4 ms·

True, but I also feel this might also be part in staying relevant with touch displays. The dumbification of UI coincided with the rise of tablet computers and t

True, but I also feel this might also be part in staying relevant with touch displays. The dumbification of UI coincided with the rise of tablet computers and touchscreen devices. Windows 8 came out around that time too. I personally preferred Gnome 2 when Gnome 3 came out, but I've gotten pretty used to the top-left corner flick after a couple weeks. I sometimes do it on Windows and get disappointed when nothing happens :) This sounds somewhat perverse, but I kind of like the fact that it takes a little extra effort to switch applications. I'd say it keeps me maybe 5-10% more productive! Ideally, UI's should be tailored for the device they get installed on, but I'm happy Gnome was able to accept a few design compromises in order to keep moving the project forward.

michaelt 6y ago
> True, but I also feel this might also be part in staying relevant with touch displays. Undoubtedly - at about the same time, they introduced a swipe-to-unlock screen which is crucial on a tablet or smartphone, but useless on a desktop or laptop. The thing is, Gnome don't seem to have achieved any success in the smartphone/tablet market. So with the benefit of hindsight, trading off mouse and keyboard power user UX to improve touchscreen UX doesn't seem to have paid dividends.
- kaba0 6y ago
  You can just start typing your password - something you can’t do on windows and it drives me mad there.
dleslie 6y ago
Curiously, with the PinePhone it is possible to use Desktop UIs on a phone form factor. It's worth a try! IMHO, Firefox with desktop UI (and addons!) on a phone is _vastly_ superior to Firefox Android. It's shocking how much better I find it to be.
- still_grokking 6y ago
  Especially as one can customize Firefox quite well. For example you can have the addressbar at the bottom (even it's not officially supported) with a few lines of CSS.

michaelt 6y ago

> True, but I also feel this might also be part in staying relevant with touch displays. Undoubtedly - at about the same time, they introduced a swipe-to-unlock screen which is crucial on a tablet or smartphone, but useless on a desktop or laptop. The thing is, Gnome don't seem to have achieved any success in the smartphone/tablet market. So with the benefit of hindsight, trading off mouse and keyboard power user UX to improve touchscreen UX doesn't seem to have paid dividends.

kaba0 6y ago
You can just start typing your password - something you can’t do on windows and it drives me mad there.

dleslie 6y ago

Curiously, with the PinePhone it is possible to use Desktop UIs on a phone form factor. It's worth a try! IMHO, Firefox with desktop UI (and addons!) on a phone is _vastly_ superior to Firefox Android. It's shocking how much better I find it to be.

still_grokking 6y ago
Especially as one can customize Firefox quite well. For example you can have the addressbar at the bottom (even it's not officially supported) with a few lines of CSS.