GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 781222
Add a layout menu like Zorin OS
Last modified: 2021-06-09 16:01:01 UTC
Created attachment 349737 [details] Zorin OS layout menu It would be nice to have a layout choice (with thumbnails) at the initial setup as well as in gnome-control-center similar to zorin OS (see attachment). Given Ubuntu's recent decision to switch from Unity to GNOME, many users will have a better time adapting if the layout is familiar. Same with users coming from Windows or MacOSX. Looking forward for some feedback. Thank you!
I made a (script) prototype for my idea: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bill-mavromatis/arch-discover/master/layoutmanager.sh Please try it on a liveUSB or VM as it affects your extensions.
Sorry, file moved to new repo: https://github.com/bill-mavromatis/gnome-layout-manager/blob/master/layoutmanager.sh
This bug needs to be made in reference to the control center first - since we don't want settings in initial setup that aren't accessible from the control center. Layout settings don't currently have a clear place to go in the control center. Which layouts would be supported is also a major design question. I'm also assuming that this would somehow replace the existing extension-based approach we have to changing the shell's layout. This issue requires details on how these issues might be resolved.
I agree that it makes more sense for it to be on the control panel, you're right. I think the 3 most important layouts would be Unity(for obvious reasons), Windows and MacOSX. It doesn't have to replace the existing extension-based approach, but it can work by batch installing and enabling extensions. For example: Unity -Dash to dock -TopIcons Plus -Hide Activities -Frippery Move Clock Windows -Dash to panel -TopIcons Plus -GnoMenu MacOSX -Dash to dock -TopIcons Plus I can try to make it more specific if you want (if you open my script and scroll to the bottom you can see the "gsettings set" that I used to tweak accordingly. In my example script, I'm also changing themes and icons but that's not necessary at all. I understand that there could be copyright concerns with Windows/Mac so I'm suggesting we don't use names at all and do it like ZorinOS does it (with preview thumbnails). Please let me know if you need more details.
Are we really sure we want to go in the direction of explicitly prompting people to select a user interface style? I can't help but think that will dilute GNOME's brand (not my thing, but I know this is important to the GNOME folks). And this proposed choice will confuse the less-technical users that GNOME is targeting. Every additional choice increased cognitive burden, after all. Instead, let's look at the similarities between the three choices you've laid out, Bill: - TopIcons Plus - Dash to something IMHO these extensions are so good that they need to be made the default behavior and integrated into GNOME itself. Then anyone can use GNOME Control Center to choose whether they want a Dock or a Taskbar.
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #5) Thank you for the feedback. > - TopIcons Plus > - Dash to something I agree that these extensions should be part of GNOME itself. I really hope the GNOME devs are considering this, given their popularity. I am trying to find a relevant suggestion in bugzilla but I cannot. I understand the GNOME philosophy and see the issue with "messing" with the default UI. In hindsight, this whole idea could just be just one new extension (one that batch installs other extensions, and possibly tweaks them, and then enables them). But even if that is the case it should be done in a way so that it's very straightforward for migrating users. I just wanna make sure GNOME devs are aware of such a feature that made distros like ZorinOS have the appeal they have. Regards, Bill
GNOME is going to shut down bugzilla.gnome.org in favor of gitlab.gnome.org. As part of that, we are mass-closing older open tickets in bugzilla.gnome.org which have not seen updates for a longer time (resources are unfortunately quite limited so not every ticket can get handled). If you can still reproduce the situation described in this ticket in a recent and supported software version, then please follow https://wiki.gnome.org/GettingInTouch/BugReportingGuidelines and create a new enhancement request ticket at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-control-center/-/issues/ Thank you for your understanding and your help.