I’m a Gnome user, I am just not a fan of openSUSE’s implementation of Gnome.
Some of it is alright, I think it is the Main Menu slab that doesn’t sit well with me.
Am I alone in this thinking? Does everybody else like it as it is and I just need to deal?
I know that I can get the usual Gnome menu bar, and add panels and such, but I like the concept of the main menu slab.
What is your opinion?
I’m a KDE user who recently decided to use both Gnome and KDE.
I love Gnome in openSUSE. It’s by far the best of quite a prestigious list of distros I have tried.
Hi
Have you tried GnoMenu?
http://software.opensuse.org/search?baseproject=ALL&p=1&q=GnoMenu
I like the slab, but it can be slow at times, most of my common apps
are favorites, else on the desktop 
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.45-0.1-default
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Not to me, actually I think openSUSE has one of the worst gnome experiences I had, for one the gnome integration is nowhere near that of other distros and it feels cheap to me.
If I were to suggest a Gnome distro I would say Ubuntu, Fedora and Linux Mint over openSUSE.
Now KDE on the other hand openSUSE would be on my first choices list.
How do you like Ubuntu’s latest Gnome style? It takes a moment to get used to the new button location but I’m getting used to it.
I’m just a little less than enamored at all of the “tweeks” such as for social networking, shutdown not being in the System menu, etc.
Meanwhile, Fedora seems too plain-vanilla and “old school”. Not as bad as when I tried CentOS a few years back and thought I had warped back to Red Hat 8.0! 
I currently use both 11.2 KDE4 and Gnome on separate partitions. I recently replaced 11.1/KDE3 with 11.2/Gnome as they both have more snappy and quicker performance on my hardware than KDE4 does. I use both KDE4 and Gnome with different mixes of applications. I like both, but Gnome has the edge on pure system performance on my desktop pc. At some point I will chose one DE for the higher spec laptop. Enough of my current usage profile; now about Gnome…
I didn’t like the slab at first, but after further use, I think it is pretty well structured. The downside arrives on switching to the “more applications” listing. Some of the groups are just too big and Gnome seems to have lots of small but well performing apps (compared to KDE) i.e. a more modular approach.
Dragonbite, you don’t actually say what you do/don’t like about the slab in any detail, does that mean you are not sure? That may only encourage more of the usual I like/don’t responses without substance. Are you serious??? 
I have used Mac’s so the new layout that Ubuntu doesnt bother me.
And yeh having logout on the panel as opposed to inside the menu takes a bit getting used to for some folk but I have been adding logout dialogs to my panels for ages.
I really like what they did in Ubuntu 10.04, it really stands out from most the crowd.
Its not overly glossy, no blues so that Ubuntu can have its own identity without being overly brown.
No, I wanted to see what others thought before pre-seeding the conversation (too much). I do understand your concern though.
Some of what I don’t like about the slab is
Part of why it gets to me is that my primary system is a 12" laptop screen which maxes out a 1024x768 resolution. So space is a premium and blank space between icons and buttons stand out blaringly to me, as that space could be shrunk and tightened up so more can fit in the space or they can be “clustered” visually for grouping by type/function (application buttons together but separated from tab choices, separated from system shutdown/software/etc. menus).
I did manage to find out how to edit the application launcher commands (e.g. to get skype and cheese to work with my webcam), it was just not intuitive (right-click icon, select properties, edit the launching command, click OK/Save/whatever).
I’m not sure if I would prefer it to be more like the KDE 4 menu, though. Maybe something in-between the KDE 4 menu and Windows 7 (to be honest).
One thing I do like about the Windows 7 menu, is that without having to do anything you can open the main menu and start typing what you are looking for (like “notep…”) and as you type it pulls up the list of application(s) you may be referring to. That could help with reducing the separate window for more applications setup.
I also don’t like how with the slab main menu, the panel itself doesn’t seem as customizable/flexible as a vanilla Gnome panel.
So I guess I find my Gnome-based shortcuts are not available or have to be re-learned in openSUSE-Gnome.
I’m also not 100% happy with the icons, but I know they are easily swapped out (Sonar is cool, but the icons look blocky).
On a different note, I tried the Ubuntu Unity desktop. Initial view, it looks good but had technical difficulty so I couldn’t dig any deeper.
I understand those, and put bluntly it’s the “big list” or 2nd window; gray and dreary; lack of adaptability to smaller screens (e.g. netbooks) although this one doesn’t affect me for now.
Ta, you prompted me to take a look at the application launcher.
Being like the KDE 4 menu would introduce more sub-menu levels, hmmm a big jump from the 1-2 levels in Gnome. Yes, something between the KDE 4 menu and Windows 7 (I’m not keen on the W7 menu TBH), including the W7 search capability you mentioned. That would be nice.
The other problem I still have trouble with in Gnome, is right-clicking on the desktop for the leave… context menu. Never found a use for anything in Gnome’s context menu there…, and openSUSE Gnome is a bit lacking in customization although I would sacrifice that to maintain its performance. :\
I also agree with the annoying menu bar in opensuse’s GNOME interpretation.
Unity is still new, but it is promising
I’m having problem with the Intel 855 GPU issue, so that is my primary suspect rather than Unity.
I do like openSUSE’s use of a single panel with a main menu instead of the menu bar to save panel space. That is actually pretty nice.
And the spacing in-between buttons/icons/pictures is not just an openSUSE issue, but rather is present among all of the Gnome distros.
Comparing it against KDE or even Windows, it just seems there is a lot of wasted space which could be better utilized. It may not be an issue with large screens but small screens suffer.
I use GNOME and have for years - but I don’t spend a lot of time actually
using it - it’s a means to an end (ie, the applications).
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
The kde menu is superior for sure. I can’t really comment on win7, although I have it, I never use it, and I don’t see the relevance really.
I’m using Gnome in 11.3 M7 and I can use it all day without a hitch. I like that you can have split view in Nautilus now too. And the default look is pleasing enough to me.
I agree, the slab menu is a weak point. You might take a look at Gnome 3, though. There are a lot of changes in the making, the menu among them.
Oh, and another pet-peeve;
Instead of the Generic Computer button to open the main menu slab, they should replace that button with an image/button/logo for the distro!
This one I put into OpenFate and it was basically closed as not important. I’d link to it, but there I can’t find it since it was closed.
Actually KDE and Windows7 are space hogs with their oversized panels
And there is wasted space in both
Aha! Consistent branding. We’ve been there I think. Not important? OpenFate - good for you. Closed? Pearls before swine! Oops, am I allowed to say that lol!. Actually, it’s not funny it’s :(.
I use Gnome for all the time since i started with Linux.
For one, it doesn’t remind me of Windows.
Versus everyone who commented, i do like the pulldown menu’s. It makes it just easier and everything is ordered.
The original menu placed on the lower left corner i did not like at all. Hard to get to the programs quickly.
But the intension is nice. For newcomers it might be easier that way.
Some people prefer one panel. Personally, i like two.
I never really used KDE, so i can not relate to it.
But X11, and Gnome looks better.
Originally, the standard gnome panel suse uses, turned me really off. I had to customize it the way i used it and like it.
Now i am happy.
Other distro’s also have only one panel. Perhaps ubuntu is the only one with two. Not sure.
But since it is linux everyone can customize it the way he/she likes it.rotfl!
Fedora has two, as does debian.
I think Arch does too