A time-saving window management feature from the Unity-era could find its way back on to the modern Ubuntu desktop. Show An omg! reader pointed me to a merge proposal presently pending against Dash to Dock — for those unawares the Ubuntu Dock is a re-named fork of Dash to Dock. Ubuntu developers are pretty much the core contributors to the extension these-days. What does it do that’s so special? Well, it makes it — IMO — much easier to switch between multiple windows of the same app. Below is an animated gif that shows you how multi-window app switching works out-of-the-box on the Ubuntu Dock at present (which in case you can’t see the gif is: a thumbnail picker in a pop-over spawns from the dock icon and you select a window by squinting at the screen and hoping it’s the right one):  It’s a decent approach for this window management use case, truth be told. It’s most certainly the ‘sane default that Ubuntu, as a distro, strives to offer. It’s also in keeping with the way Windows 10 and 11 behave (which, preferences aside, is the majority of touch point for comparison). The patch proposal this article is (breathlessly) concerned with resurrects (more technically: reimplements) the ‘Unity’ method. This triggers an application-specific window spread when you click on a dock icon for which multiple windows are open, like so: Me? I’d enable this option and profit majorly. Not only does it reduce the friction when moving between multiple windows spawned from the same dock icon, but it’s in-keeping with the way GNOME Shell works: it’s the window picker, just app-specific. Also: my eye-sight isn’t great and seeing larger on-screen previews compared to the thumbanil-y sized ones of the stock approach is more helpful. Do keep in mind that the merge proposal adding the window spread is being proposed as an option, something users opt-in to using. The discussion is not about making this method the default. Users who don’t want this UX would be untroubled by its inclusion as they’d simply never select it. But I like options — heck, it’s part of why I use Linux — so I’d love to see this experience added in to the dock. Alas, the original code was proposed in 2020, though it has been updated and rebased several times since then, the latest revision ensuring it works with Ubuntu in 2022. Ubuntu’s he would like to “get this in by 24.10” which is encouraging, though October 2024 is a bit of a way off! I have installed Ubuntu 16.04 on an old(er) netbook that I had laying around, but I really like to look of Windows 10, so I have installed a Windows 10 theme, icon pack, and cursor pack. These work perfectly fine. However, I can't seem to figure out how to get a task bar/start menu that is similar to Windows 10. The themes that I downloaded showed that the task bar would appear, but it never did. So my questions are these:
I have done some searching online, but I can't seem to find any solid answers. Just for clarity, I am running Ubuntu 16.04 with a Unity desktop environment. Thanks in advance. Please Quote or tag me @GigabitXe to make sure I see your reply. Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sitesI haven't been able to get that with unity, but I got it working with the gnome desktop environment Note this is fedora 25 with Gnome, I have a similar desktop setup on my Ubuntu gnome install (also I don't own a system 76 computer I just like how their wall papers look) I used the dash to dock extension to move it to the bottom, and then the other icons are up-time indicator, caffeine, Harddisk LED, Lock keys, and then the system icons. Pressing the square at the bottom left corner opens up all of the applications and to keep items on the task bar add them to favorites, I have been moving away from unity (even though I like it) so that it is easier for me to upgrade to 18.04 when the time comes. Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites
I haven't been able to get that with unity, but I got it working with the gnome desktop environment Note this is fedora 25 with Gnome, I have a similar desktop setup on my Ubuntu gnome install (also I don't own a system 76 computer I just like how their wall papers look) I used the dash to dock extension to move it to the bottom, and then the other icons are up-time indicator, caffeine, Harddisk LED, Lock keys, and then the system icons. Pressing the square at the bottom left corner opens up all of the applications and to keep items on the task bar add them to favorites, I have been moving away from unity (even though I like it) so that it is easier for me to upgrade to 18.04 when the time comes. Thanks so much for the reply. I literally figured this out right before your post came in. However, instead of installing gnome, I installed cinnamon. This allowed me to do exactly what I wanted and now my Ubuntu machine looks almost identical to my Windows 10 machine (yay! Please Quote or tag me @GigabitXe to make sure I see your reply. Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites14 minutes ago, Space2867 said: Snip Personal Preference, I was using unity for a while on my laptops Ubuntu install, and then I tried fedora and really liked a few things gnome offered by default that I was installing, plus it means I can use wayland instead of xorg which runs better on my laptop. I have used mint with cinnamon a few years ago as well as xubuntu, ubuntustudio, elementaryOS,kde, Mate, Unity, and Gnome, but Unity and Gnome have been my favorite, Parthenon (ElementaryOS desktop environment) was okay, but I just liked them better, my Ubuntu installs look more similar to OSX. I think it had more to do with mint than anything as a reason why I didn't like it. But I just search for what I need if it is not an application that I have as a favorite Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites
