Ubuntu

[Arthur Pemberton]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 11:21 PM, Leo Mauler <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Luke -Jr <luke at dashjr.org> wrote:
>
>  > On Thursday 13 March 2008, Leo Mauler wrote:
>  > > *Default* KDE has:
>  > >
>  > > 1) A "Start" menu in the lower left corner,
>  > > which is very similar to Windows.
>  >
>  > Hm, I wonder why. Obviously, the left is logical
>  > for left-to-right languages.  Which means that
>  > even if we assume there are no other reasons for
>  > top/bottom, the choice is between being similar
>  > to another common OS and use the bottom, or using
>  > the top just to be not Windows.  What reasons are
>  > there to use the top over the bottom?
>
>
> > > *Default* GNOME has:
>  > >
>  > > 1) A "Start" menu in the upper left corner,
>  > > completely unlike Windows.
>  > >
>  > > 2) A user application/applet bar at both the
>  > > top and bottom of the screen, again completely
>  > > unlike Windows.
>  >
>  > Why? Just to be "completely unlike Windows"?
>
>  One thing I particularly enjoy about using both top
>  and bottom is the division between the "menu and
>  applets" bar, and the "desktops and running
>  applications" bar.

I have tested out all the configs, every time I install Fedora I take
a few hours to give KDE a fresh look

> Instead of one bottom taskbar (in
>  Windows and KDE)

This is purely it's default state, so doesn't seem fair to use that as
a mark against it.

> which has to hold everything, a top
>  and bottom bar means more of what I'm doing is visible
>  at any one time, and no application names are being
>  abbreviated or erased in their buttons.  I also get to
>  see day of the week, date, and seconds in addition to
>  the time, without having to increase the width of a
>  single taskbar or further shrink everything else on a
>  single taskbar.

Really, you get to decide how you want it.

>  I don't know if KDE does what I call "application
>  instance stacking", where three instances of, say,
>  Notepad, are stacked in a single button in the
>  "running applications" section of the bottom bar in
>  Windows.

This is optional in both Windows and KDE

> If KDE does do that behavior then I have
>  another reason to dislike KDE, though I'm afraid its a
>  bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't"
>  situation for KDE, because the alternative to
>  "application stacking" is to shorten the application
>  button size until the text is unreadable.

Is it still damned if it leaves the choice to the user?

>  Obviously I could do more to make my workspace more
>  efficient by really customizing my window manager, but
>  as I haven't had a lot of free time lately, having a
>  top and bottom bar in default Ubuntu Linux has made me
>  rather enjoy using Linux (and made Windows in many
>  ways downright painful).

It takes less than a minute to add a second bar. Definitely less than 5 clicks

> Multiple desktops might
>  alleviate the "crammed tight bottom bar"situation in
>  KDE, but it just doesn't seem as efficient as the way
>  GNOME does it.

Do explain.

-- 
Fedora 7 : sipping some of that moonshine
( www.pembo13.com )