Skip Navigation
linux Linux @lemmy.ml
TerryTPlatypus @beehaw.org

What is your opinion on GNOME 3 and 4? Why do you like/dislike it?

I made this post because I really like the design of GNOME, and although i'd like customizability, it is mostly enough for my everyday needs. But I want to understand why people may choose other desktop environments..or why you would/would'nt use GNOME.

58 comments

  • What I like:

    • I like GNOME 40 more than GNOME 3 because it's prettier.
    • I like GNOME in general because it's stable with pretty, high quality bundled programs.
    • I like the UX. It takes all the good things about the macOS UX and makes them better, while taking all the bad things and making them less stupid.
    • I like that they completely separate the dock from normal window management, so I never hit it when my cursor reaches the edge of the screen.
    • I like that you can set Nautilus to use one-click to open folders, even though that is cribbed from Dolphin. (Even if I use lf most of the time)
    • I like the simple IBus integration that lets me setup my Japanese IME easily.

    What I dislike:

    • I dislike that I need a system tray extension for some software.
    • I dislike how in-your-face the notifications are and that they can't be stacked.
    • I dislike that I need to use Dconf to set shortcuts for workspaces 5-10.
    • I dislike needing GNOME Tweaks to set autostart software/daemons—this is a basic feature, not a "tweak".
    • I dislike not having an easy way to port my settings for GNOME to a new computer. It's annoying to have to set all this stuff up again compared to Sway, where I clone a repository and copy some config files over.
    • I dislike the new screenshot tool in GNOME 40+. It automatically saves photos to a directory, rather than letting me copy it. Come to think of it, I also dislike that it doesn't support the same screenshot protocols Sway does for grim and slurp, which is my favorite screenshot workflow.

  • I like GNOME but there's something so frustrating about how much it's lacking out of the box. It feels like you have to fish out a lot of extensions to make it comfortable to use, and these extensions often break each update. Not having native support for a taskbar to quickly show/minimize the apps you have open... Just why?

    Luckily a lot of distros do add those features out of the box like Zorin/Nobara, but otherwise I'd just go for Plasma. A lot of Gnome feels like it's copying Mac for the sake of copying Mac which I don't like very much, but maybe I'm biased because I mostly use and got comfortable with Windows-style UI. People compared it to Windows 8 and I totally agree, the way they want you to use Gnome feels more like it's made for tablets than desktops.

    Gnome is pretty good otherwise, it's just their team makes weird decisions and never seem to change their stance.

    • copying Mac

      I don't get this. I like macOS' UI. It's really not like GNOME at all. I very much dislike GNOME

    • I love the clean look of GNOME and the way I open apps - press super and start typing it's name and enter. So simple, so fast. Also the overview is so good compared to taskbar for switching apps and for me. I only use Blur My Shell extension for even better cleaner look. The simplest, fastest de i've tried that works for my monkey brain

      • and the way I open apps - press super and start typing it's name and enter. So simple, so fast.

        that.. is the way one opens apps on every mainstream de by default? be it a start menu (plasma, windows, cinnamon, etc.), list menu, (old plasma, many old de's), or some other launcher, i think that's pretty standard

    • I agree here 100%. My first experience with GNOME was using POP_OS's tweaked version of it and then trying out regular GNOME 3 made me wanna pull my hair out since it seemed like the UX was severely lacking there.

      I think there are awesome elements of it but it does feel like I'd need to download all those extensions and gnome-tweaks to make it function the way I want it to which isn't really worth it; i'd rather have an environment that functions well out of the box .

  • I admire their uncompromising stance on feature creep and polish of the core functionality.

    I'm a simple man, all I need 95% of the time is keyboard shortcuts to switch between maximized browser and a maximized terminal emulator.

    Compare and contrast KDE, where you have three infinitely configurable screen zoom plugins, and I've never seen 3/3 working.

  • Coming from Windows, gnome was the desktop that taught me how to use and appreciate multiple workspaces. I'm now entirely sold on KDE, but there's something to be said about the gnome workflow.

  • GNOME is opinionated and beautiful. Lots of focus on reasonable design instead of massive amount of customization. It also has a great app ecosystem and documentation. I love it.

  • I like the overall design of the Gnome Shell (top panel) and the workflow with different workspace. I like it so much that I actually copied it in KDE. What I don't like is the look and feel of GTK apps. They're often so limited or the advanced options aren't clear at the first look.

