Gnome Extensions vs KDE Plasma Customization ...

[@kevn-]

While I agree with a lot of your sentiments, history has shown that critiques and suggestions for improving gnome fall on deaf ears. The developers have shown endless examples of the fact that they don't care about supporting anything outside of their exact view of the gnome experience which they see as the only proper way of using it. User ideas don't matter to gnome devs. What matters to them is their own experience and they expect all other users to adapt to that and deal with it. There are ways that gnome developers could ensure that extensions work for the most part between gnome version updates without requiring the extension to be updated every time. Instead it feels as if extensions are the community's way of battling with devs to take some sort of control of their gnome experience outside of the limited gnome defaults and the gnome devs have no intention of doing anything to make that any easier for users and extension devs.

[@jorge86rodriguez]

I don't understand why gnome is the default de in most desktop linux distros. They suck as an institution

[@PaulG.x]

If DEs were all the same as each other the whiners would say there are too many DEs and they are all the same.

[@UltraZelda64]

Totally agree. It might as well not even be open source, because they don't give a damn what their users think. I haven't used it since GNOME 2 and that won't be changing as things are now. In fact, I think I'd prefer that GNOME *was* closed source, because then another desktop would be given the chance to shine. And honestly, literally *any* desktop environment is better than GNOME.​@@jorge86rodriguez

[@gljames24]

​@@jorge86rodriguez Honestly, it's just really simple and you don't have to support all the setting of something like KDE and it doesn't look old like XFCE.

[@AndRei-yc3ti]

@@jorge86rodriguez because it had a much more regular update cycle than KDE

[@nabara6949]

Out of the box I love gnome workflow but KDE can be tailored to my liking. Global menu for life!

[@MichaelNROH]

Global menu is truly a nice one if it actually works. Didn't run well with Resolve for me and caused some crashes

[@d-air1]

It's too bad a lot of gnome apps and ones that want to follow the gnome hig don't export their menus anymore.

[@UltraZelda64]

GNOME is not even as customizable as KDE even with unofficial extensions. And even if it was, you can't really rely on unofficial extensions in the same way you can the official customizability of KDE. KDE is built to support customizability, GNOME is built to be used basically as they give it to you in a similar way to Windows and Mac; otherwise they would support such customization. Instead, the GNOME developers are actively *hostile* towards using their desktop in ways that *they* don't intend. The upcoming Cosmic desktop seems to make the most sense for GNOME users who want to customize their desktop, as it is designed not only to function similarly to GNOME but also officially support a lot more customization.

[@cacomeat7385]

As someone who's grown way too used to GNOME's dynamic workspaces you bet your ass i'm switching to cosmic once it's a bit more polished. KDE is great for what it is but I vastly appreciate the consistency and workflow of GNOME, which cosmic is going to outdo tenfold

[@taiwbi]

Even Mac and Windows have more customization capabilities than GNOME!

[@justpatrick_]

@taiwbi mac is far fetched though

[@riwajropakheti1613]

cinnamon has more customization feature than gnome.

[@infinitivez]

What's weird is ever since 4.5, Gnome desktop has had the ability the create extensions, natively. I don't understand why they don't just include the ability in settings, short of the same few people who always yell about UI changes of any sorts. The UI documentation is abstracted and abused now, that it takes entire wikipedias to describe what an app should look like. Honestly, it's refreshing to see Cosmic and KDE/Plasma come along and upend Gnome from its stale ole throne. They're too stuck on process, and have forgotten what progress is.

[@gljames24]

I'm going Cosmic.

[@newoldbrain]

If you want to change Gnome appearance, you just switch to KDE

[@dis0nancia]

Yes, If you like bugs.

[@yaroslav7328]

GNOME is my daily driver, and I appreciate its workflow. It's solid and consistent. The GNOME developers embrace a philosophy I really like: they avoid creating bloated software overloaded with functions that most users would rarely use. Instead, they offer a solid vanilla experience with the option to extend it through extensions.However, I am disappointed that these extensions and their support are not given enough attention. They aren't advertised and need to be installed separately, rather than being available by default. This is something I find hard to understand.

[@pepavasata6790]

For me, GNOME just makes things way easier. I don't really want THAT many changes and KDE is just WAY too complicated. Menus upon menus.

[@bettermasteryi7043]

Over the course of 10-15 years that I have known the Linux world, I could never use KDE more than a week. The DE as a whole for being so customizable feels like a modular setup. I personally really love the way Gnome looks and feel. It looks smoother and has menus that are easy to understand and it has never, at least for me, never broke after an update. Unlike KDE, which can break once you update it. Pointing at Arch based Distros using KDE, they will definitely need you to do extra steps before they work after an update. Again, this reminds me of the 2nd problem that I have with Linux community. Calling something hard for not working out of the box is not the solution - case and point being Arch. I guarantee you there will be someone who will be hurt that I had issue using Arch and I pointed it out. Apparently Arch users love self inflicted pain.

[@marinlos]

I feel exactly the same way as you man

[@CristobalWatsonHernandez]

Both have their advantages, I personally use Cinnamon as it works exactly how I want out of the box. The best DE and theme is the one that works for you.

