Why Everyone Is Confused About Gnome And Gnome 3

You just need to know how to access it.

Quoting:press the alt-key and right-click the panel.

This will allow you access to the properties, from whence you can delete and add panels.

Quoting: With some Compiz configurations, you need to press super+alt. That will display the menu where you can add panels, open the properties dialog or add applets to the panel.

Similarly, to move applets, you press alt (maybe super+alt) middle-click and drag.

I'm currently playing around with this on Linux Mint 12, and it looks like I may be able to duplicate my current desktop (on Linux Mint 9)

At the moment It appears I won't be able to duplicate my current desktop, as I am unable to install DockBarX, there are certain libraries that appear not to be available with GNOME 3, that were there with GNOME 2. I'm guessing they will be available with MATE

Everyone isn't confused. Some basic research is all that is needed.

Well monte, I certainly didn't know you could access the panel properties in this manner. I've commented on that fact, or at least that I am unable to move the top panel or in any way locate the panel properties in GNOME 3 on numerous occassions. Apparently this information (ALT + Right Mouse click) to access the properties is common knowledge in GNOME circles, yet not one other GNOME desktop user has ever made mention of this fact to me.

It appears that unless certain libraries become available in GNOME 3 I won't be able to duplicate my current desktop, however.

For all the talk of not confusing the user with too many options, I find it strange that that they let basic functionality be accessed only through weird combinations like Alt + mouse click that are nearly impossible to discover unless someone tells you. It's even worse if they aren't documented.

"The source code is the documentation."

Yeah, right.

TA Here are some links:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/12/how-to-make-ubuntu-11-10-...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1873765

Thanks monte, there wasn't anything new there that I now don't already know. The only problem and it's a show stopper, is that I can't install DropBarX as it complains about missing Libraries.

Quoting:"The source code is the documentation."

Yeah, right.

In practice, it is. Because there is no documentation.

What it looks like is the GNOME people are attempting to depricate the panel, with the intention of removing it alltogether at some future point. Leaving us with only thier Shell.

By hiding the panel in plain sight (refering to it as fall back mode) and making access to the properties difficult (the use of ALT + right mouse click, which they have not made common knowledge), and leaving out libraries (which are probably not necessary for the Shell), they appear to have set out to make the GNOME 3 Panel experience second rate.

By not making information available, and no longer supporting certain libraries critical to the Panel, they have ensured that 3rd party developers (of plug ins for example) no longer continue to support GNOME 3 Panel.

I wonder what other secret keypresses there are in the new Gnome to do things that aren't documented. Secret keypress to shut down the computer, secret keypress to switch to old-style panel, what else is in there? I thought the whole idea of GUIs was to present all the available options to the user so they didn't have to memorize a bunch of secret keypresses for everything.

Not with GNOME apparently. The favoured child is GNOME 3 Shell, GNOME 3 Panel is the unwanted step child (of the developers, not the users), that the GNOME developers keep around simply because at the moment they must, as a fall back mode for when the favoured child cannot be used, and made deliberately unpleasant to use, by virtue of the sneaky manner in which they have cut most users off from the configuration options, that made GNOME 2 Panel so great to use.

Basically they have made the full functionality of the Panel (we all knew it as GNOME 2, but it's still there in GNOME 3 as fallback or Classic mode) effectively unavailable, so that they can promote thier less than useful but oh so shiny Shell in it's place.