Glowing Gnome 2.11

[weekend warrior]

So who's tried Gnome 2.11?

Not much difference but one obvious thing is the active app panel glowing. I find it next to useless and extremely distracting. Does this annoy anyone else? It starts glowing while the app is loading (and OOo 2.0 seems just as slow as ever) then it just keeps glowing until you click on the app in question instead of timing out. There doesn't seem to be a menu item to permanently switch it off either.

Personally one of the reasons I enjoy using Gnome is because it's sedate and discreet, stays out of the way - in fact the very lack of all the bouncing cursors, fly-over balloon tips, glowing, blinking, magnifying this and that cowbells. It's a shame Gnome now feels the need to start competing in this area.

I think this glowing panel business is a step in the wrong direction. I'm concerned Gnome will go down the same path as other DEs, becoming less distinctive (and more annoying!) in the process.

Opinions?

[amoser]

No, I think that it is a step in the right direction. First of all, the default gnome Action when a program wants your attention, it steals the focus on you screen. (Ex. GAIM, when you get an instant message, and it pops to the top of the screen). See, the default gnome action is very unproductive, and can be quite annoying if you are doing multiple things that require typing. Second of all, if GNOME got ride of the steal focus feature, and left the glowing app out, there would be no way to tell if a program needed you attention or not. So yes, this is a very good step forward towards usability, and productivity.

~Alan

[TravisNewman]

oh I love the glowing taskbars. It's one thing it's been needing for ages.

[darrenadams]

I don't think this new feature in the panel will lead Gnome down the path of bouncy cursors, or tooltips that contain tiny thumbnails, or anything like that. To me, it's a useful addition as it lets you see whether another application requires your attention. I suppose an 'alternative' might be to have the application blink (or flash) rather than glow. This might be an alternative for people that have limited resources.

And on the subject of OO.o 2, I would like to see a more recent version without having to use scripts and unsupported debs.

[TravisNewman]

my fiancee has the patch to enable glowing on her 600 mhz celeron emachines, the computer that takes about 8 minutes to start OOo (sometimes that's not an exaggeration). The glowing doesn't suck out any of her resources.

[darrenadams]

Eight minutes to start OO.o? Is that for the 1.1.x or the 1.9.x versions? I would say that she should try Abiword but, good as that program is, OO.o does the Word document thing (assuming that's why she uses it) a lot better than Abi does at the moment

[tread]

I really like the glowing taskbar bit, its one of the missing things in gnome. And it is so much better than blinking.

[weekend warrior]

Agreed the focus stealing isn't good, that's more than annoying. This is just plain distracting - well progress anyway, heh :neutral: But at the very least if it timed out that would help. There are also other less distracting ways to notify a user. In the Gaim instance mentioned, when a message comes in it can trigger a small sound event.

For me, I just don't need or want this 'proggy needs my attention and won't stop til I see to it' deal. In any case shouldn't it be a choice, rather than obligation? I'd like a simple option to shut it off if I don't like it! I don't think that's asking much.

[Wolki]

Agreed the focus stealing isn't good, that's more than annoying. This is just plain distracting - well progress anyway, heh :neutral: But at the very least if it timed out that would help. There are also other less distracting ways to notify a user. In the Gaim instance mentioned, when a message comes in it can trigger a small sound event.

Yes, unless you're in another room, or the sound is off, or the sound blends well with the music... I can't count how often i saw messages *hours* later because i just didn't notice it earlier.
And the focus stealing prevention in gnome 2.10, while a good thing as i hate typing in the wrong window just because something opens, can be quite distracting if you don't see the window. I installed the glowing stuff (thanks to the one who did the howto!) and am really happy with it.

And timing out would IMHO greatly reduce the usefulness, because if i'm not at the computer at that point and return later it still wouldn't tell me in which window something interesting happened.


For me, I just don't need or want this 'proggy needs my attention and won't stop til I see to it' deal. In any case shouldn't it be a choice, rather than obligation? I'd like a simple option to shut it off if I don't like it! I don't think that's asking much.

Well, i found the glowing to be noticable, but not distracting because the effect looks nice and quite calm, not like hectic blinking or the like. Especially for programs that take a long time to load, like the OOo2 you've mentioned, it's nice if the program tells me when it finishes loading. ymmv, of course.

But keep in mind that offering simple options to enable/disable any feature is usually not how gnome works ;)

[weekend warrior]

But keep in mind that offering simple options to enable/disable any feature is usually not how gnome works Isn't that the truth.... I seem to be in a minority of one here. I wonder how many of you use light or very light themes and if this has a bearing on it. You can see how dark my preferred themes are (click on "got the blues?"). With this type of theme in a lower light environment, incessant glowing really does stand out to the point of distraction.

