If you want a desktop that you can customise yourself, don't use GNOME. It is singularly hard to modify, and the official way is by writing extensions in Javas

If you want a desktop that you can customise yourself, don't use GNOME. It is singularly hard to modify, and the official way is by writing extensions in Javascript, which is a very hard way. There are lots of extensions to play with on https://extensions.gnome.org https://extensions.gnome.org but watch out -- your desktop will break the next time you upgrade your distro. If you want a user-modifiable desktop, try KDE or Xfce. Personally I much prefer Xfce: it's smaller, faster, and easier, IMHO. Just install Kubuntu or Xubuntu, and enjoy.