GNOME 3.36.1 Released With First Batch Of Fixes

[leipero]

Thanks Britoid and George99

I know enough now to get what you are both saying. Stock Gnome has a built-in shell theme without a name, the default GTK (or applications??) theme is Adwaita. Both the default no-name shell theme and Adwaita GTK/applications theme have the curvy thing going on, working in tandem, but are independent.

If I install a theme package, like Zukitre or Zukitwo, as mentioned above, I get both the shell theme and GTK/applications theme, which also work in tandem, and ditches the curves! Got it, and yeah they both look great in my ever so humble opinion!

Thanks again!

In a way, they are right, Shell is separate from GTK, however, that's not where division stops, for 'applications' you have two separate themes as well, GTK-3+ and GTK-2, so while technically correct, it is a thin line where we should draw for something being 'different'. Last time I've checked, Gnome Shell 'theme' had far more in common with GTK-3+ than GTK-3+ with GTK-2, at least from CSS perspective and building process (processing with sass). Personally, I would call it 3+ components of one actual theme.

On topic, with release 3.36+ it seems that desktop background loads at latter point, making experience less seamless, I didn't have time nor will to bother to even change background, maybe that would fix it, just an interesting observation.

[mppix]

If you switch to a compact GTK theme (windows title bar), a compact shell theme and the Unite extension, then go back to Adwaita and no extension, you'll understand how much white space there is. Such a waste!
On a laptop, that's 1.5 cm of vertical space you just lost to display a page or a text.

I find it very much acceptable for 13" but I can see the point for 11" or lower. Still this is a mere installation of a theme. There is even Adwaita-comapct

https://github.com/abihf/adwaita-compact

Cheers

[Mario Junior]

I have a bug that prevents me from opening extension preferences. 😥️

I reported this on Fedora 32: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1812779

[uid313]

I reported this on Fedora 32: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1812779

I solved this on Ubuntu by installing the "gnome-shell-extension-prefs" package.

[Hibbelharry]

I've just discovered that this is not a bug. I have been waiting for days for an update that would fix this issue.
Well, apparently they decided with 3.36 that it required a separate package (gnome-shell-extension-prefs). I could have waited for years if I didn't read it in a comment section.

Because, of course, they don't give you any information whatsoever. Where to get extensions? Meh... Holding the power off button to magically see the suspend button appear? Meh. Gnome Tweaks to modify basically anything. Meh. New package suddenly needed for extension prefs? Why bother communicating around it!
I'm following Gnome on Facebook (to try and stay informed) and yet it wasn't shared. Either they have their head so buried in the sand that they didn't think the info needed be relayed, or they work on a need-to-know basis and their users are not worth being in the loop. Actually, it's probably both, as it's been their way for as long as Gnome 3 has been out.

In 3.36, they also managed to change the top-right all-in-one indicator to make sure there is an extra step to suspend (it was a visible icon in 3.34, it's now a sub-menu line that needs to be expanded first).
It's just like the activities overview, the design is to add extra steps to get in your way. With no extensions, it's basically twice the time for the same workflow. They're adding workflow clutter on purpose. How nice is that?

From my point of view, it gets worse every single new version. I'm really disappointed with 3.36.

You might really be living under a rock. I've read multiple articles summing up Gnome 3.36 on different websites, like this very one and others, and pretty all of them talked about that new extensions app. See for example here...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNOME-Shell-Extensions-App

Funfact: You posted some comments in the forum post for that article.

[Mez']

You might really be living under a rock. I've read multiple articles summing up Gnome 3.36 on different websites, like this very one and others, and pretty all of them talked about that new extensions app. See for example here...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNOME-Shell-Extensions-App

Funfact: You posted some comments in the forum post for that article.

That article is reporting the availability of a new extensions app.
It's not mentioned (nor in other articles I've read) you would need extra package to manage extension preferences in Gnome Tweaks or on the installed extensions page of the extensions website. That it would break them, to say it as it is.

I stand by what I said. And see next comment for further reasoning.

[Mez']

Mez' That’s right. Blame the desktop for packaging problems that need to be solved by the distribution. 👏 👏 👏

Yes, I blame them. I just read within LibreOffice 6.4 a report on what's new in that version. On first launch. This is good practice. And has nothing to do with packaging. I've never had Gnome informing me of anything in such a way.