Well if this is the way Gnome is going, I'll have to pack my bags and move to a diffrent DE - more minimalist or something that will allow me to easily switch this type of stuff off - ironically enough, KDE might fit the bill.

[Wolki]

Isn't that the truth.... I seem to be in a minority of one here. I wonder how many of you use light or very light themes and if this has a bearing on it. You can see how dark my preferred themes are (click on "got the blues?"). With this type of theme in a lower light environment, incessant glowing really does stand out to the point of distraction.

OK, i tried some darker themes. It it a little more distracting when the font color goes to white on a dark theme in a completely dark room. I think i'd get used to it though, still easier on the eyes than blinking. I agree that the glow should use theme colors if possible; maybe you should contact the developers.


Well if this is the way Gnome is going, I'll have to pack my bags and move to a diffrent DE - more minimalist or something that will allow me to easily switch this type of stuff off - ironically enough, KDE might fit the bill.

Well, some people are happier with KDE. *shrug* I'm not one of them, but i won't force gnome on people who don't like the way it does things.

[poofyhairguy]

[QUOTE=weekend warrior]
Well if this is the way Gnome is going, I'll have to pack my bags and move to a diffrent DE - more minimalist or something that will allow me to easily switch this type of stuff off [\QUOTE]

I personally beleive that the rise of XFCE allows for Gnome to lose some of its simplicity without leaving behind those that dislike eyecandy but like GTK apps!

[TravisNewman]

exactly. I do remember a time when KDE was the heavy DE and Gnome was the light one. Now they're both heavy, and XFCE is the light one. I just hope XFCE stays light. I love having that option if I ever need it.

[Adrenal]

I'm gonna sound like a n00b, but how do I update to the now glowy GNOME?

[poofyhairguy]

I'm gonna sound like a n00b, but how do I update to the now glowy GNOME?

I bet the easiest way is to use Breezy if you want a new Gnome. Please note that Breezy is a time bomb (I used to use Hoary in development, I won't use breezy) and odd numbered Gnome releases are unstable ones.

[TravisNewman]

There's a howto in the howto section about how to get the patches to run it in hoary, which is what I'm doing. Very simple and straightforward. I'll see about tracking it down.

here it is:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=39776

[Adrenal]

Thanks for the help.
GNOME getting more eyecandy is...controversial i guess. Didn't LugRadio say that it was going to fork?

[poofyhairguy]

Didn't LugRadio say that it was going to fork?


Already was:

GoneME

http://www.akcaagac.com/index_goneme.html

Plus there is speculation that Gnome 3 would be a fork instead of an upgrade to Gnome 2.

[weekend warrior]

Originally Posted by poofyhairguy
I personally beleive that the rise of XFCE allows for Gnome to lose some of its simplicity without leaving behind those that dislike eyecandy but like GTK apps!
It's not the inclusion of more features or eye candy that's solely at issue, rather the lack of easy-to-use tools to deal with those features. People want glowing? *sigh* alright - but provide the tools to shut it off if someone like me doesn't want it. This is the problem. In fact, it begs the question - ask yourself, would this glowing even be an issue if Gnome had provided focus stealing options in the first place?

XFCE has an easy to use focus model options that include a "new window focus" tickbox to "automatically give focus to newly created windows" as well as other interface options lacking in Gnome that I look at and say "be nice if those were in Gnome!" In this sense iat least t's almost laughable to say "heavy" Gnome offers more to the user than "light" XCFE. Looking through XFCE options one comes to the conclusion that Gnome is incomplete or substandard in terms of interface management tools. This is the issue.

To illustrate, one of the better known examples we're all familiar with - changing the GDM is simple enough but what about the splashscreen? Is there any good reason to rummage through the config for this? I suppose this is what I'll have to do to switch off this glowing business too *sigh*. Is this really the way ahead for Gnome? Old style "registry" hacks? Is this enough when other environments like XCFE or even Enlightenment are clearly on their way up?

Note, this isn't me knocking Gnome because I like some other DE better (that's simply not the case) but rather me wondering what's going on in the heads of the Gnome community when confronted with these configurability shortcomings in side-by-side comparisons. More features? fine - but also the tools to easily manage them.

[weekend warrior]

Oh and btw - the easiest way to get wet with Gnome 2.11 is downloading the latest Gnoppix Live CD dev build taken from a snapshot of Breezy. I didn't have any major problems while playing around with it.

You'll find it in the download sites inside the gnoppix/beta folder >>> http://www.gnoppix.org/



EDIT: Apparently the one just released yesterday is also installable.