Graham White: My Notes

With the current release of Fedora Linux being updated to version 40 this week, I find myself upgrading to it on the first day of release (rare for me, I usually wait a couple of months) and getting up-to-speed with the changes in Gnome 46.  My previous post about Gnome focused on my migration to Gnome 3 and the extensions I was using at the time.  During the course of the previous (nearly) 5 years, these have changed quite significantly as the Gnome desktop has grown and as my usage of it has moved on.  Hence, rather than update my old post as I have done in previous years, I thought it time to write a whole new post focusing on how I set up my Gnome desktop today.

So without further ado, this is the list of extensions I'm using right now as I write this post (in alphabetical order):

AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support

This is one of the few extensions that has stood the test of time with my particular usage of Gnome.  While the free desktop standard continues to specify the classic "icon tray" that was supported by extensions such as TopIcons, in reality few of the modern desktops (I'm referring to Gnome and KDE) support them.  The modern take on the tray icon is an AppIndicator icon and many modern applications are written to use this standard (and perhaps fall back to a tray icon). 

Dash to Panel

This is a more recent discovery for me.  I've previously evaluated Dash to Dock several times and never liked the user experience.  However, the similarly named and with somewhat similar functionality, Dash to Dock has replaced my use of the Window List extension.  It provides a more modern alternative to showing which windows I have open with window previews and suchlike.  It can do considerably more than the way I've configured it, but I have it set just how I like to work with my Gnome top bar still in tact and a minimal bottom bar used for navigating between my open applications.  If you want to try it out with my configuration, I've exported my settings into this GitHub Gist that you can import.

Frippery Panel Favourites

It takes your favourited applications and adds them as a set of icons to the Gnome top panel, making for extra quick access to your commonly used apps.  I tend to flip between using this and just searching for apps via the Super button (windows key).

GTile
This great little extension allows you to easily resize your windows in order to tile them across your display.  I love the side-snapping in Gnome 3 that allows you to size a window to half the screen size.  However, GTile adds an icon to your Gnome Panel that, when clicked, allows you to size to any area of your screen across a pre-defined grid - you can even change the grid size.  Brilliant for usability with lots of on-screen windows at the same time.  It strikes a great balance for me as someone that generally prefers to tile windows but doesn't like a tiling window manager.

Hide Activities Button

This is almost a little bit superfluous for my usage but I found myself never using the activities button (top left) in the Gnome Panel.  The Dash to Panel configuration I have created maintains an activities button (bottom right) which is the place I've grown familiar with in order to use my GUI to switch between desktops (although I generally switch between desktops using keyboard shortcuts).

Pano Clipboard Manager

This is a really great modern take on the clipboard.  Press shift+windows+v and you get a pop up at the bottom of the screen with a graphical representation of your clipboard history.  The extension is clever enough to be aware of various types of clipboard content such as text, images or hyperlinks.  You also get a button on the top panel that allows access to the clipboard, incogneto mode (stops copying stuff to the extension) and settings.

System Monitor Next

Adds little graphs to the Gnome Panel that show resource usage.  The extension is pretty configurable but I have it showing CPU, memory and network utilisation.  This allows me to keep an easy eye on my machine and how loaded it is at the current time.  Extremely useful for spotting those occasional rogue apps that start eating an entire core of my CPU.

I'm a massive laggard in the move to a Gnome 3 desktop.  Colleagues and friends have been using it for years and to be honest, I've never been comfortable using it.  But, that changed recently and I've actually grown to quite like the new desktop environment I find myself working in on a daily basis.  So I've made a full-blooded leap to a modern desktop.

Way-back when I started using Linux as a serious desktop alternative to Windows (in about 2000-2001 ish) I was running Gnome.  I migrated away from that to KDE 3 and switched to Gnome 2 when KDE 4 was released as I didn't like the changes they had made and the new KDE 4 desktop was horribly buggy and unstable in my experience.  (Maybe there's something about brand new desktops and my not taking a liking to them?)  When Gnome released Gnome 3 I absolutely hated the user experience and used XFCE for a while before settling on the MATE desktop which I've been using for quite a few years now.

Trying out Gnome 3 again recently and I was pleasantly surprised that the desktop has progressed significantly since those first few releases I couldn't get along with.  But it's the addition of extensions that are the final straw in my move as I've found with just the right mix I can craft a desktop that gives me a nice balance between the new world and the old, much more familiar, world.

(final update 24th April 2024) Note: there is an updated list of the extensions I use in my newer Gnome Extensions blog post.

So, the real purpose of this post is to share the extensions I've discovered.  I'll document these below in brief but would also be interested to find others that are useful:

Applications Menu (updated 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, see below)
This was right at the very top of my list of requirements for Gnome 3 usability.  It simply puts an old school applications menu in the top bar, a bit like your old fashioned Windows start menu or similar from other desktops.  I am, however, finding I use this very little now as the search hot-key in Gnome 3 does seem to be a quicker way of finding and starting programs.

