion, but it's one of the big reasons I no longer use Gnome.
+1
And Unity's not much better in this regard.
Joe Zeff wrote:
On 04/26/2011 12:18 AM, Alexander Volovics wrote:
Are there any plans to increase desktop configurability in Gnome 3.
Judging from the way things have been going with Gnome the last few years, this would run counter to the direction the Gnome devs have decided things should go. This, of course, is only my opinion, but it's one of the big reasons I no longer use Gnome.
Yah, if I wanted a WM to force me to do things the way the developers liked them I could use Windows. I want to control my power, have multiple tool bars should I choose, etc. I don't object to defaults being what someone else likes, but Linux is about choice. If there is support for KDE, and other WMs, maybe GNOME2 with attract a group.
What did I use to use "back when?" Maybe fvwm or such?
On Sat, 07 May 2011 17:23:23 -0400 Bill Davidsen wrote:
What did I use to use "back when?" Maybe fvwm or such?
I still use fvwm. My .fvwmrc file never changes across releases and I can still use my desktop without taking 3 weeks to learn all the differences (though sometimes apps I pointed at from my menus disappear and I have to search out the replacement or manually install).
Plus all my screen space are belong to me :-).
Il giorno mar, 26/04/2011 alle 18.11 -0400, Tom H ha scritto:
+1
+1
And Unity's not much better in this regard.
But on Ubuntu it's possible to choose to use Unity or Gnome 2
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Alexander Volovics -
Bill Davidsen -
Dario Lesca -
Joe Zeff -
Tom H -
Tom Horsley