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Lord DarkPat
January 17th, 2008, 09:49 PM
I'm happy KDE to XFCE convert.
Lets start out, why do you like xfce, and what advantages does it have for you?
Me, I like the non-bloated, sort of tough to configurem but still works well interface, I don't know exactly why, but I just like it

kellemes
January 17th, 2008, 10:11 PM
Gives me what I need, no more, no less, well.. I think the menu-editor sucks big time.
Can't actually say too much about XFCE but that's XFCE I guess.. it's there but you hardly notice, perfect!

Steveway
January 17th, 2008, 10:16 PM
Gives me what I need, no more, no less, well.. I think the menu-editor sucks big time.
Can't actually say too much about XFCE but that's XFCE I guess.. it's there but you hardly notice, perfect!

Yes pretty exactly.
Even though you can 'pimp' it up to the max, it doesn't get in the way.
The included apps are pretty good, I like mousepad for quick file-editing and thunar and ristretto are awesome.

bapoumba
January 17th, 2008, 10:28 PM
Funny.. I've been using Xfce for over a year now, after I got a low config computer. Even for my regular laptop that can handle GNOME.
I set up a GNOME desktop for my son, on his own Christmas computer. CompizFusion and all the jazz.

I gave it a go on my own laptop, for a couple days. Believe me or not, I'm back with basic Xfce :)

Desktop effects are not what I am looking for, Xfce compositor is just what I need, a little transparency and voilą !
I tweaked the desktop icon labels for transparency too. I would like to have a real transparent panel though. Last time I checked, I could not find anything useful for panels (background picture, nope).

I use the apps from xubuntu-desktop, added OpenOffice, gobby, gajim, a couple other things I need, and I am a happy camper.

SZF2001
January 17th, 2008, 10:38 PM
Man, XFCE is a ball buster for me. I really, REALLY wanna use it - but the ONE THING holding me back is the menu editor. Seriously, I can't stand seeing programs I don't use (I like AcidRip, but I don't use MPlayer (VLC for me), which is required for AcidRip)... It just bothers me so much. I know, I know, it's picky, but dammit it's Open Source, these type of things should be no problem!

Lord DarkPat
January 17th, 2008, 10:43 PM
I totally agree. The KDE menu editor is unbeatable and xfce editor sux hard!!

koleoptero
January 17th, 2008, 10:56 PM
I had installed xubuntu once upon a time too (about 3 months ago that is) and the only thing I didn't like is that I use two languages (greek-english) and I couldn't figure out how to configure xfce to switch between these two configurations with a keyboard shortcut (like the classic alt+shift). Other than that I was thrilled with the system. It looks good and is so lightweight that it worked lightning fast.

DrMega
January 17th, 2008, 11:02 PM
Its fast, light, clean, functional and stable. What more can I say.

crimesaucer
January 18th, 2008, 03:31 AM
I love xfce4, but the 2 things that need a lot of work are the menu editor and the xfce4-panel.


I don't mind the menu editor as much because I just use a launcher for my favorite apps, but the panel is an important part of the overall theme and appearance of the desktop.


I feel that the gnome-panel is so much better than xfce4-panel. The transparency shouldn't make the icons transparent as well, and up until a week ago I had been using a .gtkrc-2.0 so my xfce4-panel could use a pixmap bg image... but something changed during one of my recent updates in Arch and the panel image won't work correctly now.


I sort of miss the gnome sounds also.


But overall, I find xfce4 with xfwm4 compositing the fastest and best desktop environment for me.

Polygon
January 18th, 2008, 06:09 AM
i agree that menu editor and the panel are the two worst things in xfce at the moment. The fact that you cant position panel items exactly where you want is a bother, and the menu editor is confusing and doesnt let you edit the already existing menu. what gives?

erfahren
January 18th, 2008, 06:39 AM
I agree that probably the only real shortcoming of Xfce is the menu situation.

this Xubuntu blog post (http://xubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/08/04/howto-remove-menu-entries-from-the-system-menu/) shows how to remove items. I've tried creating desktop entries for it (and I'm fairly sure they were correct) - but couldn't get them to show up.

