Gnome really needs help with their typography (and design in general).
Gradients, docks and shiny icons do not make a well designed product.
It's clear to see it suffers from the curse of open source software – design by committee, and the featuritis that results from that. There's often "flashy" chrome in OSS, but no solid interactions behind to back it up.
It's equally important what you choose to leave out from your product, as what you include. It seems Gnome has included the kitchen sink.
I think the reason that open source software is so often poorly designed is this committee approach where no one person can lead the design team. Strong leadership is extremely important when designing a good UI and I feel a lot of open source projects forget this.
Also this leader needs to be thick skinned and self confident enough to take criticism from others on the project but also assert their own subjective views.
Cantarell, by the way, is also the UI font of Gnome Shell. Not a bad UI font, I think, but it has a narrow glyph range (about 400) and only includes Latin.
Moving to the larger picture, my impression from the Gnome Shell desktop up to now is that it is an interesting experiment, trying to rethink as it does a lot of stuff that we have grown to take for granted in desktop environments. But it is not necessarily a good desktop experience. Up to now (I have used it for about 40 hours in total) I find it tiring and distracting, rather than distraction-free. Switching between app windows, e.g., is not a pleasant experience for me, with all the action I see on the screen and that I have to take myself each time I want to switch. (Alt-tabbing avoids all that, but I don’t always switch windows with Alt+Tab.) Another thing that does not help me, and that I find strange as an design decision, is the position of the clock right in the middle of the topbar. It causes me stress; I feel like time is hunting me.
In general, Gnome Shell seems to me to offer an experience more tuned to small rather than large screens. In a 2560*1600 screen, say, and if you prefer using the mouse rather than the keyboard, the distances you have to travel are ridiculous.
I expect the whole thing to improve in the next couple of years or so, but I am curious to see how much it can improve given its basic design principles.
UIs like this are not for power users. They use xmonad or awesome or dwm or ratpoison or ...
This is for someone who turns on their computer, does some work, and then stops using their computer. They do not want to bother themselves with a lot of learning. Simple actions that can be easily learned and improve speed (like keyboard shortcuts) are in reach. But more "confusing" concepts like virtual desktops without visual cues are not what they go for, even though pressing M-1 is much faster than moving your mouse to some picture of window.
The idea is "how can we make computing accessible to the average person", not "how can we make demetris not feel stress on his 2560x1600 screen". Once you reach a certain level of interest in optimizing everything, you have to use tools to build your own desktop environment, because you are a unique flower, and only you can decide what you want. You've reached this point, so GNOME is not for you.
I really like gnome3, but I'ts kind of sad to realize the main video on the frontpage (for a wonderful new desktop experience) shows only two desktop applications: gedit editing an html file, and firefox with firebug to fix that same code. And a fake IM session with a loremipsum in it.
I understand the gnome desktop may not have many shiny artisty apps as OSX, but this feels a tad too nerdy.
Love it! Can't wait to use it. I wonder what the impact is going to be now that Ubuntu is doing it's own UI thing. That's the vast majority of Linux users; so who becomes the premiere Gnome 3 distribution? I was hoping to get a System76 as my next desktop but now I'm not sure; depends if Gnome3 is included in Ubuntu's repos going forward.
Fedora 15 is most likely to be the Gnome 3 showcase. Its release on May 24 is nicely timed to allow them enough time to integrate Gnome Shell. As a desktop distro it's second in popularity only to Ubuntu, which makes it the most popular distro to choose Gnome Shell as its default UI.
But all this shouldn't affect your hardware purchases. A System76 machine should run Fedora just as well as it does Ubuntu.
"Window bars don't offer any minimise/maximise window controls; however, this functionality is still available by right-clicking on a window's top bar. GNOME and GTK+ development veteran Owen Taylor explained the reasons for removing the controls in a comprehensive email. In this email, the developer indicates that workspaces may make it unnecessary to minimise windows."
I don't think I like that one. I minimize all the time even with workspaces. To relegate to a right click is just going to confuse the novice end user.
It seems no one here has actually tried using GNOME 3 for any period of time. I gave it a couple of days and switched over to XFCE. I found it incredibly annoying as a developer desktop (perhaps a minority user these days?). It's very hard to switch between applications, virtual desktops are basically broken, you can't have shortcuts for launching apps/programs, no focus-follows-mouse, and the GNOME developers don't give a damn.
A few days ago, I added experimental to my Debian apt list and apt-getted for about an hour until gnome-shell was working. Very unstable, partially configured, not really revolutionary, etc. Headed back to Gnome 2 only to find out that GTK 2 and GTK 3 have a hard time co-existing. Twas very difficult to get my system back to normal. I'm an idiot; don't be like me.
If developers are a minority of Linux users, surely it's still a large minority. Sadly, KDE3 was the last desktop I actually enjoyed using. KDE4 is still (still!) broken and useless and ugly.
You can change all that. Install GNOME tweak tool. If the setting is not there yet (not sure about shortcuts), either file a bug or look at dconf-editor until that time.
I don't use GNOME because I find it way to heavy and bloated (I run X and the stumpwm manually). It would however be very interesting to know how early adapters find GNOME 3 compared to previous GNOME versions in terms of bloat and speed.