You kind of sound like me. You try everything until you find something that you like. Please Quote or tag me @GigabitXe to make sure I see your reply. Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites2 hours ago, Space2867 said: You kind of sound like me. You try everything until you find something that you like. That is why I love Linux, you can just keep trying until you like something, also if you have an android phone install kde connect it is amazing Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sitesKDE is another good desktop environment to try. It's much more configurable by default, unlike Gnome (not trying to start a flame war) and it's more mature than Cinnamon. Resource usage is about the same as Gnome and Unity. Probably about the same as Cinnamon as well. This is what it looks like by default: This is what mine looks like:
Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites3 minutes ago, noahdvs said: KDE is another good desktop environment to try. It's much more configurable by default, unlike Gnome (not trying to start a flame war) and it's more mature than Cinnamon. Resource usage is about the same as Gnome and Unity. Probably about the same as Cinnamon as well. I think kde is great and I use some of the software they have helped create (kdeconnect, kirta, kdenlive) but all of the themes I use are gtk based so they don't work on kde, I also wish that more desktop environments would let a user leave a message on a locked computer like mate does, tried it out and I think it is a great idea Spoiler Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites6 minutes ago, flowalex said: If you use Arc, there's Arc-KDE, but I just like to use Breeze Dark. That message feature does sound like it would be pretty nice for someone who shares a computer. You don't have to use SDDM to use KDE though, so you could probably use that feature with KDE as your DE. Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites3 minutes ago, noahdvs said: If you use Arc, there's Arc-KDE, but I just like to use Breeze Dark. That message feature does sound like it would be pretty nice for someone who shares a computer though. I actually have been moving away from arc to the Pop theme from system76 (the only difference between a system 76 computer and mine right now is the hardware) but since they only develop their themes and icons for Unity and now Gnome, but here is what is supported by that theme: GNOME, Budgie, Unity7, XFce4 Mate, LXDE https://github.com/system76/pop-gtk-theme https://github.com/system76/pop-icon-theme Spoiler Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sites2 minutes ago, flowalex said: Not a fan of the brown and the serifs, but to each his own. Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sitesJust now, noahdvs said: Not a fan of the brown and the serifs, but to each his own. The serifs are the font I set, I use to use the macbuntu pack to mess with people and haven't changed them because I am lazy I actually use the default Ubuntu font usually, Link to commentShare on other sitesLink to postShare on other sitesuse ubuntu Mate. by default it won't look like windows, but if you go into the Mate tweak tool, and set the style to redmond, it will. don't use kubuntu or ubuntu GNOME, those are really heavy on resources, and a netbook won't run it very well. How do I change the top bar in Ubuntu?Now when you maximise an app window or drag an app window to the top of your screen, the top bar slides out of view. While hiding you can continue access it. To make the top bar re-appear just move your mouse cursor against the top of the screen, or move/minimise any window touching it. What is the difference between dash to dock and dock in Ubuntu?In a default Ubuntu install, a custom GNOME Shell extension, Ubuntu Dock, is active. That is actually derived from "Dash to Dock" and uses the same configuration settings. So you already have the "Dock" instead of the "Dash", and do not need to install an additional extension for that. How do I change the dock settings in Ubuntu?Dock Settings In Ubuntu Access your dock settings by pressing the Super key and then type “settings” in the input that appears. Under the Settings menu click on the Appearance tab. There, you'll find the Dock section for customizing your dock. |