[@grantschilb8019]

I like Cinnamon because it has the polish and similar backend of GNOME but with customizations that don't break each update. Been having minor issues with plank dock, but that isn't a Cinnamon issue. Wayland has never worked well on my system, so not having wayland support is a non issue for me, but I hope they do implement it, as it will be a huge win for high DPI laptops.

[@gljames24]

Was on Gnome, but now moving to Cosmic.

[@jirikral1052]

I don't know about others but I am hapilly running my 19 extensions on Fedora 40 with Gnome without problems. While Gnome might not be that much customizable when it comes to look & feel, the extensions provide a lot of customization when it comes to functionality. Maybe I am an idiot, but on KDE I was able to find only one applet (Thermal monitor I think it was called) that could show me temperature of different computer components in the status bar and unfortunately it didn't seem to work for me. In comparison in the Gnome extension store I was able to find at least 3 extensions that add this functionality and work out of the box.

[@captainfordo1]

I like the default Gnome look so I don’t really care about customization. Only use a few extensions including ArcMenu and Blur my Shell.

[@araputrevor5103]

i love that greeting outro.

[@adndot]

i use gnome personally, mostly because window tiling managers have never worked on kde plasma before. installing the paperwm extension "just works" on gnome. however, i'm definitely gonna try COSMIC when it comes out, because it feels like gnome if it was more respectful of it's people

[@CathrineMacNiel]

the one thing that gnome/gtk has over kde/qt is that it doesn't need widget engines to get a customised look, you can just install a new application style. On KDEs side you are quite limited in that regard.

[@alphaomega154]

first of all when you want to be able to customize your desktop looks, or to download the customizations, you want to FIRST be able to SEE how it looks, right? you can do that in plasma. not in gnome. you can go to the gnome extension website, but even there the images are lacking. and some stuff can be INCOMPATIBLE to the installed gnome in your systems. in plasma, all you can see available are the ones COMPATIBLE with your current plasma. saves you from any headaches or a waste download. and in plasma, your desktop look could look in so many ways. transparent etc. you dont get that in gnome. all gnome customizations are just variant of the BASIC. which is VERY LIMITED in look styles. also, whats great about plasma isnt just the look customizations. there are some things that you could manage in plasma that you cant in gnome. like those installed SSL keys for certain regions access. those installed SSL keys can make the people from the key's related regions to use the key to make a TUNNELED CONNECTIONS to your device. and you might not want to have any unknown tunneling from some region or some "companies". in plasma, you could manage that. not in gnome. i think its a big plus. also just to add, a bit of off topic, but linux and all its distros should find a way to prevent unwanted "tunneling" to github ip addresses done without CONSENT.

[@Beryesa.]

Another thumbs up for the thumbnail 😄

[@centy64]

KDE for me. I barely customised my gnome install over a 2 year period because the few things I tried at first either didn't work at all or were bugged and it often never explained why, soured me on continuing. KDE I customise all the time because it's all there right from the off, I can see all the tweakable settings, and because it's all part of the same system I've barely had any issues other than some clunky menus.

[@saxtant]

@@centy64 Ditto, I started with KDE and the only time I've tried gnome, I missed KDE pretty quick.

[@salamanetwork]

KDE User since 2001, I love KDE even when it breaks things or everything 😂😂😂

[@marinlos]

Thumbs up for honesty 😁👍🏼

[@salamanetwork]

@@marinlos Of course, KDE is a good piece of software, but still a creation, and the creation isn't perfect.

[@marinlos]

@@salamanetwork of course, everything man made is gonna have issues, in one way or another

[@ArefinKarim]

I love GNOME! Until the extension breaks on every update (rolling distros). That's why i am currently staying on debian on my main machine. (GNOME 43)

[@xdweed5495]

I understand the customization of GNOME with extensions, but I think it needs a few official extensions. For example, AppIndicator (system tray), Desktop Icons, Dash to Dock, Dash to Panel, ArcMenu, Tiling Assistant, Vitals are very basic extensions and we install them as 3rd party. The GNOME team also needs to make official extensions for such basic things.

[@ThePr0_0149]

The reason plasma is better than gnome: YOU DON'T NEED THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE TO CUSTOMIZE IT AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS

[@PaulG.x]

The reason gnome is better than plasma: YOU CAN USE THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE TO CUSTOMIZE IT AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS

[@km-hi9wj]

@@PaulG.x gnome extensions break after every major update

[@PaulG.x]

@@km-hi9wj Funny , it doesn't happen to me

[@Gordoxgrey]

I don't know, I've constantly have issues trying to do some things in KDE, like for example, the first time I installed the DE, the damn panel was stuck on my second monitor, and the Plasma desktop editor kept crashing or bugging out every time i tried editing something. KDE plasma also just has way too many options and they aren't categorised well enough, like the stupid shake cursor to grow it, it should be under cursor settings but its under its own sub menu under accessibility, which just isnt intuitive

[@ThePr0_0149]

@@Gordoxgrey fair enought

[@mkyral]

As a KDE user that also uses some Gnome applications I really hate how GTK4 apps ignores my KDE setting - colors, buttons position…

[@s9209122222]

The cursor becomes super huge in GTK apps on other desktops after Gnome updates

[@Br00n]

The fact that KDE manages most of the time to be lighter and more performant (including for gaming) while embracing customization proves KDE has a superior framework. GNOME might have a superior workflow design, that's what's important for them, so extensions are something they tolerate but won't compromise over it, and they'll happily trample them over in the next upgrades. The fact that GNOME cannot even theme colour schemes consistently between all GTK versions tells how much they care about users personalizing their workspace: same as Apple 😅

[@Seelendrache]

Gnome is missing basic features for me like changing login screen wallpaper. There is a third party app for this but it sometimes does not work and bricked my system two times. That’s why I stay on plasma until I can check out cosmic in its final form.

