Customization

[therunnyman]

Perusing this thread (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=172375), I found a distinction drawn between "themability" and "customizability" in reference to GNOME v KDE, KDE being, according to the OP, more customizable than GNOME.

What I'm wondering is, what does that mean, "customizability"? I tried to glean a meaning from the thread, but I can't seem to. Having played with the three Ubuntu distros, they all appear to do essentially the same thing in pretty much the same way, the only stark glaring difference being appearance, so far as I can tell.

Is there more stuff to tweak in KDE than in GNOME or XFCE? I'm all about the tweak, but the tweaks look the same, just in different colors, or, occasionally, different applications.

therunnyman

[aysiu]

Theme-ability refers to the changing of icons, window decorations, and user interface appearances.

In this respect, Gnome is far superior. Just drag and drop a .tar.gz into the Theme Preferences window and the theme is installed.

Customizability has to do with changing functional options.

In this respect, KDE is superior. For example, how do you get num-lock to turn on at startup in Gnome? You install a program (numlockx). In KDE, the option is just a checkbox in the Control Center. KDE can do rotating wallpapers, one wallpaper per desktop, kiosk mode (though, apparently, this is coming for Gnome), keyboard shortcuts for launching apps (yes, you can do this in Gnome, too, but not with the menu editor--you need to dig into the configuration editor).

[therunnyman]

Ah, my old friend aysiu, we meet again.

I think I understand now. The theme thing made sense (I made two of my own, all by myself! Want 'em?); the whole "customize" thing didn't. Just as a case in point, my stinky, swampy brain had an immediate GNOME solution for the examples you give: numlock, different wallpapers on each desktop, rotating wallpapers, keyboard shortcuts, and so on are available on GNOME too (XFCE, I don't know).

Am I getting it? It's sorta like there are things in GNOME to be tweaked, they're just not as readily apparent as they are in KDE, right?

therunnyman

[aysiu]

Yes, in other words, when people talk about customizability or themeability, they're talking about something that's easy to do / easy to discover in the GUI.

Of course, you can do all those things in Gnome (numlock and such), but it's a bit out of the way. Same thing for theming in KDE--you can theme in KDE, but it's not as easy as drag-and-drop.

[therunnyman]

Roger, thanks brother.

therunnyman