  • I use gnome 4 because it is the most "out of the way" DE. I disable the dock and use an extension to hide the top bar, so there is literally nothing on my screen but the program(s) I'm using. I haven't found another DE that let's me do that (hiding the dock/taskbar doesnt count, cause it still comes up when you get the mouse too close which is super annoying).

    I also like the window presenter thing, which I first started using with KDE. I prefer gnome's implementation though, since it is the same key to bring up the window selector and the app launcher. I often want to switch to a window only to find it isn't open, or I want to open a program that already is open but hidden behind other windows, so it makes sense to put them together. I also can't be bothered to learn more than one hotkey. I've tried to obtain this overall behavior in KDE, but I found it was a whole lot of configuration just to get what gnome already does, so I might as well just use gnome.

    I found the "touchscreen-y" interface bothersome at first, but I've gotten used to it. The biggest issue is not showing a large number of app entries efficiently, but it's pretty trivial to remove the entries you don't actually need with alacarte.

    Gnome's default apps (like the newish gnome text editor) are getting too simplistic for my preference, but again it's super easy to swap them out.

  • Using it because it's the least buggy DE i've tried so far. With a few extensions the workflow isn't too bad either.

    I love the design of the applications in general tho, in the sense that they do one thing and one thing only and there aren't a billion options trying to cover every use case without doing any of them well.

  • I like the aesthetic, Gnome applications are very pretty. But I really don't like the workflow, it's not objectively bad but I already have my own and I refuse to change it. The desktop should adapt to my choices, not the other way around. I know you can change how Gnome behaves with extensions but I believe that kinda defeats the whole point, and I've heard they often break.

    I prefer Xfce; it's simple but not too minimalistic, it's customazible but not so much to give you choice paralysis, and it just lets you run things however you want without getting in the way.

  • I tend to prefer KDE because I'm a tinkerer, but I don't hate GNOME or anything. I think it's good for someone who wants the UI to just work and generally get out of the way without much fiddling, although last time I tried it I did find it needed a few extensions to add some basic stuff for whatever reason.

    But ultimately, I think it's good to have choices for both sides of the spectrum, that's kind of what FOSS is all about in the end.

  • @TerryTPlatypus I've been an #xfce user my whole Linux journey, and ompared to xfce it's missing some features that I regularly use on xfce. It also uses way more resources & requires some extensions to better it for daily use....

  • I'm hopelessly addicted to Fluxbox still. I can configure the shit out of it with simple config files, and it's just out of the way. Almost don't have a system UI at all. In fact, if I didn't need a sliver of screen for my clock and battery indicator, I'd get rid of the taskbar.

    Hoping to move to something modern that runs on Wayland some day, but I haven't found something suitable yet.

  • I use i3wm, and any time I launch a gtk4 app, it takes way too long to load. 🥱 So I don't care for gnome4. 😅

  • I use GNOME 43 on Debian 12. I sincerely enjoy it. The workspaces are intuitive, it looks and feels sexy, and it has a pretty great set of extensions. While I really appreciate other projects like KDE and XFCE, I think GNOME is probably the most mature DE I've used.

    That said, I do have a few gripes. For starters, it's pretty annoying that I have to use tweaks to access settings that should absolutely be included in the regular settings page. It's also pretty dumb that I have to install an extension to be able to quarter tile. There are so e other small issues I have, but none more than I would have with any other desktop experience, and overall I adore what the devs have put together.

  • Ir was my first desktop I encountered when introduced to GNU/Linux and it is actually what made me delay my switch to GNU/Linux since I disliked it so much. back then I did not know there are more desktop options so Iit made me think the whole GNU/Linux is not interesting to me. It was not until a few years later until I was told there are other options and I was shown KDE desktop (not called Plasma yet back then) that I fell in love with GNU/Linux.

    Why I did not like GNOME was that it was too limited and limiting and unconfigurable. And I would say nowadays it has gotten even worse while KDE Plasma has improved a lot. I think GNU/Linux would have a lot more success at capturing the desktop OS market if KDE Plasma would be the major and default desktop in all those enterprise distributions. It is just so much better and so flexible you can even turn it to mimic any other desktop or even better customize it to fit your wery own best way of workflow and using computers.

58 comments