I also understand that GNOME 3 can be used very keyboard driven. AAAnybodywo swears to the keyboard like me have any opinions?
Wow. Gnome 3 looks worse than Gnome 2 did. I say that with love and kindness in my heart though, as I'm a hardcore openbox user. openbox+tint2+nitrogen.
(edit: Okay, Gnome3 and E17 are "Almost" looking alike: They're shiney and don't do much more than that.)
[+] [-] iamcalledrob|15 years ago|reply
Gradients, docks and shiny icons do not make a well designed product.
It's clear to see it suffers from the curse of open source software – design by committee, and the featuritis that results from that. There's often "flashy" chrome in OSS, but no solid interactions behind to back it up.
It's equally important what you choose to leave out from your product, as what you include. It seems Gnome has included the kitchen sink.
[+] [-] dman|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] naner|15 years ago|reply
What does this mean? Gnome 3.0 is rather incomplete. You can't even change themes or fonts yet.
[+] [-] statictype|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _frog|15 years ago|reply
Also this leader needs to be thick skinned and self confident enough to take criticism from others on the project but also assert their own subjective views.
[+] [-] demetris|15 years ago|reply
Cantarell, by the way, is also the UI font of Gnome Shell. Not a bad UI font, I think, but it has a narrow glyph range (about 400) and only includes Latin.
Moving to the larger picture, my impression from the Gnome Shell desktop up to now is that it is an interesting experiment, trying to rethink as it does a lot of stuff that we have grown to take for granted in desktop environments. But it is not necessarily a good desktop experience. Up to now (I have used it for about 40 hours in total) I find it tiring and distracting, rather than distraction-free. Switching between app windows, e.g., is not a pleasant experience for me, with all the action I see on the screen and that I have to take myself each time I want to switch. (Alt-tabbing avoids all that, but I don’t always switch windows with Alt+Tab.) Another thing that does not help me, and that I find strange as an design decision, is the position of the clock right in the middle of the topbar. It causes me stress; I feel like time is hunting me.
In general, Gnome Shell seems to me to offer an experience more tuned to small rather than large screens. In a 2560*1600 screen, say, and if you prefer using the mouse rather than the keyboard, the distances you have to travel are ridiculous.
I expect the whole thing to improve in the next couple of years or so, but I am curious to see how much it can improve given its basic design principles.
[+] [-] jrockway|15 years ago|reply
This is for someone who turns on their computer, does some work, and then stops using their computer. They do not want to bother themselves with a lot of learning. Simple actions that can be easily learned and improve speed (like keyboard shortcuts) are in reach. But more "confusing" concepts like virtual desktops without visual cues are not what they go for, even though pressing M-1 is much faster than moving your mouse to some picture of window.
The idea is "how can we make computing accessible to the average person", not "how can we make demetris not feel stress on his 2560x1600 screen". Once you reach a certain level of interest in optimizing everything, you have to use tools to build your own desktop environment, because you are a unique flower, and only you can decide what you want. You've reached this point, so GNOME is not for you.
[+] [-] riffraff|15 years ago|reply
I understand the gnome desktop may not have many shiny artisty apps as OSX, but this feels a tad too nerdy.
[+] [-] hartror|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] naner|15 years ago|reply
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2011/04/ars-revie...
[+] [-] MatthewPhillips|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skymt|15 years ago|reply
But all this shouldn't affect your hardware purchases. A System76 machine should run Fedora just as well as it does Ubuntu.
[+] [-] wazoox|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|15 years ago|reply
* Messaging built-in
Communication is an important part of the modern desktop, but it's a hassle when you have to switch windows to reply to a message.
* GNOME 3 is designed to reduce distraction and interruption and to put you in control.
Our new notifications system subtly presents messages and will save them until you are ready for them,...
[+] [-] lallysingh|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] antidaily|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sigzero|15 years ago|reply
I don't think I like that one. I minimize all the time even with workspaces. To relegate to a right click is just going to confuse the novice end user.
[+] [-] beck5|15 years ago|reply
You can see them here on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip9Bgjaspjs&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepXx1kDelo&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuRy7TRHPc&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOQj5eBRCY&feature=relat... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4fhsgZbgKk&feature=relat...
[+] [-] rwmj|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CoffeeDregs|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TillE|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dman|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bkor|15 years ago|reply
Regarding "don't give a damn" and per http://planet.gnome.org/: I am GNOME :-)
[+] [-] deadcyclo|15 years ago|reply
I also understand that GNOME 3 can be used very keyboard driven. AAAnybodywo swears to the keyboard like me have any opinions?
[+] [-] Kudos|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _frog|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DrJokepu|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mishmash|15 years ago|reply
edit: and the torrent to the openSUSE with "optional" GNOME3 is: http://software.opensuse.org/114/en
[+] [-] indrora|15 years ago|reply
(edit: Okay, Gnome3 and E17 are "Almost" looking alike: They're shiney and don't do much more than that.)
[+] [-] hendi_|15 years ago|reply
http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.0/
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] sciurus|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bdhe|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] augustl|15 years ago|reply
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME_3
[+] [-] alanh|15 years ago|reply
In theory, that should make for a great desktop environment.