[@JoshuaT902]

Third party extensions breaks in mostly during gnome upgrade and maybe in a year or 2. the gnome extensions might be abandoned. Pop-shell than forge is in a limited support. I rather have a big community and kde developers maintaining customization than gnome relying third parties to include like having the dash bar to dock or having a system tray...

[@ofcourseiuseunix]

I agree with your points for each DE, but as for me I just use gnome on my laptop and kde on my pc, because I don't know why kde looks more like made for desktop usage feel atleast for me and gnome for small screen computers, anyway good video!

[@ekaterinaburakova8629]

Very much agree! It makes the most sense to adjust the looks and workflows according to each particular device. I still use GNOME on both though. :D

[@ofcourseiuseunix]

@@ekaterinaburakova8629 Right! Prefer whatever looks good and go with your workflow better no matter what others uses,

[@G1esas]

Around 7 months into being linux user, and i were usinig fedora, but switched to nobara (Gnome version), i had cool extensions and bits on gnome fedora, after i got failure of my fedora which i was unable to fix, copied all the stuff to separate drive, installed nobara, and got few extensions off that drive, i have around 20 extensions installed. I tried on laptop to use KDE, and i'm the guy who loves tinkering and fixing stuff, perfecting the application settings to my needs and so on, but i was OVERWHELMED with kde stuff, so i barely changed anything. Kinda ironic

[@michadybczak4862]

The thing with KDE is, you need a lot of time to tinker with it. Oftentimes, tinkering takes the wrong turn and breaks something, causes crashes, etc. Sometimes, it doesn't do anything because this specific combination of settings was not predicted by anyone. So basically, this is trial and error. This could be fun but also very frustrating experience. However, at the end, you can find the best setup and it just works. So when you are not changing things constantly, things become finally stable, and you have the desktop you wanted. Also, if you look at the theming, most of the theming elements don't make much sense with each other, so despite a huge choice, only few of them work well. However, finding this out, takes a lot of time, but once you spend that time, at least in my case, I rarely change anything, only switching between dark and light modes depending on the time of a year (dark theme in winter, light theme the rest of the year). And you know what? It works mostly flawlessly for YEARS, unlike on Gnome when things break all the time. I would advise you to have fun with some settings. Don't try to change everything because it's too much. If you create any instability, reset configs to defaults. On the other hand, Plasma 6 is too fresh, so at this point, I'm sticking to defaults as well, because I can't find any combination that would work for me better, so you have to remember, that Plasma 5 was a better fit to customization and Plasma 6 still needs time to get more mature theming extensions that work well on it. Since there is no latte-dock, the options are currently limited.

[@G1esas]

@@michadybczak4862 From 1 point i do like that KDE is providing alot of theming stuff out of box, because let's say for example pc wouldn't have an internet, it is rare occurance these days but still. Most of computers and stuff heavily rely on internet connection, and i understand why, but it is still nice to have some alternative where you do know that you can rely specifically on things out of box. In gnome, i've made my topbar semi transparent with white rounded border around it and few useful extensions that addinng buttons to a gnome-bar (top bar). I'm rarely updating my os, cuz nobara new release seems to be unstable and bricking things, and cuz i have severe power outage, dont wanna risk it. As i've updated things in the past, yes, my extensions were breaking, and i required to prey for new version of extension to come up for my gnome version, kinda sucks that this is the case, but i hope gnome would somehow unify the extensions code, so it wouldn't be required to rewritten for each of new version

[@liaml8383]

I grew up on KDE Plasma and OpenSuse, and i absolutely loved the customisation. However i eventually switched to Fedora on GNOME and i cant vouch for GNOME being customisable at all. I spent so many hours just researching GTK to be able to set a custom accent colour. At the end of the day, GNOME Extensions are there to give the users the experience they deserve. I admire simplicity, but GNOME is just to simple. Which is why im leaving conventional desktops all together for a tiling window manager with a custom control centre and panel built on AGS.

[@kibira_4131]

GNOME is for who loved simplicity, KDE is for who loved personalization. The options are there as the beauty of Linux

[@RenderingUser]

KDE suite ftw!!!

[@termitori]

i have only two actived extension on gnome , dash to dock , and vitals.

[@ManojKumar-ww9sb]

KDE decimates Gnome in customization. I mostly use i3wm and Gnome uses less disk, only reason why I use gnome.

[@mjkstra]

I wouldn't say that KDE is bloated with features, you can actually prepare a very minimal installation by choosing only the things that you really want ( at least on Arch ) and even if you want the complete experience, it's still acceptable ( unless you are a pure minimalist but at this point you don't want to deal with a DE at all ). By default the features that it provides are all almost necessary, there is nothing super fancy or clunky or that may look useless. However I agree with you about the fragmentation of theming menus, there should be a centralized app where you can browse and install themes for every category, and on every theming entry the button instead of opening an ad-hoc shop window, should link to this centralized app. Also it should be something separated from the kde discovery, because while the store is optional and there may be reasons why one may not want it, this should be either built-in like it's right now or a separated app (better, because one may not be interested in theming ).

