What you like about Unity, Gnome and other desktop environments

[Dragonbite]

So many threads about "hating Unity" or not liking any other desktop environment such as Gnome shell.

What I want to bring up is what do you LIKE about any of the desktop environments? Please say what you like technically and not "I like X because it isn't Y".

For example, I have a Gnome installation on my laptop and there are a few things I like about Gnome:

Clicking on the date/time on the panel brings up a calendar that is (supposed to be) linked to my Google Calendar
In Activities view can see each of the open windows, can close them individually or easily grab any of them and move them to another workspace
An extension that auto-rotates my wallpapers (even if I had to edit the .config file to say it supports Gnome 3.14)
The Activities panel just shows the open windows and available applications with simple search. It is uncluttered.
The Gnome-included apps (Web, Music, Photo, Video) looks like they have potential for being light and easy to use
Attachment to online accounts


Unity:

The icons in the status menu (top-right side of panel) makes viewing and getting into certain applications easy (such as easily seeing when Copy is synchronizing)
Consistent access to controlling music playing apps under the volume icon instead of different one s for different programs (I use Phitos and the default music player)
Familiar feel (Ubuntu 12.04 on family desktop).
Accessing favorite applications without having to go into the overlay (Dash/Activities)


In general I think the biggest preference with Gnome over Unity is the Activities window. Wallpaper changing can be done with Wallch in Ubuntu easily enough.

So, what do YOU like about your desktop environment?!!

(remember, no liking X because it isn't Y, nor putting down any environment, only positive comments)

[stalkingwolf]

I like the Mate desktop simply because it give me aplets and the option of the old apps places system menu. very handy when teaching a new user.

[Linuxratty]

I like the Elementary OS desktop because it's crisp and clean and very intuitive.
I also have a menu. The only thing I don't like about it is you can't right click on the desktop to open up stuff.

[nerdtron]

Things that makes me always go back for XFCE:
1. Single click on taskbar icon to change between windows (no groupings, no single icons).
2. Original Alt+tab to switch windows.
3. Move the Taskbar either on top or bottom. Works great for years. Still works now.

And I like KDE too.

Some more on the new Xfce.
1. The default icons and color theme are quite nice in Xfce saves time on customization.
2. The new whisker menu is great. I've been longing for this feature in Xfce.
3. New window management features are here too.
4. Thunar gets updated with support for tabs (Finally!).
5. Simple layout and lightweight.

[Elfy]

post #4 and the thread is already offtopic - THIS thread is about what you LIKE in something there are already threads to complain in - go complain in those.

Thanks.

[Dragonbite]

Things that makes me always go back for XFCE:

Thank you for changing your post! Those are good points, too.

I forgot that I still have a Netbook running Xubuntu and the Whisker menu is definitely better than the old menu style!

[Elfy]

my thanks too ;)

[buzzingrobot]

I find that I'm increasingly agnostic about interfaces, or maybe just easier to please. But, here goes:

1. Virtual workspaces: Must have. One app per workspace plus a dropdown tabbed terminal. Gnome Shells dynamic workspace management suits me best. Cinnamon's suits me least.

2. Changing workspaces with a mouse wheel: Addicted. (Cinnamon lacks it, at least the 2.4 release in Mint 17.1, which is otherwise a beautiful and smooth release.)

3. High quality font rendering -- Not really a factor of DE choice, but it's close. Ubuntu's is the best. I won't consider using -- even testing -- another distribution if it doesn't use the Ubuntu font patches. Almost everything I do with a computer involves writing and reading. Why look at ugly text all day?

4. A dock: Preferably on the left side. (A hangover from years of running OS X alongside Linux.)

5. Dashes/Overview/WhatNots: Instead of menus. No one has come up with the perfect answer for finding apps, etc., on your machine. Menus are fine when they only have relatively few entries. At some point, though, they become ungainly and annoying.

[grahammechanical]

I stayed with Unity because I wanted to follow the development path of Ubuntu. I am now used to Unity. I could get used to another user interface in time. For me, the user interface is not important.

I like the wide open space that I get with the Launcher set to auto-hide. It means that the user interface only takes up the minimum of desktop space. I never did like a desktop littered with icons. The Launcher and the Dash combined let me have both an application centric and document centric way of working depending upon my mood of the moment. There is no need for both application icons and document icons on the wallpaper.

I like the limited set of user adjustments that Ubuntu offers. I am not one to play around modifying the user interfaces. I am just not interested in that kind of stuff.

I like the Linux feature of having more than one work space and an easy way to switch between them. It means I do not have to minimise one application to get access to another application. Just switch workspaces and load the application on another workspace.

The Dash search function is very useful. But I never did find a way of working with the Hud.

Regards.

[kurt18947]

I use gnome-shell as my default desktop. A new install doesn't stay as-is for long though. I have a list of additional apps and a list of extensions. Once those are installed and configured I'm happy. Extensions are a primary reason for my preferring gnome-shell.

