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View Full Version : You know, I'm starting to hate animations and eye-candy on computers.



Redrazor39
December 22nd, 2008, 04:15 AM
It's almost like getting a hangover from the sugar high of the eye-candy. Now it's just annoying to me. Even on Windows, the subtle window fly-in effect bothers me because it feels so cumbersome.

I'm even starting to go retro and explore text interfaces (which is relatively new ground for me).

This is weird. Just a few months ago I loved "pimping out" my system with all the latest themes, etc., but now I hate that stuff.

magmon
December 22nd, 2008, 04:18 AM
Lol. I like uniqueness, so compiz is cool most of the time. However, I do agree that the basic stuff is a nice break. And, it works with games better!

MikeTheC
December 22nd, 2008, 04:49 AM
It's funny you should say you're experimenting with CLIs. There is a word processor being sold for Mac OS X which is a deliberate full-screen emulation of a text-based word processor. I mean, talk about "retro"...

Yeah, it's for Mac OS X and not Linux, but check this out...

Link: HogBaySoftware: WriteRoom (http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom)

-grubby
December 22nd, 2008, 04:51 AM
Your next step would be to adopt a new Desktop Envirornment/Window Manager. I'd suggest you start off with a *box or XFCE, and eventually progress to a tiling window manager.

jrusso2
December 22nd, 2008, 04:57 AM
First thing I turn off after install is the annoying animations and compiz.

SomeGuyDude
December 22nd, 2008, 04:57 AM
I'm on OpenBox now, sans eye-candy entirely.

Personally, I miss the flashy effects, but love the OB experience so I'm not going back. The bouncing dock icons and swooping windows leaves the desktop feeling like soft plastic objects instead of little lit-up squares of colored light.

the yawner
December 22nd, 2008, 05:38 AM
I keep my compiz running with minimal animations. Desktop wall instead instead of the cube. I dunno, but I've kinda grown used to wobbly windows making the window more tangible for me.

Dr Small
December 22nd, 2008, 05:43 AM
Your next step would be to adopt a new Desktop Envirornment/Window Manager. I'd suggest you start off with a *box or XFCE, and eventually progress to a tiling window manager.
+1
I'm on Openbox and am sick of the eye-candy, special effects of Compiz. It was fine for awhile, but it got old quick. I like a usable system that doesn't get in my way. "Worse is better".

SunnyRabbiera
December 22nd, 2008, 05:47 AM
Me I will probably use eye candy as long as I can, I rather not go back to the stone age of computers with CLI.

-grubby
December 22nd, 2008, 05:48 AM
Me I will probably use eye candy as long as I can, I rather not go back to the stone age of computers with CLI.

Eye candy != advancement.

SunnyRabbiera
December 22nd, 2008, 05:52 AM
Eye candy != advancement.

Well there should be a balance of eye candy and stability and for the most part linux does that :D
I know over eye candy is annoying, but hey when you have the power use it...
I dont see the issue with using eye candy when you can use it

-grubby
December 22nd, 2008, 06:02 AM
Well there should be a balance of eye candy and stability and for the most part linux does that :D
I know over eye candy is annoying, but hey when you have the power use it...
I dont see the issue with using eye candy when you can use it

Well, eye candy gets in my way. The effects get old, and it takes up more resources than I can afford to waste (I have 512 MB of RAM..)

namegame
December 22nd, 2008, 06:07 AM
Heck, I have 2 GB of RAM and I hate all forms of Eye-candy, I disable, or don't install, compiz or any sort of window compositing.

I like my system to be blazing fast and compiz is rather useless imo.

SunnyRabbiera
December 22nd, 2008, 06:27 AM
me I have fun, I only have 1GB of memory but I cook with effects and no slowdown :D

RiceMonster
December 22nd, 2008, 07:49 AM
I like having a nice theme, and when I run Xfce I use the built in compositor for real transparency and shadows around windows/menus. Subtle effects like that, I enjoy because they kind of "smoothen up" the look (plus, I haven't notice any performance change from it). Compiz, to me is just something to show off to friends. I find it very annoying using it for more than 15 minutes.

Sugz
December 22nd, 2008, 10:34 AM
Well this boils down to the question of what effects in compiz are actually usefull.
Coming from a guy who cannot stand bright white and has eyesight problems, i find such tools as the enhanced zoom, and colour adjustment perfect and very useful.
On the other hand, i also have window animations, only for close, minimize and these are fairly normal animations like zooms. But you can use alternative animations such as Burn and Warp effect. These are useless in that they require more graphics processing where there shouldn't be.
Also the zoom effect on menu's halps enhance the usability of the system, by offering a more interactive and presentational method of showing the users actions.
To me, there is nothing worse than not knowing what action you performed because there was no distinctive animation or action associates, say the window just disappears, if the minimize icons are not specified (like on some metacity themes) then the user will not have an immediate indication of what action they have performed.

