Hey guys, I’m just an ordinary dev looking for something to work on. While messing around with my hobby projects, I couldn’t help but notice that under the surface, there are a lot of places that the libre desktop can be improved. I’d like to take on your suggestions on what I should seriously consider working on and helping out with.
Thanks for any comments and suggestions.
(For those wondering, I’m still working on my other stuff.)
Multiple workspaces per monitor, like OSX has. Currently it’s multiple monitors per workspace. So, switching workspaces switches all monitors instead of just the active one. Both Gnome and KDE get this wrong. Only esoteric WMs like i3 and awesome get it right, but they are not suitable for most people.
Sorry, but what is the use case for workspaces?
Maybe I’m just a crusty old user (working with computers since 1982), but I prefer everything immediately visible and accessible all the time. I just don’t understand what the difference is between minimizing a program and shoving it onto a completely different workspace.
If anything, IMO it just generates needless confusion as I thrash trying to figure out why I cannot find a certain program that’s supposed to be up and running.
I have far too many windows open to display everything at once, even with my 3 widescreen monitors (the curse of being a developer). I usually need about 4-5 workspaces to organise everything. Sometimes more. Often there are also multiple windows arranged on a single screen (I use tiling, so windows never overlap). I know by heart which application is on what workspace and screen (because it’s always the same). Because each workspace has a hotkey (Win + a numbered key) I can instantly pull up any window that I need, without searching for it.
I like to set up workspaces for general categories of software. For example, I tend to have a “work” workspace and a “communcation” workspace. I’ll have my IDE, a terminal window, my notes, a web browser etc. open across my two monitors in one workspace, and then email, Slack, Signal etc. open in another.
They all stay open all the time, and stay where I put them on screen, no minimizing. I nearly never look down at the window list to process if an app is open. If I hear a message arrive notification, I don’t really have to think about it, my hands just go to the hotkey, and my eyes look where the window should be.
Tiling everything on one workspace, even with two monitors doesn’t leave enough from for doing much work, and minimizing things means you have to consciously process “what app was that? What does the logo look like? Move mouse to, click there, where’d it open? Ah.”
I also wish for a complete desktop environment with workspace semantics of tiling wms. Someone’s actually building one out of sway, I remember. Don’t remember the name though.
I also have high hopes for Pop! OS, but it looks like they are trying to be a full DE instead of just a set of Gnome extensions now.
I just checked the name. It’s nwg-shell. Last time I tried was around 8-10 months ago, I think and it was still rough around the edges. Seems to have matured quite a bit.
Thanks, I will check it out!