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I added a comment on LiveJournal, but it apparently got marked as spam. [1] Reposting here: Like most software, GNOME 3 requires a bit of learning before you c

I added a comment on LiveJournal, but it apparently got marked as spam. [1] Reposting here: Like most software, GNOME 3 requires a bit of learning before you can use it most effectively, but it's actually a really easy learning curve because GNOME is designed to be intuitive. The biggest thing I'd recommend is learning the keyboard shortcuts. Pressing the Super (aka Windows) key will open the Activities overview. Pressing the Super key and then typing the name of an app then Enter will launch that app (I never use the mouse to launch an app). Super + Tab switches between running apps. There are a few more here: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/shell-keyboard-shortcuts.html.en https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/shell-keyboar.... It's actually shorter and easier to remember than the man page of even a simple command line tool like "ls"—and you probably have dozens of command line tools memorized, including complex tools like find, sed, and curl. This may sound preachy, but life is a lot better when you stop worrying about customization. Learn how the software works and adapt yourself to it. Think of how many places you have to do this in the real world: bicycles, cars, election ballots, transit systems, and grocery stores all have "UI"s that can be counterintuitive or slow, which you don't have much control over. But you don't complain because you can't change their UIs. GNOME is far easier to use than any of these, but because other desktops offer more customization, users can feel like GNOME is lacking. But if you accept that GNOME is not really intended to be heavily customized and just try to get used to the vanilla experience, you may actually be really happy using it. Caveat: if there's something that makes your workflow 3x faster, definitely spend a few minutes setting that up. But things like the position of the app title vs the position of the clock are not worth splitting hairs over. The GNOME team actually cares deeply abut usability and although some design decisions may seem quirky, every feature is scrutinized through the lens of ease-of-use. GNOME's UI Design Principles talk more about this and are a good, short read: https://developer.gnome.org/hig/stable/design-principles.html.en https://developer.gnome.org/hig/stable/design-principles.htm... [1] LiveJournal gave me the following message after posting: Your anonymous comment has been added. According to this journal's settings, it was marked as spam. It gave a similar message when I tried authenticating with Google. Not sure what's up with this.

lproven 10y ago
Thanks for that. JOOI, I was not notified of any such comment. I did get and unscreen a single comment, but it's a different (anonymous) one – visible there now. You should be able to sign-in to LJ to comment using any OpenID. In fact OpenID itself actually originated as an LJ-affiliated project by one of LJ's developers. I do learn to adapt to the provided UI on many devices and OSes /where I don't have a choice./ But on Linux, I do have a choice, so why should I spend the effort adapt to something that doesn't work the way I'm used to or in a way that I like, when I could just switch environments to something that I find more comfortable? When I worked at Red Hat, I switched from GNOME 3 to Xfce. Yes, it's old fashioned, but I can, with some effort, set it up to work much like Windows with a vertical taskbar – a layout I find convenient and flexible. As I said in the blogpost, on Windows I use a vertical taskbar on the left screen edge. On Mac OS X, I move the Dock there. On Unity, well, that's just where it is and it's hard to move, but I don't want to, so I'm fine with that. On GNOME 3, I get that too, but in a limited, rather inflexible and unhelpful, form. The primary question is: is there a benefit to me in switching and re-adapting to working in a system that's significantly unlike any of the others that I use? And the answer, _for me_, is no. I don't get enough reward to justify it, so I don't adapt - I switch to a desktop that works in something approximating the way I like. Although I've used Windows since v2.01 in 1989, I switched away from it at the turn of the century. Now, OS X and Unity give me a fairly consistent desktop. With tweaking, Windows and Xfce give something very broadly comparable. GNOME Shell is left as something of an odd-man-out. But that's just me. I am very happy to see its increasing polish and that it's winning people back.
lproven 10y ago
Aha! Now LJ is showing me 2 spam comments – but as I said, no notification. I've unscreened them. Sorry about that.

lproven 10y ago

Thanks for that. JOOI, I was not notified of any such comment. I did get and unscreen a single comment, but it's a different (anonymous) one – visible there now. You should be able to sign-in to LJ to comment using any OpenID. In fact OpenID itself actually originated as an LJ-affiliated project by one of LJ's developers. I do learn to adapt to the provided UI on many devices and OSes /where I don't have a choice./ But on Linux, I do have a choice, so why should I spend the effort adapt to something that doesn't work the way I'm used to or in a way that I like, when I could just switch environments to something that I find more comfortable? When I worked at Red Hat, I switched from GNOME 3 to Xfce. Yes, it's old fashioned, but I can, with some effort, set it up to work much like Windows with a vertical taskbar – a layout I find convenient and flexible. As I said in the blogpost, on Windows I use a vertical taskbar on the left screen edge. On Mac OS X, I move the Dock there. On Unity, well, that's just where it is and it's hard to move, but I don't want to, so I'm fine with that. On GNOME 3, I get that too, but in a limited, rather inflexible and unhelpful, form. The primary question is: is there a benefit to me in switching and re-adapting to working in a system that's significantly unlike any of the others that I use? And the answer, _for me_, is no. I don't get enough reward to justify it, so I don't adapt - I switch to a desktop that works in something approximating the way I like. Although I've used Windows since v2.01 in 1989, I switched away from it at the turn of the century. Now, OS X and Unity give me a fairly consistent desktop. With tweaking, Windows and Xfce give something very broadly comparable. GNOME Shell is left as something of an odd-man-out. But that's just me. I am very happy to see its increasing polish and that it's winning people back.

lproven 10y ago

Aha! Now LJ is showing me 2 spam comments – but as I said, no notification. I've unscreened them. Sorry about that.