Eisenwinter
December 22nd, 2008, 10:43 AM
I only tried compiz after several months on Ubuntu without looking at it, thinking it'll totally waste my resources.

So, it does have some cool things, but overall, no real use to them.

Now I'm on Openbox, and not going back ;)

CrazyArcher
December 22nd, 2008, 11:43 AM
Lame onboard GPU, so no Compiz stuff for me anyway...

kerry_s
December 22nd, 2008, 12:20 PM
i keep it simple, only what i need to get the job done.
if it wasn't for the kids there would be no icons at all or mixer to control the volume.

i have a right click menu, keyboard shortcuts and a run command that does everything i need.

habtool
December 22nd, 2008, 12:37 PM
I can highly recommend Crunchbang Linux, based off Ubuntu, with openbox.
A great setup for the more experienced user, maybe not for a beginner.
(No mounted HDD or cameras etc on desktop could be a problem for someone starting out in linux)


http://crunchbanglinux.org/
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/

Nepherte
December 22nd, 2008, 01:28 PM
In my experience, the eye candy tends to be less productive.

theevilhamster
December 22nd, 2008, 02:30 PM
It's almost like getting a hangover from the sugar high of the eye-candy. Now it's just annoying to me. Even on Windows, the subtle window fly-in effect bothers me because it feels so cumbersome.

I'm even starting to go retro and explore text interfaces (which is relatively new ground for me).

This is weird. Just a few months ago I loved "pimping out" my system with all the latest themes, etc., but now I hate that stuff.

I probably caught this thread a little late, but try pressing ctrl+alt+F6 to switch to tty6, another linux console with just CLI, doing the same with all the Fx keys opens different consoles F1==tty1 F2==tty2 etc... tty7 is the one with the GUI and X11 by default. You can also disable GDM by default on startup like i have, but the user switcher app dies for some reason. To do this go to; system -> administration -> services and disable gdm. to restart X11 in "text mode" type;.

startx.
.

I don't want to sound rude, but i haven't had any thanks yet even though i helped a few people, so if this helps you at all, click the little icon on the bottom left of my post. Just a quick reminder. THANKS LOADS!

habtool
December 22nd, 2008, 02:35 PM
I probably caught this thread a little late, but try pressing ctrl+alt+F6 to switch to tty6, another linux console with just CLI, doing the same with all the Fx keys opens different consoles F1==tty1 F2==tty2 etc... tty7 is the one with the GUI and X11 by default. You can also disable GDM by default on startup like i have, but the user switcher app dies for some reason. To do this go to; system -> administration -> services and disable gdm. to restart X11 in "text mode" type;.

startx.
.

I don't want to sound rude, but i haven't had any thanks yet even though i helped a few people, so if this helps you at all, click the little icon on the bottom left of my post. Just a quick reminder. THANKS LOADS!

I dont think he means to work only from a console with no Xserver at all :)

chucky chuckaluck
December 22nd, 2008, 02:39 PM
after a couple of years of being an openbox fascist and then a dwm fascist, i've finally had enough and have swung the other way. it won't last. a month from now, i'll probably be using ion3 in openbsd.

billgoldberg
December 22nd, 2008, 04:29 PM
It's almost like getting a hangover from the sugar high of the eye-candy. Now it's just annoying to me. Even on Windows, the subtle window fly-in effect bothers me because it feels so cumbersome.

I'm even starting to go retro and explore text interfaces (which is relatively new ground for me).

This is weird. Just a few months ago I loved "pimping out" my system with all the latest themes, etc., but now I hate that stuff.

I agree.

I don't use compiz fusion anymore.

It was great in the beginning, but now it's just not worth the little impact it has on my system.

I just use metacity compositing now. It's subtle and looks good. The only thing missing from the metacity compositing feature is the ability to drag a window to another workspace (you have to use the applet).

geoken
December 22nd, 2008, 05:33 PM
I've never been adversely effected by eye candy so I keep it. Maybe I'm weird, but I find myself perfectly capable of ignoring a window with even the most extreme eye candy (ie. a 2 second duration burning close animation).

nick09
December 22nd, 2008, 05:59 PM
A little eye-candy is fine. Its just all of them desktop cube and such effects are too much.

