5 ms·

I'm a bit torn. I like the design of Unity more than I do that of Gnome, but I think that less fragmentation is extremely desirable. Ultimately, I think it's a

I'm a bit torn. I like the design of Unity more than I do that of Gnome, but I think that less fragmentation is extremely desirable. Ultimately, I think it's a good, necessary move. Linux on the desktop will only happen when the environment is at least as uniform as that of Windows—from the perspective of application developers, at least.

gerbal 10y ago
Canonical bending their demonstrated ui talents may just lead to a better Gnome 3 experience.
- Touche 10y ago
  Do I live in an alternate universe? Do people really think this looks good? http://toastytech.com/guis/ubuntu114defaultunity.jpg http://toastytech.com/guis/ubuntu114defaultunity.jpg
  - simondedalus 10y ago
    they like the absence of all of gnome's chrome and the smooth animations and transitions. me, i like gnome 3 and unity. all told i think this is really good news from canonical, for wayland, for gnome, for desktop linux in general, etc.
  - curt15 10y ago
    It certainly makes better use of space than the thick header bars that gnome ships with by default. At least one Gnome developer seems to think so too https://blogs.gnome.org/mcatanzaro/2015/10/17/time-to-use-header-bars-in-unity/ https://blogs.gnome.org/mcatanzaro/2015/10/17/time-to-use-he...
  - gremlinsinc 10y ago
    honestly I agree there, but I'm an i3 fanatic, gnome is much better, KDE plasma has a beautiful interface, but being able to do everything via hotkeys, and tile windows is just an amazing thing once you do it for a bit.
  - andrewshadura 10y ago
    Yes it does. It looks much better now anyway, something like this: http://i.imgur.com/DdY4b5O.png http://i.imgur.com/DdY4b5O.png
    - felipelemos 10y ago
      I really don't see much difference.
      - pawadu 10y ago
        I don't think either screenshot looks particularly nice. However, this is mostly due the ugly default background and color scheme (its an ubuntu insider joke and its the first thing people change). I personally care only about function but even if you are form-above-function guy Unity gives you many tools to make it look good: http://imgur.com/gallery/sQFw7 http://imgur.com/gallery/sQFw7 (courtesy of r/unixporn )
  - unethical_ban 10y ago
    That's a 6 year old screenshot. They've made incremental improvements since... but yes, I've grown to appreciate it. The most annoying part of unity7's interface is its alt-tab function: It toggles between apps, not windows, and that's annoying.
    - xtracto 10y ago
      That's the same behaviour as OSX. At first I also hated this behaviour, coming form the Linux/Window environment. But after using it in conjunction with ALT+` (to cycle through app's Windows) I actually find it better than the standard Windows behaviour.
      - lathiat 10y ago
        Yeah once you learnt to use alt-backtick to switch window apps this is a much better experience IMO. Doesn't work without that though.
      - pyre 10y ago
        My biggest issue with the macOS way is that there are edge causes when using Spaces. The biggest being "stand-alone" Chrome apps like Signal Desktop are still tied to Chrome, even though they get their own icon and a separate place on the Dock. CMD-Tab'ing to Signal Desktop might just send me to a Chrome window. Ugh.
        pcr0 10y ago
        That's why Google has been phasing out Chrome apps for a while now.
        dingo_bat 10y ago
        Google has been phasing out chrome apps on all platforms because alt tab is broken in osx?
      - pawadu 10y ago
        I am with unethical_ban on this. Most of the time I am switching between multiple instances of the same app and this drives me crazy. Just because OSX does it (I don't think windows 10 does this) it doesn't mean it is a good idea.
  - notatoad 10y ago
    It looks acceptable, but more important than how it looks is how it works. Ubuntu has by far the most usable desktop, in the default configuration, of any linux variant. UI isn't just about the shade of purple you choose.
    - pawadu 10y ago
      Furthermore, from the default configuration you can turn it to the the most usable desktop of any OS by doing this: Settings -> Appearances -> Behavior -> Enable workspaces

gerbal 10y ago

Canonical bending their demonstrated ui talents may just lead to a better Gnome 3 experience.

Touche 10y ago
Do I live in an alternate universe? Do people really think this looks good? http://toastytech.com/guis/ubuntu114defaultunity.jpg http://toastytech.com/guis/ubuntu114defaultunity.jpg
- simondedalus 10y ago
  they like the absence of all of gnome's chrome and the smooth animations and transitions. me, i like gnome 3 and unity. all told i think this is really good news from canonical, for wayland, for gnome, for desktop linux in general, etc.
- curt15 10y ago
  It certainly makes better use of space than the thick header bars that gnome ships with by default. At least one Gnome developer seems to think so too https://blogs.gnome.org/mcatanzaro/2015/10/17/time-to-use-header-bars-in-unity/ https://blogs.gnome.org/mcatanzaro/2015/10/17/time-to-use-he...
- gremlinsinc 10y ago
  honestly I agree there, but I'm an i3 fanatic, gnome is much better, KDE plasma has a beautiful interface, but being able to do everything via hotkeys, and tile windows is just an amazing thing once you do it for a bit.
- andrewshadura 10y ago
  Yes it does. It looks much better now anyway, something like this: http://i.imgur.com/DdY4b5O.png http://i.imgur.com/DdY4b5O.png
  - felipelemos 10y ago
    I really don't see much difference.
    - pawadu 10y ago
      I don't think either screenshot looks particularly nice. However, this is mostly due the ugly default background and color scheme (its an ubuntu insider joke and its the first thing people change). I personally care only about function but even if you are form-above-function guy Unity gives you many tools to make it look good: http://imgur.com/gallery/sQFw7 http://imgur.com/gallery/sQFw7 (courtesy of r/unixporn )
- unethical_ban 10y ago
  That's a 6 year old screenshot. They've made incremental improvements since... but yes, I've grown to appreciate it. The most annoying part of unity7's interface is its alt-tab function: It toggles between apps, not windows, and that's annoying.
  - xtracto 10y ago
    That's the same behaviour as OSX. At first I also hated this behaviour, coming form the Linux/Window environment. But after using it in conjunction with ALT+` (to cycle through app's Windows) I actually find it better than the standard Windows behaviour.
    - lathiat 10y ago
      Yeah once you learnt to use alt-backtick to switch window apps this is a much better experience IMO. Doesn't work without that though.
    - pyre 10y ago
      My biggest issue with the macOS way is that there are edge causes when using Spaces. The biggest being "stand-alone" Chrome apps like Signal Desktop are still tied to Chrome, even though they get their own icon and a separate place on the Dock. CMD-Tab'ing to Signal Desktop might just send me to a Chrome window. Ugh.
      - pcr0 10y ago
        That's why Google has been phasing out Chrome apps for a while now.
        dingo_bat 10y ago
        Google has been phasing out chrome apps on all platforms because alt tab is broken in osx?
    - pawadu 10y ago
      I am with unethical_ban on this. Most of the time I am switching between multiple instances of the same app and this drives me crazy. Just because OSX does it (I don't think windows 10 does this) it doesn't mean it is a good idea.
- notatoad 10y ago
  It looks acceptable, but more important than how it looks is how it works. Ubuntu has by far the most usable desktop, in the default configuration, of any linux variant. UI isn't just about the shade of purple you choose.
  - pawadu 10y ago
    Furthermore, from the default configuration you can turn it to the the most usable desktop of any OS by doing this: Settings -> Appearances -> Behavior -> Enable workspaces