Experiences with Gnome 3: Panel and Workspaces

[Paul Chorley <p chorley sussex ac uk>]

Hello All,

Having just moved to Fedora 15, I am getting used to the new Gnome 3 
Shell and have a few comments that I would like to share.  I hope these 
are of use.

1. (Top) Panel placement.  

I know it may be a contentious issue (not wanting Gnome to be a Windows
look-a-like), but I really liked putting a single panel at the bottom of
the screen in Gnome 2.  I tend to use a laptop and am therefore usually
sitting higher than (i.e. above) my monitor.  A top panel clutters the
(physical) view.  Even on my desktop, I tend to be looking at the top,
rather than the bottom of the screen and would like to have some control
over panel placement.  It would seem trivial to allow users to choose to
make the Top Panel a Bottom Panel.  I would expect the mouse-to-top-left
Activities  shortcut to move to the bottom-left in this scenario (also,
see below *).

2. Vertical vs. Horizontal Workspaces.

Ok, so this is a bit less straightforward.  I can see the logic for
vertical workspaces, with regard to the layout on the right-hand-side 
of the in the Activities screen, but I think there are good arguments 
for allowing users to select a horizontal arrangement instead.  

N.b. I am not asking for a grid as some other have.  

First, it seems more 'natural' to have virtual workspaces lined up 
side-by-side.  It's what people tend to do with real monitors (for 
obvious reasons) and I think the 'naturalness' extends to the use of
virtual workspaces too.

Second, using Ctrl-Alt left/right is simpler than up/down as it 
doesn't require you to move your fingers.  This would also free up 
Ctrl-Alt-down to open up a workspace sitcher (a-la Compiz).

Third, almost everyone uses landscape-orientated monitors and there 
is simply more space to arrange workspaces horizontally.

So, what to do in the Activities view?  I would suggest moving the
right-hand workspace switcher to the bottom.  I note that when combinded
with a bottom-left Activities shortcut (*see above) there would be far
less mouse movement for selecting workspaces.  Currently one must mouse
all the way to the left and then all the way to the right to select a
workspace.  With a bottom panel and horizontal workspaces everything
would get grouped near bottom-left and make mouse-selection of
workspaces less of a journey.

Persoanally, I think such a layout would be a vast improvement.


I hope these comments are of some help.  Better still, I hope my
suggestions can be implemented!

Best Regards,
Paul.