Interesting Features Of GNOME 3.4

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Interesting Features Of GNOME 3.4

GNOME 3.4, the latest major update to the GNOME3 desktop, is set to be officially released on Wednesday. Here's a look at some of the most interesting features of this biannual GNOME update...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTA3NzQ

[grotgrot]

I'm looking forward to multi-monitor actually working correctly. With current Gnome they treat the second monitor as static and switching desktops becomes useless because the second monitor isn't switched. I'd also like to see Empathy actually working with my Yahoo Messenger account although not having it work for six months has been a bit of a blessing.

[Dukenukemx]

Is there going to be a taskbar again? I know Mint has it.

[allquixotic]

Is there going to be a taskbar again? I know Mint has it.

Not unless they merge Cinnamon into gnome-shell, which is extremely unlikely.

Although I'm sure it wouldn't be very hard to get Cinnamon running properly with the GNOME 3.4 stack. Cinnamon is designed from the ground up to integrate extremely well with existing Gnome 3 software, and it depends on a lot of Gnome 3 dependencies. Its primary advantage is that it offers a completely different user experience (one that many of us can relate to) compared to Gnome Shell.

Since I haven't heard any serious discussions about making Cinnamon an official Gnome project, I would say that they won't have a "taskbar" as you are envisioning it.

[dungeon]

Interesting features of Seamonkey 3.

[DaemonFC]

Interesting features of Seamonkey 3.

It's just like Firefox except less stupid. Why bring up Seamonkey in a GNOME thread though?

[scionicspectre]

I tried to use Epiphany while running GNOME 3.2, and even without the menubar and with some simplifications to the toolbar, it still didn't feel quite right. However, I stuck with it, since Aldabra was a bit imperfect and I was getting sick of using GTK 2 applications like Chrome and Firefox for my main web browser (and Opera's a bit weird, and closed source).

However, upon updating to the Beta on Arch, it's become my primary browser, and I can't really imagine using anything else at the moment. Its future looks very interesting, as well. It can run all the same plugins as Chrome or Firefox, and it includes many improvements to Webkit 1.8. If you're an extensions freak, I guess it's not gonna' fit. But if you just want a simple, integrated, robust web experience, Epiphany's the way to go in GNOME 3. Also, saving Web Applications is quite nice, although I'd love to see large favicons for the icons. Right now, I just have to deal with Epiphany taking a screenshot of the upper-left corner of the webpage for its application icon- yuck.

The improvements to the Shell and visual theming can't be overstated. This release is even more of an improvement than 3.2 was over 3.0. I would highly recommend it. All we need now is the apps.

[fersla]

With current Gnome they treat the second monitor as static and switching desktops becomes useless because the second monitor isn't switched.

I personally consider this a feature, not a bug. It fits perfectly into my workflow where I always need certain windows open, no matter what workspace I'm on.

To enable workspaces on your second monitor, open gconf-editor and modify the key /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/workspaces_only_on_primary

I believe one of the goals for Gnome 3.4 was to expose more options (such as this one) under System Settings.

[nzjrs]

- Evolution mail client enhancements. (Although I still personally find it horrific compared to Mozilla Thunderbird in most aspects.)

Cool story bro.

[Detructor]

if only the fglrx driver would finally support Gnome 3 and would get rid of the performance regressions...that would be so cool. *sigh*