Re: Netbook experience

[Onyeibo Oku <twohotis gmail com>]

On Sat, 2011-04-09 at 11:01 +0200, Mirek M. wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I have been following Gnome Shell development for quite a while,
> reading blogs and watching videos of it in action. While I really like
> its user interface in theory (Hot corner, Exposé, Messaging
> tray, ...), I was really disappointed when I tried the final version
> of Gnome Shell on my netbook today.

Ok

> 
> Because Gnome 3 features bigger UI elements than Gnome 2, Gnome Shell
> is unfit for small screens. A number of windows can't even fit on the
> screen, and, unless you know that you can move a window using
> "Alt" (which most users don't know), you're out of luck [1].
> Sometimes, you can't even close this window because the "Close" button
> has been removed from the title bar and resides at the bottom [2] [3].
> Some applications, although they fit inside the screen, are unusable
> in their default state. Rhythmbox, for example, can only show about 2
> songs in its default state [4]. Nautilus, although it is somewhat
> usable, is still a disappointment over my current Nautilus Elementary
> window [5][6].

You do have a point there but you could alleviate your problem by
tweaking the font sizes and GTK/CSS padding on the UI elements. I'm
using a 17" laptop and my font sizes look much smaller than yours.  Aim
at 8-9pts for your fonts, and maybe 10pts for title-bars.   With
dconf-editor or Gnome-tweak-tool you can ease your pain a bit. There is
no *easy* way of achieving 100% fine-tuning yet ... so be patient, or
dive into the CSS files I mentioned (if you can) -- and I hope I'm
correct as I haven't tried that.

> Before this is fixed, I will stick to the standard Gnome desktop (or
> perhaps switch to Ubuntu's Unity desktop). Or is there a way to fix
> this right now?

See above. 

> 
> Also, will fixing this be even considered by the Gnome team or is it
> too late for a fix?

Gnome3 was released few days ago but development continues. There may be
a fix sooner than you expect. :)

> (I'm assuming that the fix will come when the Resolution Independence
> work is done [7].)
> 
> [1]
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wA89CvByxNbpvxGT_Gao9g?feat=directlink
> [2]
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vL3pm9qQSf4CPv0JFxEm8g?feat=directlink
> [3]
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jWXIgN27woTpyf9GNU0rOg?feat=directlink
> [4]
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3LBm6bUky5UMC3dpLmzdNw?feat=directlink
> [5]
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Q2yQZlNB4zm2wndkUhx7DQ?feat=directlink
> [6]
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6dN2-ZtMzf0kx-2Y833jqQ?feat=directlink
> [7] https://live.gnome.org/GTK+/RI

Descriptive pictures.

> 
> P. S. I'm new here, so tell me if I did something wrong or if this
> message belongs somewhere else. Thanks.

Gnome-shell list is where users and developers interact and discuss ways
to improve Gnome-shell.  You're in the right place.  The developers
enjoy warm and unbiased analysis of their work, so avoid 'loaded' words
and threats. 

Regards
Onyeibo