[Dragonbite]

I use gnome-shell as my default desktop. A new install doesn't stay as-is for long though. I have a list of additional apps and a list of extensions. Once those are installed and configured I'm happy. Extensions are a primary reason for my preferring gnome-shell.

Extensions are definitely the way to go for getting the most out of Gnome shell. I started a thread to try and find out what extensions people use and why. Would love to hear what you use (without derailing this thread).

C'mon by! :) http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2254072

[Ko_Char]

I like Unity because it can open multiple windows with the middle-mouse click on the icon in launcher.
I double-like it because it will spread multiple windows like Activities view for this particular program when I left-click on the icon. I can see the contents, choose the window I want or close it.
I triple-like it because I can also use Super+W keyboard shortcuts to spread all opened programs like Activities view.

[mJayk]

I currently use gnome I like unity it looks nice and it "behaves" the same was gnome does. The only reason I use gnome over unity is my games seam to behave better when using two monitors.

I like them both because I like the side dock that gets out of your way and allows you to get work done. I also like the top status bar in both for quick glances to get all your info.

[Dragonbite]

I double-like it because it will spread multiple windows like Activities view for this particular program when I left-click on the icon. I can see the contents, choose the window I want or close it.
I triple-like it because I can also use Super+W keyboard shortcuts to spread all opened programs like Activities view.

Oh! I'm going to have to try those. Is this on 14.04 or .10 (I have 12.04 currently)?

[RichardET]

I have tried all of the major display environments/GUI's; Unity seems to be the most polished and I like its consistency across new Ubuntu releases.

[deadflowr]

Oh! I'm going to have to try those. Is this on 14.04 or .10 (I have 12.04 currently)?

One of the things that endears me to unity is the amount of keyboard controls is has.
super + a will open the dash directly in the apps section, + f in the files + v videos, etc,etc.
One most people don't know is using alt+f1 to access the launchers quicklist functions.
Simply click alt+f1 then use the up/down til you get to your preferred launcher, then left/right to access the launchers quicklist functions.
Not nearly, or anywhere, as fast as using a mouse, but at least the function exists.
And of course the one keyboard command I use most often is super + #(number 0-9)which will launch which launcher for whichever number that launcher is within the top ten launchers in the launcher dock.Press/hold super to see which is set to what(I always set my terminal to 0(zero), like ground zero, or something.)
These controls have been the same with both 12.04 and 14.04.

[Dragonbite]

Is there a way to get the Dash to automatically show just the installed applications listing, opened up, similar to the Activities of Gnome Shell? That would probably sell it for me (esp. if it comes up quickly ;) )!

I often use the Super key to open the Activities in Gnome and would probably do the same in Unity.

[Daveski17]

I like the show/hide function of the icons bar in Unity.

[Dragonbite]

I like the show/hide function of the icons bar in Unity.

That reminds me, I like how the sidebar can be adjusted in size so that if you, like me, prefer it to be always visible it doesn't have to take up a large amount of screen real estate.

[trivialpackets]

I am terribly torn between gnome and unity.

Unity:
- Polish
- Alt key to search the menus of the active application
- Lots of themes that I like available

Gnome:
- Beautiful animations
- Extensions (wish they were simpler to keep updated though)

Both:
- Easy
- Keyboard navigation friendly
- Beautiful
- PPAs

It's an epic battle, and I honestly switch back and forth a bit. Getting either of them up to speed is something that I've broken down to a couple of different scripts that take me 90% of the way to a working system.

[Daveski17]

That reminds me, I like how the sidebar can be adjusted in size so that if you, like me, prefer it to be always visible it doesn't have to take up a large amount of screen real estate.

Yes, even though I normally hide it, resizing it smaller is a bonus too.

[Elfy]

Just testing intelligent hiding of the standard xfce panels and corner tiling in the same. They might make it to release for 15.04. While these things might be in gnome and unity - I'd not know anymore ;)

I'd agree with nerdtron's views in post #4 too.

Simply doing what I need it to do - big plus for me.

[user1397]

I've gotta say i'm quite impressed with kde4...I never really gave it a chance until now, and I've been running it for about a month now. I like how I can customize many things, even small details. I used to think maybe some configuration options were too numerous or too complex, but what's important is that they're there. Better for it to be there than not (imo) and if there're some options that you would never use, just ignore them.

I've gotten to like the overall look and feel of kde and qt apps...I think it is a beautiful desktop. I've replaced things like synaptic with muon, gparted with the kde partition manager, and so on. I thought I would be missing all those gtk apps I loved, but I'm finding plenty of qt apps which are awesome replacements and sometimes even improvements. I know you can just run either gtk or qt in any desktop environment, but I like the seamless integration of most qt apps with kde, so I tend to choose them over the gtk counterparts. I still have some gtk apps of course.

The 14.04 LTS of kubuntu has also been extremely stable for me, so that's always a plus hehe.