[clug] Gnome - Why? just Why?

George at Clug Clug at goproject.info
Mon May 27 14:15:13 UTC 2019


Hal,


You are correct when you said, "Some of your criticisms of gnome had
answers that turn up on the very first search engine hit" but they
don't usually give justifications. For a mouse user like myself, their
answers aren't solutions, just reasons not to use Gnome (i.e. Mouse vs
Keyboard navigation). 

To explain more clearly. Having been a mouse and menu user, whenever I
read "use this xyz keystroke combination", I interpret the statement
meaning, "the interface is so 'mouse-illiterate' you have to resort to
using near impossible-to-remember keyboard short cuts, like in the
pre-GUI days of WordPerfect".


And while I cognitively realise my  bios, my emotions do control my
acceptance of the keyboard usage instructions. 



To get around my emotional bios, I ask others, as they reassure me
that there is value in learning and using mouse-alternative methods
for GUI navigation, beyond just the concept of a mouse free GUI.


Time will tell if I am capable in learning enough keyboard short cuts
to allow me to use Gnome effectively. 



To ensure I give the Gnome interface a fair trail as it is designed, I
have turned off Window List and Applications menu, though I have left
Tray icons enabled so I can monitor when someone has left me a Discord
message.



 I would also prefer not to judge a GUI based only on my own
preferences, thus I like to learn from others WHY they have their
preferences. Please do not consider me to be bagging out on Gnome. 



For now I want to continue my quest to understand Gnome, it rationale
for its GUI navigation methods, its design layout, and presentation.


And as you and others indicate, in the end it it may simply come down
to preferences and what works best for various individuals. One thing
I appreciate with Linux, is we do have alternative GUIs to choose
from.

George.





On Monday, 27-05-2019 at 16:35 Hal Ashburner wrote:





On Mon, 27 May 2019 at 14:46, George at Clug via linux 
	*  wrote:



Hi, and once again, I want to say thanks to everyone for their
comments. I want to make comment to various points people have made.


Question: How is the Gnome way to find programs of a certain type,
like games, or photo editing programs, when you have do idea which
program but want to look though a list ?






One way is to do something like
super then type "edit photo" see what programs you have that might do
that. 


To take "games" as an example:
Super then type "game" - see some games
Super then type "game arcade" - see arcade games
Super then type "game card" - see card games
Super then type "game card" - what tile games do you have
Super then type "game board" - the obvious thing


Categories can be overlapping sets, meaning you can get what you're
looking for using any of them, fast. I like that a lot better. Other
people's different preferences are equally valid, it's simply taste
after all.


Just quietly I want to make a comment on your posts:


Some of your criticisms of gnome had answers that turn up on the very
first search engine hit. You seem to have leapt to conclusions that
perhaps didn't bare out after a slightly deeper look. I don't much
like it when people heap abuse on things I love, it's a quite human
response. Just give that some thought. Do you want to learn how this
different thing works or do you want to find that it's awful and
unusable so you were right all along? The latter is a very easy trap
to fall into, I've done it myself and that's fine, especially in
private. As I've mentioned a few times there is absolutely no reason
to use Gnome if you don't like it. None. I know Linus enjoys abusing
s**t out of gnome and its developers but that doesn't make the
practise any more attractive. He's done the same for the GPLv3 license
and even to someone local and well-liked who wrote a Free revision
control client once. [1] Xfce is a very fine window manager. I hope
you enjoy using it as much as I do gnome. I think we would all agree
it would be very silly for me to point out occasions where I think
Gnome has better functionality than Xfce. Xfce is really great at what
it is and its developers have a right to be very proud of it.


Good luck mate.

Peace.


[1] I had the good fortune to be in the crowd (as some of you may have
been) when Tridge crowdsourced a shell implementation of a bitkeeper
client contributing zero code himself and in under 3 minutes. One of
the most devastating comebacks I've ever witnessed and just
beautifully good humoured throughout. Linus now of course claims that
the popular revision control system he wrote in the fallout of all
that was named after Linus himself and not Tridge as originally
advertised. That's a pretty reasonable mea culpa I guess. 


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