The only ones I could get to show were the ones I put into ~/.local/share/applications - and they just show up under "Other"

I've tried putting them into /usr/share/applications and /usr/share/app-install/desktop

I've installed a few more of the Xfce Goodies (http://goodies.xfce.org/) (through Synaptic) - there are a few good ones - I like the datetime plugin - it uses the basic options of the "date" command (see the man page (http://www.linuxcommand.org/smp_d.php) ) -- check them out if you haven't already!

jrusso2
January 18th, 2008, 08:14 AM
I will stick with KDE. Last time I used XFCE I found it extemly buggy and unstable.

Never knew what was going to crash and when I logged in never knew what the taskbar was going to look like or if it would even be there.

Lord DarkPat
January 18th, 2008, 08:23 AM
I don't like the gnomified look of xfce. I hate GNOME to the core, it just makes me feel eerie. jrusso2, I dunno why that happened to you? It used to happen to me in KDE becuz of compiz

capink
January 19th, 2008, 02:22 AM
I love xfce4, but the 2 things that need a lot of work are the menu editor and the xfce4-panel.


I agree with this. I never use xfce4-panel. I replace with either gnome-panel or lxpanel.

I think another shortcoming of xfce, is the lack of something like gnome-vfs. Because of this thunar cannot ( out of box ) access network shares and search for files capablity is suffering as well. I don't need those two things, but I think a lot of people will not use xfce because of them.

cardinals_fan
February 3rd, 2008, 02:05 AM
There's a solution to the menu-editing issue. Just follow the instructions here (http://wiki.xfce.org/faq#menu) under "How to edit the auto generated menu with the menu editor?".

gn2
February 3rd, 2008, 03:13 AM
I agree that probably the only real shortcoming of Xfce is the menu situation.

this Xubuntu blog post (http://xubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/08/04/howto-remove-menu-entries-from-the-system-menu/) shows how to remove items. I've tried creating desktop entries for it (and I'm fairly sure they were correct) - but couldn't get them to show up.

The only ones I could get to show were the ones I put into ~/.local/share/applications - and they just show up under "Other"

I've tried putting them into /usr/share/applications and /usr/share/app-install/desktop


The instructions for installing Sunbird here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1622240&postcount=1) shows how to make menu items show up in the desired Menu Category.

At the bottom of the post is the code to enter into the required text file, the all important bit is the last line "Categories=Application;Office;" this makes the Sunbird app shortcut appear under Office in the XFCE menu.

gn2
February 3rd, 2008, 03:16 AM
Last time I used XFCE I found it extemly buggy and unstable.

How long ago and what version of XFCE?

erfahren
February 3rd, 2008, 05:03 AM
The instructions for installing Sunbird here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1622240&postcount=1) shows how to make menu items show up in the desired Menu Category.

At the bottom of the post is the code to enter into the required text file, the all important bit is the last line "Categories=Application;Office;" this makes the Sunbird app shortcut appear under Office in the XFCE menu.
thanks - I did actually try that the first time, copying the "Category" information off of an entry in /usr/share/applications but it didn't seem to work for some reason - I might've changed the entry a little.

anyway, I tried it again and it worked this time. (I also removed the original "Xfce4 Menu" applet from the panel and re-added it - that may have had something to do with it, I don't know.)

init1
February 3rd, 2008, 05:37 AM
I'm using XFCE in Xubuntu right now but I'm not very impressed with it. It's like Gnome, but without some of Gnome's useful features. I like the theme and setting management better in XFCE though.

Sunflower1970
February 3rd, 2008, 06:01 AM
The more I use it, the more I like XFCE. I have pure XFCE4 instead of Xubuntu and find it's even lighter, and faster than Xubuntu.

And I also dislike that menu editor.

jrusso2
February 3rd, 2008, 06:38 AM
How long ago and what version of XFCE?

It was when the last version just came out and the task bar on the bottom kept changing.

One day the short cuts would be there and the next time I logged on either the bar would be gone or it would have different items on it.

Also like everyone else said the menu editor was a pain but I could have lived with that if only my settings would stick.

agim
February 3rd, 2008, 07:22 AM
Personally, I love xfce. I can't get over the speed. I am running it on a relatively new computer, dual core a gig of ram. Its just too fast, too efficient for me to use anything else.

gn2
February 3rd, 2008, 11:52 AM
It was when the last version just came out and the task bar on the bottom kept changing.

Were you using 3D Compiz or Beryl effects at the time?

qazwsx
February 3rd, 2008, 12:09 PM
It's better than GNOME but I didn't find the to change default file browser to dolphin (renaming binaries didin't do the trick). Too tightly integrated.