Frippery Bottom Panel
This is another of my top requirements for Gnome 3 usability.  It gives you a panel at the bottom of the screen (D'uh) that allows you to switch easily between applications you have running.  It also has a small workspace switcher which is why I like the Frippery version of this type of extension versus some of the others that don't have a workspace switcher capability.

Top Icons Plus (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, replaced with AppIndicator, see below)
Either the Top Icons or the Top Icons Plus extension that I'm using here seem so ubiquitous for Gnome 3 users I wonder why on earth they're not a default option, aside from the fact the Gnome 3 developers do seem to retain their keen vision on what a modern desktop should look like and "old" system tray icons are not part of that outlook.  This extension, if you're not already using it, allows you to see system tray icons such as the ones used by Virt Manager or Slack, for example.

GPaste (update 4th Nov 2021 - no longer in use, too difficult to configure and doesn't always work the way I expected, replaced with Clipboard Indicator, updated again 8th Mar 2023, replaced with Pano Clipboard Manager)
A clipboard management system that has a nice integration with the Gnome 3 panel.  I was previously using apps like ClipIt or Parcelite that do pretty much the same job.

Lock Screen (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, I wasn't using this as I just hit Win+L to lock)
This adds a button to the gnome panel that, when clicked, locks your desktop.  This would be the same as pressing Win+L on the keyboard.  I was in the habit of using a graphical button on MATE so having this back in Gnome 3 gives me the experience I'm used to.

No TopLeft Hot Corner (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, Gnome Tweaks as a toggle for "Activities Overview Hot Corner" from the Top Bar options.
I find the Gnome 3 facility to show activities when you mouse to the top left corner really annoying and it detracts from my productivity when it happens automatically.  Fortunately, this extension disables that feature.  It does make it more awkward to reach activities with the mouse (I'd have to click the applications menu first then select "Activities Overview") but I more or less always use the Windows key anyway.

Places Status Indicator (update 8th Mar 2023 - no longer in use, I wasn't using it so have stopped installing it)
This adds the old Gnome 2 style places menu to the Gnome 3 panel.  I find I flip between using this menu to start navigating directories and just starting Gnome Files and going from there.  Any which way, having this menu back on my desktop just makes it feel a bit more familiar and comfortable.

Remove Dropdown Arrows (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, Gnome seems to have gotten rid of most of these by default)
The Gnome 3 panel insists on having an arrow indicator to show items that pull down a menu when clicked.  These menus seem obvious to me and the arrows look rubbish and take up space, so this extension gets rid of them completely.  Happy days.

Suspend Button (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, Gnome now has a built-in suspend button)
I run from a laptop most of the time and use the suspend feature every time I "shut down" my laptop.  Bizarrely, there's no graphical facility (that I can find) in Gnome to suspend my machine.  This extension adds a nice button to the status menu that immediately suspends my machine.  Perfect.

System Monitor
Adds little graphs to the Gnome panel that show resource usage.  The extension is pretty configurable but I have it showing CPU, memory and network utilisation.  This allows me to keep an easy eye on my machine and how loaded it is at the current time.  Extremely useful for spotting those occasional rogue apps that start eating an entire core of my CPU.

Media Keys (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, Gnome has media controls built-in)
I haven't decided how useful this one is going to be yet and it's currently turned off.  However, when listening to Music through services like Amazon Music from a web browser it's nice to be able to control the audio without having to revert back to the browser ever time.  This extension simply adds a few buttons to the Gnome panel to control your media.  Handy if you haven't got the physical buttons on your keyboard too.

Do Not Disturb Button (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, Gnome has the button built-in)
I generally leave this extension disabled but it's useful to have installed and running when presenting or screen sharing.  It saves any embarrassing situations of people being able to read your notifications while they're looking at your screen.  Basically, it simply stops notifications being displayed, they're still received so you can go read them later.


Blog edited with more extensions added on 28th August 2019:
Frippery Panel Favourites
I'm not quite sure how I missed this from my original list as it's an extension I've been using more or less since day one in Gnome 3.  It takes your favourite menu and adds this as a set of icons to the top of the Gnome Panel.  Makes for extra quick access to your commonly used apps.

Some more extensions have been brought to my attention since writing the list above.  I've tried out all of the ones mentioned to me but these additions (below) are the ones that seem to have stuck.

Caffeine (update 5th Feb 2021 - no longer in use, using Gnome's built-in do not disturb button instead)
This extension sits fairly well alongside the Do Not Disturb Button extension in my original list.  This one simply disables the screen saver and auto suspend.  Hence, in conjunction with Do Not Disturb, will make a good presentation or screen sharing environment.

GTile
This is a genius little extension that allows you to easily resize your windows in order to tile them across your display.  I love the side-snapping in Gnome 3 that allows you to size a window to half the screen size.  In my older desktops I also had corner snapping to size a window to a quarter of the screen, Gnome 3 doesn't have this by default.  However, GTile adds an icon to your Gnome Panel that, when clicked, allows you to size to any area of your screen across a pre-defined grid - you can even change the grid size.  Brilliant for usability with lots of on-screen windows at the same time.


Blog edited to update the list of extensions I'm using on 5th February 2021: