this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Please also remove the text places and make use of that space

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I'm very glad GNOME does such an amazing job staying modern in its look. GNU+Linux and free software would be much worse off without it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Looks nice, but if I could trade these visual gimmicks for a type-ahead feature, I would do so in a heartbeat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

gtk3-classic anyone?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't get it... Does this tiny change ruin it for you?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Having to create .desktop files in god knows where for me to be able to right click -> "open with" my program of choice sure pushed me away

I don't even know what they were thinking not letting you beowse for any executable file on disk

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah same. There are some types of text file where gedit doesn't even appear as an option. Like sometimes I don't want to open .xml files in the browser.

I was able to set VScode for .xml files but not gedit. It's not a huge deal but that one thing makes gnome feel like immature software.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Aren't you supposed to use alacarte app to create new program entry on gnome?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That's definitely not what Google told me to do at the time in 2015

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Been a Gnome user for years and always glad to see them modernize the UI more, but the one thing I desperately want is .stl and/or .3mf thumbnailers to just work with Nautilus. Tried several times to set up in Fedora using f3d, but instead just get blurry question mark thumbnails

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

who even decides what's "modern" anymore?

can anyone, honestly, without reading the article (or guessing from the headline), tell me which of these is the "modern" design?

screenshot of the nautilus file manager in light mode screenshot of the nautilus file manager in light mode

edit: people are getting confused by the fact that one is tree view, not icons view so i changed the image. old image here

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Apparently "modern" means hiding options behind extra clicks

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

i may be blind but what exactly was hidden behind one or more clicks?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I think "modern" can be interpreted as nice and clean UI which is beautiful to watch and only the absolutely most important stuff is shown and the rest is hidden. So, like apple design approaches, I guess. Say form over function. Microsoft tends to go that route as well. Luckily for user who like function over form, there are different flavors of Linux.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

It's just my opinion (since it's not in the article) but a thing that makes Gnome and Libadwaita a "modern design" is the fact that the production behind it tries to bridge the gap between a "mouse and keyboard" and a "touch screen" workflow.
None of the other DEs come even close to Gnome when used on a tablet

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Agreed, I'm not an expert, kind of new to linux, but I could see being very comfortable on a Gnome based tablet.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Clearly the dark mode is the modern one! Jokes aside, I just realized that there THREE menu options on that toolbar: hamburger, kebab, and waffle! I realize they do different things, but no wonder people are confused by and scared of computers. Also, now I'm hungry!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

TIL of kebab and waffle menus.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

as someone who's not scared of computers, i have no idea what they do. i assume the right one is icons/list/compact[^1] not a waffle menu, but the hamburger and kebab? i have no clue

[^1]: though why it's showing list when the current view is icons, i don't know either

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Since the kebab menu is inside the location/search box, I'm guessing it contains search-related options.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It has the same options as right clicking on an empty space in a directory. Stuff like Create a new folder, Create a new file, that sort of thing. "Actions you might wanna make on this directory". When you start searching, there is another button that appears and that one is the one that let you filter search options

I dont see the usefulness of that button tbh. Its like it assumes good ol right click isnt discoverable on its own. Idk anyond who has a mouse and hasnt pressed right click ever.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That would be useful on a tablet, where right-clicking is impossible.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

maybe; but if the location of menu buttons hints at their use then the hamburger should collapse the side drawer like the one on e.g. youtube, but i doubt it does

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Corpo's and social media "designers" who would throw out their own mother because she's "outdated"

Honestly as someone who doesn't use Gnome... I can't really tell much of a difference, Seems like a strange thing to build hype over.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

as a GNOME user I also don't get the hype lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly, I haven't yet seen the article, the light theme one is probably newer because of tabs.

Anyways both look like an android app, I know most will hate reading this but Windows Explorer rules.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

nah, i agree with you. win explorer with qttabbar, tortoisegit, and some tweaks from winaerotweaker

dolphin is pretty good though and it has some features that explorer doesn't, like a terminal pane

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It'd be kinda nice if they made these kinds of changes options rather than just deciding this is best

Could honestly take it or leave it, doesn't really add anything

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i'm not even sure it's worth having an option. i don't think i'd even have noticed a difference, apart from the menu button being in a slightly different place to every other gnome app. it's fine; but it wasn't worth the development time

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The last thing I want is an option for this. My gosh, imagine the amount of options you would end up with if every single design choice was turned into an option. Who in the world would like that many options.

I'm happy to just have a design team work on whatever they think looks better and works best for the user experience, and implement it after some rounds of public review and testing. This looks neat enough to me - slightly less cluttered than what my current Nautilus window looks like while maintaining the same functionality.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who in the world would like that many options.

KDE fans?

