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GNOME 3.4 Released

Posted by Unknown on from the desktop-develops-sock-thievery-problem dept.

supersloshy writes "The popular GNOME desktop environment has just announced the release of version 3.4. User-facing updates include, among others, a new look for many GNOME applications, smooth scrolling support in GTK, integrated document search in GNOME Shell, a new dynamic background, improved accessibility configuration options, new high-contrast icons, and more documentation. Developer-facing improvements include the release of GTK+ 3.4 and updates to standard GNOME libraries as part of the latest GNOME Developer Platform."

7 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Epiphany - Web by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Epiphany, the GNOME web browser, has been renamed Web. "

    Ok. Now that I learned what Epiphany is, it changes. Not that the original name meant anything useful, but Web is even worse: too general.

    1. Re:Epiphany - Web by tuppe666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They did the same thing years ago with Totem, which is just called "Movie Player" (to considerable annoyance).

      What is wrong with it, is it needs no be universal. Its time to get rid of ALL the silly naming. Thing what is wrong with "Gnome Movie Player" or "Gnome Web". Let the renaming continue; "Epiphany" and "Totem" mean nothing.

    2. Re:Epiphany - Web by b4dc0d3r · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is a good idea. It is entrenched, however, by the idea of a 'unix name' or 'package name'. At sourceforge, you register with a unix name, which is in the URL. So the featured project Scribus is located here:
      http://sourceforge.net/projects/scribus/

      I need to install KDevelop, which package do I get? Easy, it should be apt-get kdevelop. What about "KDE Development Studio"? Well, I'd probably need some sort of GUI thing to let me select, and then know what the package name is.

      Short, unique names are how we do things, and getting that to change will require more than just the projects changing the official names. It has to satisfy the point-and-click people as well as the command-line people.

  2. Re:My commentary... by Nerdfest · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Well said. Most of the things I need are now handled, or are at least configurable. The speed is good (I find Unity extremely slow on my low-powered laptop, while Gnome Shell is fast). The Gnome Live extensions integration is quite nice, but a better grouping/searching facility would be nice. I do find that Gnome shell leaks memory, but at least it can re re-started quickly and easily if required with no application closing required. I find the notifications are still not quite as nicely integrated as in Gnome 2 or even Unity.

  3. interesting consequence of gnome 3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It added two more desktop environments to the linux world: Mate (a fork of Gnome 2 http://mate-desktop.org/ ) and Cinnamon (a fork of Gnome 3 http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/ ). These new alternatives to Gnome 3 don't get the attention that they deserve.....

  4. Re:My commentary... by Pi1grim · · Score: 3, Interesting

    > The Gnome Live extensions integration is quite nice

    Are you kidding me? The sole fact, that the only place where you can turn extensions on and off is website is somewhat strange, if not you use a stronger word. Imagine me installing an extension and then needing to disable it later on — I need internet connection to disable an extension that is already installed on my system. This whole web-centric touch-ui with special disabilities support policy is leaving majority of users with unusable interface. Well, I guess, at least those people with special needs, that use Gnome3 on a x86 tablet while having a 24/7 internet connection will be delighted.

  5. Re:Engineers. They love to change things. by nschubach · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You can't favorite a program you download off the Internet to a subfolder of your home folder without that .desktop file. That's a usability problem. I don't care what the standard says.

    If you mean pin apps that don't have .desktop files - that is a freedesktop standard.

    Fine.. .then have Gnome Shell create that .desktop file using the executable name and default the path to the folder you ran it from and add it to favorites. Is it really that hard? Currently, if I right click on an app in that bar there is no option to add it to favorites. I have to open a terminal to run the application every time. The only workaround without manually creating the desktop file is using alacarte, but I find that doesn't always put the run path in the desktop files and some apps don't like that.

    You can do it in Unity, however. But Unity has some other really big issues that keep me from using it.

    As for default to lauch - https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/67/dash-click-fix/

    This should be a setting somewhere. I still don't know how to add/search for extensions (without this webpage?) Last time I checked by typing Extensions in launcher search, nothing comes up. There's also no apparent visible way to do it from the task bar or launcher. I can download new background images fairly easy... why are extensions hidden away?

    --
    Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.