(This is the final installment of the “Using Gnome Shell” Series, Day One can be found HERE, and the post that started the whole series can be found HERE.)

Fathers Day, and the end of my Gnome-Shell series. I still find it surreal to log into a session running Gnome-Shell and see a desktop devoid of familiar features. Gnome-Shell is the new direction Gnome is going for release 3, and Ubuntu seems set on following suit.

Will this be a smart move?

Confusion

When you log in while using Gnome-Shell there is an initial feeling that something is missing. There is no indication that anything of any importance is happening on your computer or laptop. Look at the picture above, and imagine wanting to browse the internet.

Okay so you click on “Activities.” The Activities Menu appears. There is no browser icon. There is the “Applications Menu,” and once you click there all your applications pop up without any sense of arrangement. If you had used Firefox before it will appear in Activites, if not, it is hidden somewhere in Applications.

If you are savvy, you might decide to search in the finder for “Internet,” in my case Firefox does not appear, but Chrome does – if you have it installed. Try Web Browser, or Browser, and Firefox eventually appears along with Chrome, and depending how far along you are with typing “B-r-o-w…” Nautilus also appears.

There is some work in user hand-holding to be done. And yes I firmly believe that users need their hands held during their desktop experience.

Desktop Jockies…

…Windows users, noobs, call them what you want – they are the people who will be the judge of what is commonly accepted on the desktop and what not. There are more end users out there than knowledgeable users. Let’s take a memory tour through the Windows Desktop

• Windows 95 – Start Button bottom left, clock bottom right, Programs menu accessed via Start Button.
• Windows 98 – Start Button bottom left, clock bottom right, Programs menu accessed via Start Button.
• Windows ME – Same as above. Except it bluescreens every second time you do anything.
• Win XP – Ooh, pretty colors, Start Button bottom left, clock right, new menu via Start Button – All Programs menu and last launched programs accessable via Start Button.
• Windows Vista – New Menu Layout. “START” has disappeared, but you can still click on the orb to get to your programs. Universally disliked because of this and other changes to the UI. Clock still bottom right, thankfully for those regular users.
• Windows Seven – Orb is still there, bottom left. Taskbar gets a remodel. This is the first version of Windows where the taskbar gets a major redesign (except for becoming blue and gaining optional grouped windows in XP) since Windows 95. Clock bottom right.

Now plonk a long time Windows XP user down in front of a computer running Windows 7 and watch their face as they try and access a program. Lucky for them the blue E that means “Internet” to them is on the taskbar, so they do not need to go hunting for that.

Incrimental Choices

Notice how few changes was made with Windows over the releases? It is a familiar interface. It is not the best design by a long shot, but it works via familiarity. The taskbar-bottom-with-start-button layout is what many computer users grew up with that are my age or a bit younger. Microsoft is smart enough to know not to upset the apple cart too much.

Talking of apple, do yourself a favor and look at the various releases over the years. Not much has changed since they went OSx, and there are familiar features way back to the PowerPC macs that can be recognized by most Mac users.

Gnome-Shell is a departure

Look at Gnome 2.30, and Gnome-Shell. Weigh up the similarities, and the differences. Now imagine a user migrating from Windows and being given three options, KDE4, Gnome 2 or Gnome-Shell. While I wager Gnome 2 is the superior layout for now (more on that later) I believe KDE4 will win based on first impression familiarity alone. Gnome-Shell has none of that familiarity.

Gnome-Shell, while an exciting new direction in desktop design is a major departure from anything that has been done before. It is a good interface. Yes I have identified several areas where it is sorely lacking, areas like the lack of any ability to put any shortcuts or running applications in the top panel, no visual connection between the user or open applications or windows – you constantly need to dive into the Activities menu in order to see what is going on, and it becomes cumbersome because of that.

Despite those, and other design questionmarks, I believe Gnome-Shell is a great platform to build a user interface on. The Gnome team deserve applause for what they have achieved – a unique desktop experience, a new look, a fresh direction for desktop interfaces.

Wish List

Below is my Gnome-Shell wishlist. I am not arrogant enough to believe that I can suggest universally useful and acceptable improvements for this interface to the Gnome team, but these are what would make Gnome-Shell perfect for me, personally.

1. Indication of Open windows/programs. I would like to be able to glance to the top bar and see the minimised icons for every open window on a particular desktop. I usually work with a lot of open windows and terminals, and the lack of a way to keep track of them in Gnome-Shell is it’s biggest failing, in my opinion. Docky or AWN would have to fill that blank right now – unless Gnome-Dock is going to be integrated with Gnome-Shell come Gnome 3.
2. Panel Applications. The lack of panel applications removes a lot of basic functionality from the desktop. The inability to add applications to the panel is not good. I want to be able to add a shortcut to a program, or a launcher or system information widget to my panel. It aids me in my daily work.
3. Better notification popups. The inability to do anything with a popup that notifies you of a message or system event is frustrating. Make a larger area clickable than just the program icon in the corner of the popup. Since Gnome-Shell hides the actual application from me right now, I need to rely on notification popups to access the application that is relevant to an event. If you want Ubuntu Style no-clickity notifications you need to offer a better means of interacting with your applications. (For the record I love the Ubuntu Notifications system, but it only works because Ubuntu, with Gnome2, allows you to easily interact with the relevant application, negating the need to click on a notification – they are a well executed channel of information relevant to your desktop, a notification system in it’s purest form.)
4. A sidebar. I can fully understand the need for maximizing your top-to-bottom screen real estate – screens are becoming wider and shallower, having a top and bottom panel as is the case with Gnome2 is becoming less and less practical. If Gnome-Shell cannot provide the functionality of the current top and bottom panels in it’s new top-only panel it needs a sidebar. Look at Ubuntu Unity – although it is still in the very early stages of development, it is set to become a much superior interface than Gnome-Shell. A simple sidebar that would afford me the comfort of glancing across to see my open application’s placeholders would have improved my Gnome-Shell experience tenfold.
5. Better Arrangement of Applications Menu. Right now it is a mess. Applications should be grouped properly. Because of its current arrangement of icons I have used it less and less as the week went on.
6. Grid Layout of Virtual Desktops. Arranging them end to end with no option of arranging them in a grid is counter productive. Give me the option of having six desktops three on top, three at the bottom and I would have been much happier this week.

Notice that I did not mention other things like fancy compositing effects, different wallpapers for each desktop or any of a myriad of nice to have features that have been lacking in Gnome-Shell up until now. I believe they contribute to the desktop experience, but I can live without them entirely. You may not, hence I stressed that this is my personal wishlist.

Summary

I set up another login on my laptop – it logs into Gnome-Shell by default. As the development of Gnome-Shell continues until the October release date I will continue to keep an eye on it. Heck, I might even use it from time to time, it is a great start to something potentially awesome.

My week with Gnome-Shell was certainly very informative, and it gave me a lot of insight into what I prefer in a desktop environment.

Will Ubuntu use KDE3 and Gnome Shell come Maverick Meerkat October? I honestly don’t know. Last time I lurked around launchpad a firm decision has not been made. What I DO know is that if Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat sports Gnome-Shell in its current form there will be a lot of unhappy users out there.

I know that Unity is slated as the future interface of Ubuntu Network Remix, however, and I say it again – I would not be surprised if Unity makes its appearance on Ubuntu Desktop Edition. It also needs a lot of work, but it has the potential to become a superior interface to Gnome-Shell.

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