They just throw their changes at us buried 10 meters in the ground. You have to be the one to dig randomly to discover them. It should be made widely known. You have users opening bugs because they are not informed of it. That only should have you convinced!
I'm a business analyst, and that includes writing AND communicating (business and sometimes functional) release notes when delivering an update of an app to operational users. I know how this works. But hey! We all know Gnome is development-centered and not user-focused. I guess that's another example of why you don't let the geeks in the bunker handle communication (and design in this case). Ever.

[finalzone]

I'm a business analyst, and that includes writing AND communicating (business and sometimes functional) release notes when delivering an update of an app to operational users. I know how this works.

Communication seems a major issue in the world of open source. To reach GNOME team, here is the contact https://www.gnome.org/contact/ for feedback.

But hey! We all know Gnome is development-centered and not user-focused. I guess that's another example of why you don't let the geeks in the bunker handle communication (and design in this case). Ever.

The mistake in this case is assumption. GNOME Shell is actually user focused given its minimalistic approach of desktop. As a business analyst, you will need to provide a rationale about the improvement which can be done and either actively participate to the development or pay someone to do the task. Put to the perspective to GNOME developers, you will understand why.

[Mez']

Communication seems a major issue in the world of open source. To reach GNOME team, here is the contact https://www.gnome.org/contact/ for feedback.

I probably should.

The mistake in this case is assumption. GNOME Shell is actually user focused given its minimalistic approach of desktop. As a business analyst, you will need to provide a rationale about the improvement which can be done and either actively participate to the development or pay someone to do the task. Put to the perspective to GNOME developers, you will understand why.

It's not an assumption. It's years of experience with Gnome (2 then 3). As a business analyst, what you do is you listen to the end users' needs, you try to figure out (the fancy official word is "elicit") what they do and what they want. You sit next to them and look at what they do, or you go on workshops with them and formalize (not without challenging) what they're telling you they do. The only difference here is that the user base can do many many different things.

And yet, some common themes always pop back up.

So I'm afraid my assumption is right, they don't listen at all to their user base. I'm not asking them to let users decide for them. I'm asking them to let them have at least a few (or couple of) options when it's obvious a feature is widely asked for.

Also, you don't let Tobiases go out and say cr*p going against many people workflows or ideas of a desktop.

They have their head buried so deep - in their bu** - in the sand that they can't even hear people asking basic features (at least as options). And please don't tell me they have to hedge because of the burden of maintenance. They are reinventing the wheel on many many unnecessary/useless apps (that are done better and for much longer elsewhere). They just can't focus their resources on the things that matter (mostly options to Gnome, the lacklustre Nautilus, and the base apps you don't want to get elsewhere, like calculator, terminal, gedit, calendar, cheese, archive manager and some I forgot). Look at their apps page, it's huge. Only what, a third of them have some actual market penetration. The rest is NIMBY syndrome. Boxes, Maps, Evince... So many other apps that do what these do light-years better. sudo apt remove evince --purge or sudo pacman -R evince is your typical first command after installation or upgrade, followed by sudo apt install anyEffingDecentPDFReader (sudo pacman -S).

A couple of days ago, they had this April fool's joke of Knome (Gnome and KDE mix). And they mentioned "the configurability of Gnome and the simplicity of KDE". We all know it's the other way around of course, which was part of the April Fool's. Yet, if KDE can be configured, Gnome is not simple. It's over-simplistic. It's like a simpleton with 5 neurons. It looks like it can live normally, but the moment you interact with it, you understand how limited/under-developed he/it is. And it has basically no options other than third party to make it acceptable (to a majority of users). Because you need to assist it.

I'll stop ranting now.

[George99]

Gnome is not simple. It's over-simplistic

The concept of Gnome has always been to just give you just a minimalistic desktop and let it up to you to extend it according to your personal needs with extensions. I am not in love with Gnome but at least it works fine for me after finding those extensions which suit me. If I had to leave Gnome I would switch to xfce or Cinnamon as I never felt comfortable with KDE. But that's just my personal opinion...