[@MegaManNeo]

Gnome went from all customization to worse than Windows 11 starting with Gnome3. I get their idea but that's part of what made computer operating systems so fun to use in the past. Hope for COSMIC and judging by Brodie's experiences and videos, we are getting somewhere.

[@AndRei-yc3ti]

Just use Hyperland. Most customizable of all

[@rishabhsingh2223]

And this is why I use XFCE

[@operius2385]

KDE/Plasma has everything I need out of the box for a DE. No need for extensions or themes at all. The killer features/apps of KDE/Plasma are kwin-rules, so that when an app doesn't remember its size or position you can force it to do that. The search engine baloo combined with krunner. It makes finding stuff just so easy. And dolphin the file manager that has just all the tools I need. Now I can and have worked with Gnome just fine. It looks beautifull and I can get stuff done out of the box without any extensions also. But when I keep resizing windows over and over again, can't change the window border to dark to match the rest of the window or having to keep changing settings for a specific folder in nautilus I get frustrated and aske myself why am I doing this over and over again? And I now nautilus can remember settings per folder, but it doesn't work very stable. In KDE/Plasma I set everything to my liking and I never have to change anything ever again. So all the options you have in KDE/Plasma that too confusing for some do not bother me because I just go there once and never look back. Also GTK apps seem to intergrate better in KDE/Plasma than QT apps in Gnome. I use KDE/Plasma as a DE but also use many GTK apps that suits my needs better than the QT ones. I use evolution, gnome-system-monitor, rhythmbox, gnome-disk-utility and gnome sudoku. All work/look better than their QT counter parts imho.

[@_salience_]

I can pretty much make either look and feel like I want it to. My largest gripe with Gnome atm is it not supporting system tray icons. I know there is an extension, but it's flaky and doesn't work with a lot of apps.

[@SilkyNoah]

This was a major thing that actually pushed me to KDE. Recent Ubuntu update killed most of my tray icon functionality for some reason and I just decided I was done fighting my machine for basic features.

[@thehardstylepromoter5687]

How did you get the close window button on your task switcher?

[@dkkdkkc6]

I use gnome for its simplicity and the workflows suits me.

[@MichaelNROH]

I find especially the shortcuts with the scroll wheel nice. Switching Desktops on Plasma wasn't possible like this for a long time

[@jinliu1198]

It's basically the old XUL-based extensions in Firefox vs. WebExtensions you find in all major browsers. The former (i.e. GNOME extensions) is way more powerful, as it directly modifies the UI objects, so it can totally reshape the UI with no limit. But a tiny change to the UI in a new version might break extensions, because there is no well-defined and stable extension API. OTOH, the latter can only do what the extension API allows, so it's quite limited. KDE does not sandbox extensions as tightly as browsers. Also its API is not as stable either. Extensions can break within a major release. But still, extensions break less often and are more limited in KDE.

[@lazithegamer]

I am a kubuntu user and I love it.

[@claytonpellow]

gnome with blur my shell, dash2dock animated, and arch linux update, extensions does the job great for me. i dont need all that extra stuff. i like seeing the dock on the screen and its just smooth. kde is cool but 90 percent of the global themes dont load or work, there is way too much going on, i dont want to spend 20 minutes making it feel nice and learning all the extra features its a bit complex. i used kde a while but still dont know all the features and i just like that lets go approach to gnome. budgie is also nice if you want that windows like appearance simplicity and less to deal with. just looks good and changing things on it is simple at least on endeavour os as they theme all the DEs nicely out of the box. if you want to spend hours learning the in and outs of a desktop environment and are really willing to learn all the background things kde is great and more customizable than most but for those that would like to just have a full system up and going in no time thats usable budgie and gnome are fine to me. xfce is nice on endeavour os with themes they made but on other linux distros xfce is kinda old and crappy out of the box and needs alot of customizing to look okay

[@EHKvlogs]

but can gnome change window decorations?

[@haydn-db8z]

As someone without years of Linux experience, I don't have a strong opinion about a given DE. But I am absolutely allergic to DEI, and Gnome seems more into DEI than KDE is. So I chose KDE, and so far it's done everything I need it to do. 🙂

[@artemsmushkov766]

I compared it for myself recently. With minimal set of extensions that made GNOME barely usable for me (roughly 15 of them) it leaked RAM like crazy and still was far from perfect. With Plasma all I had to do is to spend 10 minutes in system settings, install one kwin script and two plasmoids to get much better workflow for me.

[@RedSntDK]

I kind of respect how headstrong Gnome has always been. It's their way or the highway. It also means that it's practically idiot proof, since there's less things you can mess up. Oh, and regarding that conclusion, Debian is definitely not rocking the boat with too many breaking updates, you got that part right. Downside is that I'm still on KDE 5.11 😭

[@MichaelNROH]

Debian is on Plasma 5.27

[@DDosAndDonts]

when i switched from windows, gnome felt very limiting compared to kde. the default file manager was barebone.

