gnome 3 is a pleasure to work with, but...

[Alexander Volovics <a volovic upcmail nl>]

Exploring Gnome 3 under Fedora 15 beta.

So far: very nice to work with, great usability, but it could do
with some more configurability options. 
(I am making the following remarks under the proviso that
 I do not know if the standard (upstream) Gnome 3 is
 included in Fedora 15 beta and wat Fedora has contributed
 to the mix).

Are there any plans to increase desktop configurability in Gnome 3.

For example:

- I would like to be able to change the color of the top bar
  The lid of my laptop is a shiny black and the addition of the
  black colored top bar gives the desktop an even more funereal
  appearance (and makes it hard to see/read).

- I would like to be able to REMOVE icons from applications
  overviews under 'Applications' in the 'Activities overview'.
  
   First I would like to remove ALL icons from the 'All' category.
   * This overview is not really necessary because because the same
     icons are included under the other categories 'System Tools',     
     'Accessories', 'Graphics', etc.
   * Furthermore given the absurd and unhandy 16:9 laptop screens you
     have to scroll to see them all so having all icons available does
     not really save time/work.
   * Finding a particular icon among this plethora of icons is hardly
     easy.
   * Given the large size and the sometimes brash colors and
     non-uniform design of the icons makes this desktop full of
     large blobs not very aesthetically pleasing.

   Second I would like to 'prune' the icons listed under the categories
   retaining only the icons of the apps I use regularly (possibly
   putting some of these 'pruned' icons in some 'Other' category).

- I would like to change the 'top bar' to an 'under bar' and have the
  notifications pop up at the top (and why do pop ups and notifications
  need to have a black background).

Personally I find these 'wishes' very reasonable and not detracting
from the design and usability of Gnome 3.


PS  Who designs/creates the icons/icon themes.
    I find the icons (too) big, brash, glaring and sometimes downright
    ugly with no consideration for the overall effect. (for example the
    'Games' icons).
    It would be much nicer if they were created with an overall effect
    in mind using compatible colors and forms (say a sleek blue/silver
    theme, uniformly applied).

PS  If configuration options as specified above or comparable are
    planned for updates or Gnome 3.1 then I would be even more
    happy with Gnome 3. If not, is it possible to put forward things
    like the above as 'suggestions' for the design team and what is
    the best possible place for this.

NB  I can not and do not code myself.  

Alexander