GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 549919
Allow to choose which icons are displayed on the desktop
Last modified: 2018-01-02 18:50:14 UTC
The "Interface" tab has some space left so it would be the ideal place to add the option to choose which icons (computer, home directory, trash, network and mounted volumes) should be displayed on the desktop. As far as I know this can currently only be done through gconf or using 3th party applications. This idea has been originally suggested on Ubuntu Brainstorm (http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/12668/), and the person how suggested it has provided a draft of how it could be look. You can find it here: http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs37/f/2008/242/0/e/Gnome_Desktop_Icons_by_cowboy77061.png
The interface tab is more likely to go away completely than to get any major new options. Besides, icons on the desktop are a nautilus thing, and as such don't belong into the control-center package.
Appearance preferences is not the right place to choose which Desktop icons are visible. It has nothing to do with themes. Maybe it should be more like the "Add to panel" tool, where you would right-click on the Desktop and select "Add icons to desktop"? Then they could be removed by right-clicking and selecting "Remove from desktop", which is in the place where "Move to trash" would normally be.
*** Bug 555094 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
"Besides, icons on the desktop are a nautilus thing, and as such don't belong into the control-center package." True. I still think it makes sense to have the options to switch desktop background picture and the option to show/hide desktop icons "close" to each other. Could it be made by moving the "Background"-tab from gnome-appearance-properties to a new configuration program, add "Desktop icons" as a second tab and then call the whole thing "Desktop settings"? This program should show up when the user right clicks on the desktop and chooses "Switch desktop background" (or something more general).
Should it be kind of like the method of adding applets? Right-click on the Gnome panel and "Add to panel" provides a list of applets that you can install. The list is updated as you install packages that provide different functionalities. You can then remove applets by right-clicking them and selecting "Remove from panel". Maybe the "special" desktop icons should be added with a similar "Add icon to desktop" tool that you get when right-clicking the desktop. Then they could be removed similarly. Or maybe there's a better way; that's just the first hunch I had.
>>> Comment #5 from endolith (points: 5) That sounds quite neat. But how would this work for volumes? Should volume icons be addable/removable individually or just globally?
Hmm... In my opinion, they should be individual. I have system partitions that I never use, for instance. Not sure.
mintDesktop just has a list: http://linux.adslzone.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/mintdesktop-rw.jpg
Starting with version 3.28, nautilus will not handle the "files on desktop background" feature. For better alternatives, read this blog post https://csorianognome.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/nautilus-desktop-plans/