[@jedipadawan7023]

Tangential but relevant. I have given Linux (MX Linux KDE these days, if only because install images created in MX Liux makes install and set up sooooo easy, tho Debian is stable is rock solid) and I only EVER give out KDE. It's not a matter of customization, though when it is needed it is there. I set up MX Linux on a 2017 Macbook Air recently. The guy wanted all manner of customization to make his UI experience more 'Mac like' and with KDE I could deliver. That helps. But also, the fact KDE has everything in system settings is a life saver! Non-techies avoid System settings like vampires do garlic so it's never an issue of users breaking things. But if there is an issue I can whatsapp the user the relevant switch in system settings. I have only needed this about three times in ten years but it has saved me! Any other DE and I would face having to drop the terminal or editing some hidden text file. That is just "No" to the average user. Even copy and paste. Non-techies have literally said "No" when I have just HINTED at using the terminal. For support reasons I dare not use anything other than KDE. GNOME, for me, would be agony.

[@FengLengshun]

No. I've done a GNOME upgrade two times. Once on Fedora and I think the other time was Arch. They sucked. I have spent hours tailoring the DE to work the way * I * want it. And then stuff just breaks because the GNOME devs can't figure out an upgrade model that doesn't leave extension users and devs in a good place. Meanwhile, I once forgot to disable auto-update and woke up with F40 and KDE6 on my Bazzite system. Some stuff broke, but I can get on with my work for the day, then I rebased to F39 and all my stuff worked just fine like it had for the previous ten versions. It may not be GNOME's fault entirely, but nevertheless it feels a lot like how Microsoft was telling me how I should use * my machine * and then breaking stuff when I decided that I disagree with their vision and just want to get my work and gaming done the way I made it work for me years ago. Miss me with that BS.

[@max_im_um]

Strong disagree on this one. Extensions are a far inferior system to having the functionality built-in. They are clunky by nature and break all the time. They are also dependent on third parties that may just abandon the extension, it happens all the time. Kwin scripts are not really needed, a lot of customisation is possible without them

[@citbresearchassistant8535]

I wish I had seen this video before I put Ubuntu 24.04 on my new desktop system (switched from MacOS), I went with Ubuntu because it looks a lot more like what I was used to (after a few tweaks) but also because KDE is too buggy for me. But what I did not realize is that stuff that is simple and built in to every other operating system, and most other Linux distros just can't be done under Gnome, at least if it is running Wayland. My #1 example is a screensaver. NOT a lock screen, NOT a screen blanker, NOT something that will try to put my computer or monitor to sleep, just something that will display an animated image or even a rotating "slide show" of various wallpapers full-screen after a period of inactivity (no keys pressed and no mouse movement for say 3 minutes). The Gnome community will try to make you feel like the stupidest person that ever lived for even asking for such a thing, and they always point you to the screen blanker in Ubuntu, but what they do not realize is that the screen blanker sends no HDMI signal at all to the display. And I guess most computer monitors deal with that by going into some kind of power saving mode, which is great IF you are using a computer monitor as your display. But if you are using a TV set (which are actually cheaper than computer monitors in some parts of the world, and besides a lot of people have an extra older/smaller set somewhere around the house) it typically displays a large error notice that no signal is being received, and there is usually no way to turn that off. So yes, I really DO want a screen SAVER, not a lock screen, not a screen blanker, and from what I have read a lot of other users do too but the Gnome developers think we are all idiots stuck in the 1990's. I have said often, and I mean it, that if the Cosmic DE is half as good as they are aiming for when it is out of alpha/beta, I will delete Ubuntu and install PopOS and be done with the annoyance that is Gnome. And that's not my only example of why I hate Gnome more the more I try to use it, but this comment is already too long!

[@jyndigo]

what wallpaper are you using?

[@Sqwert-g6h]

GNOMEs defaults are generally okay with me on my work laptop where I'm mainly just using terminal, IDE, and browser. KDE all day long on my desktop which is catered for creative work and gaming.

[@steve.1020]

i'm using manjaro kde right now and it's solid i don't have the bugs i had on fedora kde or cachy os

[@fabioarturo]

Gnome Extensions is awesome. I still use gnome. Best recommended gnome

[@marlonese]

Team Cinnamon 💯

[@EmoExperat]

agreed

[@jedipadawan7023]

There is an argument that Cinnamon is 'true GNOME.' As I have posted, I hold GNOME was reworked to be a minimum feature (even the file manager just BARELY copies files, it's so minimal!) locked down workstation 'app launcher' (almost as la Windows/NT 3.x was) for big business. "Do your work, copy your data to the network share. Shut up." Cinnamon was the hasty fork to ensure a real, proper GNOME desktop. So there is an argument that Cinnamon carries the torch for desktop GNOME while what is now GNOME is really a workstation app launcher.

[@EmoExperat]

@@jedipadawan7023 i think MATE deserves the title of true gnome much more since its literally unchanged gnome 2

[@Prophet6000]

I like Gnome a bit more. KDE''s menu's are kinda of annoying to deal with.

[@jvapr27]

Gnome extensions are mostly unsupported, or abandoned unless one of the few popular ones. Developers dont support it either. Use at your own risk.