Eisenwinter
December 22nd, 2008, 07:46 PM
Eye candy is wonderful when it's also useful.

it begins to become annoying when it's overkilled (desktop cube, some may say, etc).

Though I believe some people do find the cube to be useful, it's a more fun way of navigating through your desktops, even though it's slower.

RiceMonster
December 22nd, 2008, 08:00 PM
To me, there is nothing worse than not knowing what action you performed because there was no distinctive animation or action associates, say the window just disappears, if the minimize icons are not specified (like on some metacity themes) then the user will not have an immediate indication of what action they have performed.

If it's in the taskbar but you don't see it on the screen, it's minimized. If the window suddenly filled the screen or stopped doing so, you toggled maximize. If the window is not seen, and it's not in the taskbar, it was closed.

That wasn't hard to figure out, was it? I mean, that shouldn't be something you should have to worry about if you're familiar at all with computers.

Also, if you don't like not having minimize icons specified, then don't use those themes.

lenswipe
December 22nd, 2008, 08:05 PM
am i missing someting or is that $24.99 program called write room just the same as vim?

Npl
December 22nd, 2008, 08:06 PM
The only usefull thing compositing adds is displaying Thumbnails in the Task-switcher (Alt-Tab). As metacity does that without unecessary bloat and tons of bugs, uninstalling compiz is the first thing I do.

And a short time therafter I`ll disable metacity since losing vsync in videos aint worth the advantages.

SunnyRabbiera
December 22nd, 2008, 08:17 PM
For me compiz was never that buggy, it works better then aero on most of the computers I have run it on.

Npl
December 22nd, 2008, 08:25 PM
I obviously dint run compiz for long (2 days or so), but I had tons of problems, I remember for example to have broken MDI-Windows (Windows within windows) in several wx-Widgets based apps.
One of these days I wondered if the average Ubuntu-User does nothing else than running Firefox and spinning Desktop-Cubes all day.

SunnyRabbiera
December 22nd, 2008, 08:46 PM
I obviously dint run compiz for long (2 days or so), but I had tons of problems, I remember for example to have broken MDI-Windows (Windows within windows) in several wx-Widgets based apps.
One of these days I wondered if the average Ubuntu-User does nothing else than running Firefox and spinning Desktop-Cubes all day.

No I use stuff like open office and stuff like that, I consider myself a "average user"

collinp
December 22nd, 2008, 08:58 PM
I am having the exact same feelings as the OP. I used to love adding tons of eye candy to my desktop, Compiz, Emerald, Cairo Clock, Screenlets, etc. Now they are all just annoying. I even went soo far as to switch to wmii on Arch to get rid of all the eye candy. Now I actually get things done.

geoken
December 22nd, 2008, 09:02 PM
I obviously dint run compiz for long (2 days or so), but I had tons of problems, I remember for example to have broken MDI-Windows (Windows within windows) in several wx-Widgets based apps.


In fairness, wxWidget apps are few and far between. The only one I can remember using in recent memory is the old VLC and I never had an issue while spawning a child window (via the options panel or using the detached player controls).

gjoellee
December 22nd, 2008, 09:04 PM
I use Xfce 4.6 Beta 2 with only Xfce's own window manageing (putting shodw and a little transparency on windows)

inxygnuu
December 22nd, 2008, 09:07 PM
I kinda get what you mean. I think they should continue to make eye-candy, but if you look at me, I cant go beyond a month with the same wallpaper. theme too, my windows just switched it's theme after I got it running again.

init1
December 22nd, 2008, 09:15 PM
It's funny you should say you're experimenting with CLIs. There is a word processor being sold for Mac OS X which is a deliberate full-screen emulation of a text-based word processor. I mean, talk about "retro"...

Yeah, it's for Mac OS X and not Linux, but check this out...

Link: HogBaySoftware: WriteRoom (http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom)
$25 dollars for a text editor?! Who would pay for that? If you want less distractions, enter a virtual console and start up nano.

stauntonel
December 22nd, 2008, 09:38 PM
Me i like a minimal install, eye-candy is fine but why install it by default? A nice looking wallpaper and nice icons is enough for me, i get drunk of all those spinning cubes and wobbeling windows.

doorknob60
December 22nd, 2008, 09:38 PM
Kinda why I use Openbox. Simple, Light, Stable, no-frills WM that works great, and I don't have to disable it every time I wanna play a game :-P Compiz is nice, but it's a toy, Openbox is a tool.

stauntonel
December 22nd, 2008, 09:39 PM
I like a minimal install, eye-candy is fine but why install it by default? A nice looking wallpaper and nice icons is enough for me, i get drunk of all those spinning cubes and wobbeling windows.

