[SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

spiritwalker · 2011-05-04 22:51:25

I'd appreciate it if you could answer the following questions:

1) Is it possible to have application icons besides (below/above/doesn't matter) open windows in the activities?
2) Does gnome3 support panel applets? If yes, where can I get some?
3) How can I easily show desktop? The only way I know is to minimize all open applications.
4) Why doesn't nautilus launch when clicked on from the dock in the activities?
5) How can I open a new instance of an application/window (gvim, nautilus, etc.) without right clicking on the dock and selecting "new window"?

Also, I've upgraded to gnome3 from gnome2.

Thanks!

Last edited by spiritwalker (2011-05-05 12:08:35)

yawns · 2011-05-05 00:02:02

Most of what you're asking is probably possible, but, "not yet." GNOME3 is pretty extensible, but there's practically zero documentation. It also has almost no easy/GUI-based customization, by design. What you see is what you get, unless you want to screw around with the theme/javascript files, or build or wait for extensions.

https://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Extensions/FAQ/
http://blog.fpmurphy.com/2011/04/gnome- … sions.html

1) Is it possible to have application icons besides (below/above/doesn't matter) open windows in the activities?

Sorry if I'm being dumb here: I'm not sure if by "besides," you mean, "other than," or, "next to." If you want to know if you can have icons on the left panel other than the ones for currently running applications -- yes. You can drag icons there from the massive "application" wall'o'icons. You can also right-click an icon for a running app and chose, "Add to favorites," to "pin," it to the panel.

If instead you want icons for currently running applications to show up adjacent to the window preview in the overview, there's no current way to do that. It can probably be done with an extension.

2) Does gnome3 support panel applets? If yes, where can I get some?

No. Applets and widgets have been abandoned for extensions. Only a few currently exist. I'm hoping as more people start using it, more developers will start, you know, developing.

https://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Extensions

3) How can I easily show desktop? The only way I know is to minimize all open applications.

Open system settings (click your name->system settings), Keyboard, Shortcuts, Navigation. Bind, "Hide all normal windows," to whatever you'd like for show desktop.

4) Why doesn't nautilus launch when clicked on from the dock in the activities?

You probably have Nautilus managing your desktop so that you can have icons on it. When you click the Nautilus icon on the panel, it thinks Nautilus is already open, and so it just switches to it. "It," being right back to where you were. You need to open a new window if you want a file browser. At least I think that'll work. I just removed the Nautilus icon from the panel because it got too annoying.

5) How can I open a new instance of an application/window (gvim, nautilus, etc.) without right clicking on the dock and selecting "new window"?

The only other way I know of is to middle-click, but that's worse because a middle-click opens a new instance on a new workspace.

spiritwalker · 2011-05-05 01:30:11

yawns, thanks for the detailed answer.

As for question one:
When you have 10 open windows it's very hard to figure out which window belongs to which applications. So I was wondering if there was a way of putting the application icon next to the window itself (in the activities view). Firefox icons in the screenshot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beemzet/5689028592/

frank604 · 2011-05-05 06:13:56

Lucky for us that this script does the trick.
http://bone.twbbs.org.tw/blog/archives/2148#comments

Basically, any app located on the notifier (bottom right of screen) can be placed on the systray (top right of screen). Follow directions on this link and read the comments, in particular, Brian and my comments.

Spread the word!

yawns · 2011-05-05 07:06:56

spiritwalker wrote:

yawns, thanks for the detailed answer.
As for question one:
When you have 10 open windows it's very hard to figure out which window belongs to which applications. So I was wondering if there was a way of putting the application icon next to the window itself (in the activities view). Firefox icons in the screenshot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beemzet/5689028592/

That's very likely do-able with extensions. Perhaps someone will do it in the future. I've been trying to play around with manipulating the UI via extensions, but the documentation is currently way too sparse for me to do anything useful.

yawns · 2011-05-07 11:32:56

I know this is marked solved, but, just in case anyone else stumbles upon it looking for answers: With regards to question 5, I've just discovered that ctrl-click'ing a panel icon will open a new instance/window of the app on the current workspace, as opposed to the middle-click suggestion, which opens in a new one.

spiritwalker · 2011-05-09 01:59:51

yawns, thanks for the update.

sustmi · 2011-06-30 09:06:46

spiritwalker wrote:

1) Is it possible to have application icons besides (below/above/doesn't matter) open windows in the activities?

Here you are:
https://github.com/sustmi/gnome-shell-e … rlay-icons

It's my first gnome-shell hacking experience. Obviously, the code is ugly, but works.
If you have any idea how to improve it...

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-04 22:51:25

[SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#2 2011-05-05 00:02:02

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#3 2011-05-05 01:30:11

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#4 2011-05-05 06:13:56

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#5 2011-05-05 07:06:56

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#6 2011-05-07 11:32:56

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#7 2011-05-09 01:59:51

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

#8 2011-06-30 09:06:46

Re: [SOLVED] few questions on gnome 3

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