[@referralacc1033]

BRO please make KDE 6 customization video , nobody in youtube have made a proper KDE 6 customization videos

[@michadybczak4862]

I was strongly customizing Plasma 5, but I stick to defaults on Plasma 6, mainly because of lack of latte-dock. This panel/dock introduced a completely different experience and a set of own extensions making it a different DE. With Plasma 6, there are no extensions that would work that way, so I rather leave it to defaults. For me, it's all or nothing. Still, I like Plasma 6 and hope that with time, things will improve. Maybe they have already. I haven't tried it, but since latte is gone, I'm not having high hopes for that.

[@referralacc1033]

@@michadybczak4862 yes i too have seen many plasma 5 heavy customization videos. Problem is plasma 5 is outdated and i use rolling distro. When i tried customizing in 5.27 some of the packages were new and some old so no proper solution. A minor update would destroy all the customization. For now am too sticking with default plasma 6 with few inbuilt settings changed to my liking.

[@PadhleBete]

Gnome default is nice, idk why people hate it so much

[@s9209122222]

It still doesn't support HDR properly, I can't use it without appindicator extension, why don't they just implement it?

[@PadhleBete]

@@s9209122222 that's interesting, linux desktop environments are usually lack behind in alot of things

[@nickjchn5676]

In my opinion, KDE is more customizable, but comes with many small bugs, they're not so critical, but somewhat annoying. Gnome is not so customizable as KDE, but it's more stable for daily use

[@АлексейШилин-д1ф]

The thing with extensions is that they are allowed to do much more than any KDE widgets ever could. They can customize, extend and even replace parts of the Shell itself, and so they can e.g. implement mouse pointer autojump to focused window, or turn GNOME into a scrolling tiling WM. KDE on the other hand has tons of settings, but if you manage to find some that are not implemented then you're basically out of luck. In other words, KDE is customizable, while GNOME is extensible. But this power comes at a cost: since extensions fiddle with Shell's internals, when those change some extensions may break. They are similar to kernel modules in that regard: they're also allowed to do pretty much anything, but they can break in newer kernel versions.

[@jedipadawan7023]

And GNOME discourages use of extensions and breaks them - seemingly deliberately - so you cannot reply on any particular extension long term. Write an extension for GNOME... you have to keep updating it for each new version of the DE. As I say, I think this is because GNOME is intended as a minimum functionality, standarized, locked down app launcher for workstatitoins. GNOME, I hold, is not really intended as a full desktop DE. In a way, extensions are not really a feature of GNOME. They are more a work around. Arguable, Cinnamon is customizable GNOME, though, of course, the workflow is different.

[@АлексейШилин-д1ф]

> And GNOME discourages use of extensions and breaks them - seemingly deliberately - so you cannot reply on any particular extension long term. Did you actually read what you're replying to? I explained why some (not all!) extensions may break in new GNOME major releases, and it has nothing to do with bad faith or deliberate breakage. Then, could you provide proof that "GNOME discourages use of extensions"? Because if that was the case then why do they host extensions web site, why do they spend time to review them, why do they post porting guides with every major release -- and why did they implement them at all, you know that if GNOME developers didn't want extensions to be there they just wouldn't have implemented support for them? > extensions are not really a feature of GNOME They literally are: GNOME developers implemented support for them, GNOME developers wrote and keep updated the documentation on how to create them. GNOME even maintains quite a few first party ones (see gnome-shell-extensions official package).

[@jedipadawan7023]

@@АлексейШилин-д1ф I only just caught data on the GNOME extensions. I admit, my knowledge is out of date because I do not use GNOME. So, my apologies, my data was out of date. When GNOME 3 first came out - I am old, I recall, it was a big deal and I had JUST started on Linux, GNOME were VERY "It's this, end of." They initially refused all talk of extensions. Then, they begrudgingly allowed 3rd party extensions. That was then. Since I posted, I caught word form other sources on the extensions manager which has been added to GNOME. So, yes, extensions are now an official part of GNOME and I am not so small as to argue against fact. Yes, you are quite correct and my data is out of date. I did not use to be like this, mind, but I am pleased GNOME have adopted extensions. Interesting. I did not know that.

[@AbteilungsleiterinBeiAntifaEV]

Let me introduce you to kwin scripts lol

[@АлексейШилин-д1ф]

Lol, indeed. Show me a KWin script which can e.g. automatically warp mouse pointer to newly focused window, or turn KWin into a scrolling tiling WM. Both have been implemented as GNOME Shell extensions, but KWin scripting API is just too limited and doesn't allow such extensive control.

[@dankhill42069]

KDE plasma is too buggy for me. Gnome looks better if you don't care about customization and want something that just works

[@citbresearchassistant8535]

This is the ONLY reason I did not go with KDE when I switched from MacOS to Linux. I could deal with the idea that I'd need to do some re-theming to make it look like what I was used to, and I really don't care for Gnome (I like the look but not the limitations), but I really did not need to deal with the bugs.

[@ouro2164]

I just wish KDE would hire an actual UI designer. I'd just use Windows' high contrast settings if I need those line separators in UI, KDE is doing too much with it.

[@JaCKoP619]

am i the only one who has issues with dark style in gnome ubuntu all the time?

[@StrixsMC]

I would like to use Kde plasma 5.27... but i use nvidia gpu, and there is some problems with it...

[@s9209122222]

Why don't you just use KDE Plasma 6.1?