-grubby
December 22nd, 2008, 09:44 PM
$25 dollars for a text editor?! Who would pay for that? If you want less distractions, enter a virtual console and start up nano.

I agree. I'd much rather use Crimson or Vim.

dizee
December 22nd, 2008, 10:00 PM
Compiz doesn't work as well as it used to on my system so I dropped it.

Besides, while some of the stuff is very useful, I can live perfectly well without it.

Currently in Xfce, have went through brief spells with Openbox and wmii and will probably continue to play around with them every so often.

I also find that it's a myth that you need Compiz for your system to look nice. There are some great Openbox, Xfce etc themes. Likewise Compiz can be nice with a more minimalist look. As for wmii, well... it has a certain geeky charm.

AlanR8
December 22nd, 2008, 10:17 PM
First thing I ever did with XP was turn off animations and effects. Compiz is nice, and I have it installed for fun, but I DON'T use it!

I like snappy performance, I don't want to see menus taking seconds to open blah blah.............

Can't see that it effects the almighty "productivity"......

SunnyRabbiera
December 23rd, 2008, 02:45 AM
I like a minimal install, eye-candy is fine but why install it by default? A nice looking wallpaper and nice icons is enough for me, i get drunk of all those spinning cubes and wobbeling windows.

well for the vista and OSX user they are expecting effect, thats why compiz is becoming a standard

Lightstar
December 23rd, 2008, 03:29 AM
I usually have 2 desktops, well.. 2 sessions.
My last ones were a pimped out gnome+compiz+awn+etc and my second session was a very clean e17 desktop used for gaming.

I totally hate those desktops where all we see is terminals, I don't really call it a desktop, it's more like a multi-lines command line screen.

So anyway.. that's what I do, 1 eye candy desktop and 1 gaming desktop.

SunnyRabbiera
December 23rd, 2008, 03:59 AM
for me I see no reason to use wmii or anything like it, unless you have a low grade compy.
I dont so I use desktops without CLI

RiceMonster
December 23rd, 2008, 04:09 AM
for me I see no reason to use wmii or anything like it, unless you have a low grade compy.
I dont so I use desktops without CLI

I don't like tiling wms, but it's not just because they're lightweight that people use them. They like the way they try to take full advantage of screen space and don't have windows overlap without having to manually resize them yourself. Also, the keyboard control they offer is also very appealing to many people.

I use the CLI all the time. I use Xfce or Openbox, depending on how I'm feeling though. I have them both set up very similar.

Achetar
December 23rd, 2008, 04:10 AM
Eye candy != advancement.


You said it and said it well.

I use fluxbox+GTK aurora+KDE4 oxygen. And that's it (besides a cpumon and netmon in the slit).

chucky chuckaluck
December 23rd, 2008, 04:13 AM
for me I see no reason to use wmii or anything like it, unless you have a low grade compy.
I dont so I use desktops without CLI

organization of one's desktop is the reason to use a tiling window manager. you can still use a lot of high dollar apps with one.

-grubby
December 23rd, 2008, 04:14 AM
for me I see no reason to use wmii or anything like it, unless you have a low grade compy.
I dont so I use desktops without CLI

There isn't really any need to use it, but there is a want factor and I can't really embrace anything that doesn't tile.

chucky chuckaluck
December 23rd, 2008, 04:16 AM
if it's any comfort to you, sunny, xmonad involves a huge haskell installation.

dizee
December 23rd, 2008, 05:41 AM
organization of one's desktop is the reason to use a tiling window manager. you can still use a lot of high dollar apps with one.

Agreed. At first I didn't really get it, but after playing around a bit I realised that tiling just makes so much more sense.

Particularly with terminal apps but not only - plus wmii offers the ability to use a floating mode for those that don't work so well.

But it's not to everyone's taste. It's about efficiency of use as much as memory consumption etc too, something I didn't really understand before I tried it.

PurposeOfReason
December 23rd, 2008, 07:37 AM
I've never really had a problem with compiz. I've used just about any non obscure wm/de out there and in the end, it was all about how I had the system configured. I can run openbox fast, but with a goot xorg.conf and the right install with arch, I can get compiz just as fast. I usually don't use anything too fancy though. just simple fades, opacity and wobbly windows.

For that I think kde is going in the right direction for most users. Once 4.2 hits I'll be seeing how that goes. :)