GNOME 46 Released With Improved Search, Experimental VRR & More Polish

[intelfx]

When I say that, I'm mainly referring to the activities overview in pre-40. The dock and the workspace selector were rotated 90° counter-clockwise with version 40. I find squishing so many elements vertically (top panel, workspace selector, search, scrollable workspaces, dock) inefficient. I don't know what the reasoning behind this choice was. Maybe that mouse movement is reduced since vertical distance between elements on 16:9 screens is shorter? But then elements are too small and finicky, and every other input method is worsened, as e.g. touch input is better if you have stuff on the sides. The old layout works better both in portrait and in landscape on a convertible.
I find my eyes fatiguing less if workspace content is always centered horizontally, and then workspaces scroll vertically, regardless of current screen proportions.

If you have a convertible you can try the old layout on, I recommend giving Pop!_OS 22.04 a spin, as it offers a 40+ base with built-in options to reproduce it. It also doesn't lag with more than one window open (don't know how they do it), and it's the only distribution in my experience that supports sensors for automatic screen rotation and automatic backlight adjustment (tested on Panasonic CF-MX5).

Do you perhaps know what exactly parts of Pop!_OS are responsible for the pre-40 overview? Is it an extension, or a patched Shell, or something else?

I love GNOME, but the new Overview is really a horrible step back — because on my 2560x1440 laptop screen, the virtual desktop thumbnails end up to 90x50(!) pixels in size, which is completely unusable.

[intelfx]

The point is to have a consistent spacial flow. Desktops scroll horizontally, while you "scroll" vertically into the overview and again into the add launcher. This matters A LOT with touchpad gestures, but having a consistent spacial flow is arguably useful even on desktop, just because having a logical spacial flow can make interaction more intuitive.

If you haven't used Gnome 40+ with touchpad gestures, it feels SOOOO good, give it a try. There's even an extension ("X11 Gestures") that makes it work on X11 if you're still on X11 for one reason or another.

Sadly, the added natural feel of the touchpad gestures (which do feel good, I agree) does not make up for totally destroying the virtual desktop flow.

As stated above, on my 2560x1440 laptop panel the virtual desktop thumbnails end up as less than 100x50 px tiny boxes, which basically destroys any usability of the feature: I have to carefully aim with my mouse for more than a second (it's even worse with the touchpad) every time I want to move a window to a virtual desktop. And once again, it is even worse if I want to create a new desktop, which means I have to aim between the tiny boxes.

[chocolate]

Do you perhaps know what exactly parts of Pop!_OS are responsible for the pre-40 overview? Is it an extension, or a patched Shell, or something else?

I love GNOME, but the new Overview is really a horrible step back — because on my 2560x1440 laptop screen, the virtual desktop thumbnails end up to 90x50(!) pixels in size, which is completely unusable.

Yeah, it seems to be a set of extensions curated by s76, plus "Ubuntu AppIndicators".
This page has a list of built-in extensions excluding Ubuntu AppIndicators:

https://pop-os.github.io/docs/customize-pop/gnome-tweaks-extensions/gnome-extensions.html

It seems correct and up to date to me, since it's what I see with the Extensions flatpak:
link to image because the forum's thingie is useless

[qarium]

Forcing a touch interface? Just click, bro. Not that hard. There's a reason why there's now pointer events on the web instead of just mouse or touch events. Pointer events combine touch and mouse events because a mousemove/touchmove, mousedown/touchstart, mouseup/touchend are generally used at the same time for the same purposes.
You don't want to or can't touch your screen? Then use your mouse. You're not forced to do anything. Got a lot of people with a victim complex on here about software they don't use. Gnome is a hell of a lot better than any interface you'd create.

it really looks like the sane desktop people are on COSMIC and Cinnamon now.

i am on gnome and i use gnome but i clearly have to admit that ir is OS for smartphone or touchscreen tabled and not desktop/laptop OS...

my mother is on Cinnamon it is classic windows desktop experience and COSMIC really looks like the new shit in town.

[Daydream]

I don't understand why the full app names can't be seen on the big screen.
Can it be set somehow?

I love GNOME, but the new Overview is really a horrible step back — because on my 2560x1440 laptop screen, the virtual desktop thumbnails end up to 90x50(!) pixels in size, which is completely unusable.

If either of you are open to customizing your shell, V-Shell extension addresses both of your "issues" and more.

[Myownfriend]

it really looks like the sane desktop people are on COSMIC and Cinnamon now.

i am on gnome and i use gnome but i clearly have to admit that ir is OS for smartphone or touchscreen tabled and not desktop/laptop OS...

What is that supposed to mean?

[qarium]

What is that supposed to mean?

to me it looks like COSMIC and Cinnamon are more focused on desktop work than gnome.

[Myownfriend]

to me it looks like COSMIC and Cinnamon are more focused on desktop work than gnome.

But again, what is that supposed to mean? All having floating windows, multiple workspaces, mouse input, a bunch of keyboard shortcuts, multi-monitor support, etc. What exactly makes Cosmic and Cinnamon more "desktop focused"?

[QwertyChouskie]

Sadly, the added natural feel of the touchpad gestures (which do feel good, I agree) does not make up for totally destroying the virtual desktop flow.

As stated above, on my 2560x1440 laptop panel the virtual desktop thumbnails end up as less than 100x50 px tiny boxes, which basically destroys any usability of the feature: I have to carefully aim with my mouse for more than a second (it's even worse with the touchpad) every time I want to move a window to a virtual desktop. And once again, it is even worse if I want to create a new desktop, which means I have to aim between the tiny boxes.

There's an extension that lets you change the size of the thumbnails, along with some other handy tweaks: https://extensions.gnome.org/extensi...-improvements/

[qarium]

But again, what is that supposed to mean? All having floating windows, multiple workspaces, mouse input, a bunch of keyboard shortcuts, multi-monitor support, etc. What exactly makes Cosmic and Cinnamon more "desktop focused"?

its the usability and the factor that it is "Ugly" gnome loses a lot of usability just by making it look nice the apple mac os style.

compared to this cinnamon is ugly but most people i know like my old mother she has hard time adabt the usability to non-ugly systems.