[@blackstar_1069]

rip gradiance :(

[@citbresearchassistant8535]

I read on one page where someone is supposed to be working on a replacement written in Rust that is called Chameleon, but that page gave no link to that project and no indication of if or when it might actually be released. :(

[@Nonsense_thepodcast]

KDE feels like DTM(doing too much)

[@nabara6949]

I still can't find my rounded corners and true floating panel buttons. So not enough.

[@stufflike5844]

I relly preffer KDE to Gnome but I hate how laggy KDE is or can get

[@gil_L]

I like Gnome. If I want a windows like experience, I will use Windows. Gnome has a similar feeling to both mac and windows but is unique. I just use tweaks and extensions to have a drop down menu for applications and places and then max and min buttons on the right hand side of applications. I also put the bottom border down so I can see the applications I have open and toggle between them.

[@vidal9747]

I like how it looks. But it is extremely obnoxious in its stupid cult of Perfection that ends up paradoxically with a broken desktop. DRM leasing, icons status bar, etc. They are just obnoxious and prefer to have a perfect desktop than a working one. I hope cosmic does better. Even in Alpha I found that some crashes on some applications were less frequent. There are bugs, but catastrophic crashes seem less frequent. Cosmic is pretty nice. The appearance and the philosophy hits the spot. They just need to polish the rough edges and I will stop using gnome completely and switch to cosmic.

[@waqar144]

Please stop recommending debian to normal end users, its not great that users are stuck on ancient software for years

[@skorne7682]

I'm a KDE fan, but their desktop is kinda ugly by default. I wish there were ways to customise the Plasma look without using 3rd party themes. You can't even change the taskbar background color as far as I know. I also have a bunch of system tray icons with mismatched sizes that don't look right and can't find any way to fix it. But in the end the sheer features and versatility of KDE - nothing else really compares. I do love Xfce too since it manages to be lightweight and quite flexible, but I need Wayland and VRR support. Got a feeling that's still a long way off. I'm curious though, I've never made a desktop app for Linux - how is it to develop on GTK 4 vs QT 6?

[@SusannaMarcus]

0010 Mozell Stravenue

[@foss_sound]

Pro tip: get used to standards. 🎉 (i really like riced desktops, but I stick to default experience. maybe dash to dock and blur my shell. 😅

[@CathrineMacNiel]

why dash to dock and blur my shell? Get used to Standards dude!

[@foss_sound]

@@CathrineMacNiel don't be so dogmatic :p

[@abstractaxis]

Nice video! In the end, it's also a matter of how used someone is to customizing a particular DE. There's no magic trick here, apart from dedicating some hours understanding how the customization works and how far you can go with it. (Btw, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it's, in fact, possible to apply custom themes to GTK4 apps. It just requires some additional workaround, but I've been doing it for more than a year on the latest GNOME versions and it has been working very well : D)

[@MSThalamus-gj9oi]

"If you want to change Gnome's appearance, then the best thing to do is to just rely on changing the mouse and icon themes, since those work just fine." That's got to be the most polite "then you can just f off" I've ever heard. If you really want to change Gnome's appearance, your best bet is installing a different DE. Gnome doesn't want you to change their DE's appearance. They're just as controlling as Microsoft and Apple. Some people don't care, and Gnome's likely a great choice for them. For everyone else, I'd suggest avoiding Gnome. They're only going to get more controlling, not less.

[@GnuChanOS]

i use qtile and i don't like kde all kde programs can't supporting gtk or so bad every time i try make my own program theme btw i use arch linux

[@Stor_Man]

I use gnome 'cause I'm lazy and using laptop, seriously

[@sourabhpatel7952]

Custom shortcuts are awful in gnome and keyboard only navigation is abysmal. Gnome also lacks krunner which once you get used to it you can not go back.

[@MichaelNROH]

The search behaves the same. Only difference is the fullscreen no?

[@zzzooozzz-dj4xv]

Hyprland customization >

[@cbh_uzun]

KDE by default looks horrible, animations are disgusting, customization gives anxiety and it lags on my machine on the other hand Gnome is polished, easy to change and theme and default apps are actually useful. gnome all the way

[@alexisdumas84]

This is my experience as well.

[@antiwokehuman]

That’s just you buddy

[@alexisdumas84]

Clearly not

[@cbh_uzun]

@@antiwokehuman the lagging part could be just me but all my ex-windows friends prefer gnome for transitioning to linux. Even tho it's not the windows layout.

[@AvidBangerInspector]

Reason for why I decided for KDE was that Gnome needed extensions to actually be useable and have standardized features. I don't think that's very user-friendly at all...

[@MichaelNROH]

I don't really get the argument "not usable". It clearly is What extension are we talking about because something like Dash to Dock is just an extension of a functional dock

[@AvidBangerInspector]

@@MichaelNROH Sure I'll elaborate! For example I had to download Gnome Tweaks in order to have buttons on the corner of a window to either close or minimize the window.

[@ytchannel6569]

I don't like kde's design. It's dated and very amateur. It doesn't matter that they provide more customization. The looks of the system apps inside will remain the same.