Awww, Plasma fans, you know I'm playin'.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Seriously, I envy you guys. Every time I try to use Plasma, I end up spending all my time tweaking the desktop, and by the time I'm done, I realize I've just recreated the Gnome workflow...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

every time i try to use gnome, i end up spending all my time going "dammit, where are all the bleeding features"

(also the lack of fitts' law adherence due to that pointless bar at the top)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I had to look up Fitts's law, and I'm not sure I get it. Could you explain what you mean?

ETA: I kinda feel like mine was about KDE not being a fit for me personally, and yours was a slam on Gnome rather than a statement of personal preference.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

I had to look up Fitts’s law, and I’m not sure I get it. Could you explain what you mean?

basically; the speed that it takes to click a button is dependant on the size of the button and the distance from the cursor. however, buttons at the edge of the screen have effectively infinite size, as they can't be overshot. the most used actions should be placed there, as they are the easiest to click by muscle memory (particularly the corners, as they have infinite size in both dimensions)

on windows, kde, cinnamon, etc.; by default the bottom left is start, the bottom right is show desktop (this one i can't explain), and the top right is close maximised window. the top of the screen is also used for other window-related actions like minimise, restore, change csd tabs, etc.

gnome flouts this by having most of the top of the screen doing nothing (most of it is completely empty) apart from rarely used actions like calendar and power. and the bottom right and left doing nothing[^1]

did i explain well?

ETA: I kinda feel like mine was about KDE not being a fit for me personally, and yours was a slam on Gnome rather than a statement of personal preference.

nah it was very much a personal thing: some people like having a minimal and clutter-free feature set; i like having as many features as possible, because then i find features i didn't even know i liked.[^2]

as for the top bar: this one confuses me - it just seems objectively bad. but obviously it's not as some people clearly like it. i haven't had anyone actually explain to me why, though

[^1]: i mean they also ignore it in other ways, too

[^2]: i didn't know how useful a terminal embedded in the file manager would be until i started using dolphin, now i can't do without it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't like Nautilus and always srick with Nemo but the new look of many Gnome apps is really nice!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great. Now do split panel!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

And column browse

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think I can go back to Nautilus after using Dolphin for so long, even if the search is far better.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The search on nautilus is probably better because a lot of gnome distros have the file indexer enabled by default, and that's what nautilus uses, but many kde distros don't come with the kde indexer, so dolphin doesn't index by default.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What's the advantage vs. the current version?

Also looks like it's removing an important visual affordance (i.e., which areas you can click to drag the window), unless I'm misinterpreting it

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Also looks like it's removing an important visual affordance (i.e., which areas you can click to drag the window), unless I'm misinterpreting it

The top bar has been full of buttons with no whitespace for a year or more now, that's not new (you can still drag the window using the whole bar, but it's definitely not intuitive and made me subconsciously do Win+drag to be safe many times).

This seems to be a relatively minor visual update to have the left sidebar fill the whole window - ~~maybe they want more space for shortcuts at a given window height?~~ No clue.

Edit: never mind, checked again and it's literally just a tiny visual update with no change to the actual content of the sidebar, but it takes some space away from the top bar.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Win+drag

Thank you internet person, you have changed my life forever.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not a fan of slicing up the title bar like that, to be honest. Yeah, it saves some space, but I'm on a desktop with plenty of screen space, so that really isn't a priority, and being able to easily move windows around is a priority.

Also, what the hell is wrong with old-fashioned menus? This isn't a phone. GNOME doesn't even run on phones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's the thing. There is no title bar. The title bar, if forced to exist, would go above both of those sections.

GNOME apps seem to have been headed in this direction for a while.

If I open gnome-disks, for example, the title bar is kind of odd because it doesn't show the name of the program at all. It only shows the size of the currently selected disk, and underneath that in a smaller text subheading is the actual device pathname of the disk. How many other programs do you know that have a subheading under the window title in the title bar?

This feels like an early decision to do something different with that part of the window.

Further along in the evolution is the dconf-editor which no longer shows any kind of title bar at all. The window manager shows that the window title is "dconf Editor" but there's nothing on the window itself that says that.

Earlier versions of each definitely had a standard title bar (I remember dconf-editor having one fairly clearly, because the new interface seemed strange at first), but not any more.

There's also that desktop web browsers generally request that their title bar not be shown. Given that everyone has at least one browser window open, it would be almost foolish to assume there's been no influence from that design choice.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There’s also that desktop web browsers generally request that their title bar not be shown.

Those have the excuse that they're basically several windows in one, and the tabs are the title bar-equivalents. Very few apps have that excuse, though.

Side note: KDE's tabbed windows feature was pretty neat. Too bad it's gone.

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