[@thelegendaryqwerty]

Man Gnome sucks so much 😂

[@robg7046]

Sorry bit all it did for me was lagggggggtggg the heck out of evrything. that's whats lacking. please stop trying to sell it. it suxs

[@tohur]

Gnome and Customization in the same sentence just made me throw up a little.. kidding aside the extensions do not compare to KDE sorry just doesn't

[@linuxland]

Seriously, is not even comparable, I don't know why this video exists

[@tohur]

@@linuxland not to mention Gnome is missing alot of under the hood features Plasma has because they have been stuck debating how to implement said features in a non standard way lol.. like you can NOT even clone displays in Gnome.. like WTF

[@hrfdude4234]

gnome is just bad, period! kde, cinnamon, xfce, budgie, even the alpha cosmic... you can't go wrong, all are good choices, gnome is not!

[@729usbow]

Bro i tried to use gnome but they dont even have system tray icons, this ruined it for me, i like seeing my things on system tray

[@SecretWolfie]

First from Public

[@PaulG.x]

Gnome is better because you don't need a mouse to use it

[@grtitann7425]

Fine, I'm staying in windows...😢

[@ReLoneR]

I like that every gnome extension i use is perfect out of the box, while on kde, well ...

[@michadybczak4862]

The difference is, that Plasma is a complete, mature DE and all extensions is just cherry on top, completely optional. On Gnome DE is void of BASIC options that you HAVE TO get through extensions. So basic Plasma is fully featured, Gnome basic is just bare bones, often giving you buggy, incomplete experience (lack of server side decorations for apps that only use them, like Davinci Resolve). You also missed a huge part, which makes me be very disappointed in this video: Because Plasma don't need extensions, even if they break, it's not a big deal, because you rarely really need them (aside tiling ones or those who change DE a lot, creating a complete different experience). On Gnome, if you want tray features that are not shipped out of the box, you are dependent on extensions and those break every Gnome update. This creates a MASSIVE ISSUE AND DIFFERENCE in extension ecosystem. In Plasma, people mostly use theming extensions, but those are just to make your desktop fancy or more unique, but they aren't anything crucial to functioning of the DE. Sure, there are extensions that do a lot more, but those are not widely run and used - this is a small niche. In Gnome, some extensions are considered a basic stuff to have, and many distros come with them by default, so when an extension breaks or is no longer developed, this is a huge deal, unlike in Plasma. Even such a big change like update from Plasma 5 to Plasma 6 is not a problem, in Gnome, basically with every small release, extensions break, creating issue for users, who are running cutting edge distros like Arch. I think you skimmed the topic too much and made those two system to look as if they were on the same level, they are NOT :(. Another part is, that while Gnome can be cool and customizable with extensions, there is only as much stuff you can do with them. Plasma is just richer. You can find stuff that is available on Gnome but not in Plasma - those are different DEs afer all, but the amount of things that Plasma allows you to do (without extensions) is just not comparable. Gnome in its vanilla for is for me too primitive for me. Gnome with extensions is just a nightmare in the long run. People complain that you can be hooked into Plasma options and just try them out, wasting time, while on Gnome you just do your work. This is untrue. Once you find your preferred Plasma setup, it's just there, working FOR YEARS! In Gnome, you have to check the extension updated, if those are developed, compatible, fix things if they break with update, or withhold the update, or choose only the very actively developed extensions, to be sure they are soon updated as well. This is a hurdle and giant time waste, at least for people who are power users and like their DE to be fully customized. And the last part of customization is: Plasma supports theming of gtk2 and gtk3 apps, while Gnome is not offering any choice in that matter, supporting only gtk apps and even not fully customizing them, because gtk4 apps are bound to latest adwaita look. Again, you can do a lot more in Plasma, while Gnome has its limits and even extensions don't fix that. So no, Gnome and KDE are not on the same level when it comes to customization. While I like some Gnome design choices, those are nonfunctional in the long run, and that is why I scratched Gnome from the lists of serious and valid DEs to consider. Years have passed and this hasn't changed a bit, confirming my decision. This video is too biased and superficial. Thumb down this time.

[@АлексейШилин-д1ф]

> So basic Plasma is fully featured, Gnome basic is just bare bones, often giving you buggy, incomplete experience The thing is, the fact that KDE ships so much out of the box makes it really buggy. They just have too many features and options and too little manpower to properly maintain them. Plasma and KWin crashes are already a meme. Then, they also lack vision of what their desktop should be. They attempt to please everyone, which results in a DE which feels like it was duct taped together using parts from totally different projects. Even their Settings app is a mess: you can find all sorts of margins, alignments, font styles etc. -- in a single application! Many of their official apps don't even look like they come from the same project: some use menu bars, some use hamburger menus; some have text labels on toolbars, some don't; etc. > lack of server side decorations for apps that only use them, like Davinci Resolve Let me guess: you don't use Resolve. Because this exact issue also happens in KDE, too. Arch Wiki even has some tips on how to work around this issue in KDE. And given that Resolve runs through Xwayland, all this CSD vs SSD discussion doesn't matter anyway since both environments provide decorations for X11 apps by default, so it's Resolve which actively asks to not decorate itself for some reason, not GNOME's lack of xdg-decoration protocol support. Also, in X11 window decorations are opt-out, but in Wayland they are opt-in, even when using xdg-decoration protocol. Just try creating a Wayland top level surface and you'll get no decorations no matter if it's GNOME or KDE.