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A new wave of Linux applications

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Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#311

Post by jamesgeck0 »

goodpoint wrote: post #107
traverseda wrote: post #9

I have to say I just don't like Gnome's design. The shift away from text and towards more and more abstract icons, the "don't theme my app movement", removing features I consider pretty essential like typeahead.... Maybe mobile is where their weird (to me) design choices will finally shine though. Also looking forward to what KDE can accomplish in this space.

The "don't theme my app" movement is really harmful to the application ecosystem. Especially true for users with partial visual impairments, but also for other users that want to have a consistent style on their desktops or phones.

Gnome has a high contrast mode and UI font size options. What do custom themes add for accessibility?

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#312

Post by arianvanp »

eric4smith wrote: post #205

Until there is as “simple” to use an app like Preview on the Mac, most of these new generation apps are garbage. I’ve just switched to Ubuntu on a workstation I have lying around. And man, is it hard to use for just normal everyday use. Yes, it has the basics covered, but like many others my job has a lot of simple image manipulation related stuff. Convert pdf to png. Assemble multiple images into a pdf. Quickly shar…

Funny you mention that. I just got a Mac and I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to save a screenshot from the screenshot menu only to rage quit out of frustration. 2 days later I found out I have 20 screenshots from all the failed attempts saved on my desktop!

Nothing about the UI telling me how or where these things were saved. It confused me coming from Ubuntu a lot :)

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#313

Post by tristan957 »

malermeister wrote: post #209
traverseda wrote: post #9

I have to say I just don't like Gnome's design. The shift away from text and towards more and more abstract icons, the "don't theme my app movement", removing features I consider pretty essential like typeahead.... Maybe mobile is where their weird (to me) design choices will finally shine though. Also looking forward to what KDE can accomplish in this space.

GNOME has design zealots similar to Apple, but with more bizarre choices. Their whole crusade against tray icons and a usable task list have been painful to deal with. Do they just not like multitasking?? It's sad too, because there's a lot of nice UI/UX in there, it's just buried under all sorts of crazy choices. Thankfully, there's extensions to restore some of the missing functionality. https://extensions.gnome.or…

Status icons were built on old and fractured technologies. They are coming back. Designs and technical discussions are happening right now.

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#314

Post by taeric »

musicale wrote: post #259
taeric wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't claim you are wrong... But I struggle with versions of those on my Mac on a regular basis, as well. Screen capture, in particular, is hilariously fickle for me. I finally got it so that it puts the image in my clipboard. Which is great, until I try to remember how to get it directly to a file. Because, I can't remember where that setting is anymore. And I have no idea how to make a pdf on this computer. Combi…

Most of these are fairly discoverable and have been consistent for decades: Shut down: Apple Menu > Shut Down (since ~2001) Print to PDF: File > Print... > PDF > Save as PDF (since ~2001); some apps have an File > Export... menu item as well Combine multiple images: Photoshop (or image editing app of your choice, e.g. Pixelmator, Acorn, Affinity, Krita, etc.; since ~1990) Screen shot: command-shift-3 (entire screen)…

The shutdown was explicitly not working. :(

I also clearly knew how to do a screenshot. But once you have set it to go to clipboard, command shift 4 will silently do that from now on. And I am not at all clear on how I would discover to change that.

And the pdf claim was with preview, not another app.

Worse, though, I could write a very similar rebuttal for any computer in this vein. If you know how things work, discovering is not hard.

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#315

Post by smoldesu »

Waterluvian wrote: post #305
smoldesu wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have very limited experience with Linux but every time I try to install something, I find that I lack some dependency and then wind up trying to build from source. What could fix these types of issues? There's a number of solutions, none of them (even Apple's own) are really all that ideal. Pretty much all of your Mac apps are statically linked, which is why you download a large 300mb DMG or .app file that lugs a…

A 300MB statically linked app is a million times better UX than the nonsense and user abuse committed to save a little bit of disk space. Absolutely optimizing for the wrong things.

Not on a server OS.

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#316

Post by malermeister »

tristan957 wrote: post #313
malermeister wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GNOME has design zealots similar to Apple, but with more bizarre choices. Their whole crusade against tray icons and a usable task list have been painful to deal with. Do they just not like multitasking?? It's sad too, because there's a lot of nice UI/UX in there, it's just buried under all sorts of crazy choices. Thankfully, there's extensions to restore some of the missing functionality. https://extensions.gnome.or…

Status icons were built on old and fractured technologies. They are coming back. Designs and technical discussions are happening right now.

That's great to hear! It does bring this to mind though https://xkcd.com/927/

Is there a similar reason GNOME doesn't have a convenient task list?

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#317

Post by selfhoster11 »

kop316 wrote: post #298
selfhoster11 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not quite accurate. What about power management, signal stability and coverage? Those need to be accounted for too.

I mean...that's why I said "more or less". There are of course differences, but a lot of app development can be done on a linux system and a cross compiler.

Signal and power management make or break a phone. My Nokia N900 makes for an excellent Linux phone (I have been unironically using it as my daily driver for communication, and the battery has been replaced recently too), but what really kills it is that its battery life is very unpredictable.

Sometimes it lasts 36h on a single charge when in standby, and sometimes a fraction of that. I cannot trust it to last me a whole day without a charger.

Other older phones that I tried last year (ranging from very old Nokia's to Blackberries with 3G) all had issues with call quality and even with random signal loss. I couldn't reliably stay connected with my family, which frustrated everyone.

Your application/mobile OS likely uses mobile data in some fashion, definitely uses up some CPU cycles (in foreground or background), may trigger high-powered modes in the cell radio through its usage patterns, or might miss incoming messages entirely. Testing on real untethered hardware, even as a final check, is needed to see that what you built isn't a frustrating paperweight that cannot fulfill the function of a phone.

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#318

Post by nullwarp »

grey_earthling wrote: post #295
eric4smith wrote: post #205

Until there is as “simple” to use an app like Preview on the Mac, most of these new generation apps are garbage. I’ve just switched to Ubuntu on a workstation I have lying around. And man, is it hard to use for just normal everyday use. Yes, it has the basics covered, but like many others my job has a lot of simple image manipulation related stuff. Convert pdf to png. Assemble multiple images into a pdf. Quickly shar…

Maybe I'm just thick, but I don't find Preview on macOS simple or easy to use. What the hell is “Contact Sheet” and why should I have to care about this jargon? > And man, is it hard to use for just normal everyday use. This is how I see macOS. I've used it at work for 3 years now, and it still gets in my way every day. I accept that some people like it, but it's very much not for me. (I suppose I “think differently”…

That's how I feel about it as well. My every day machine is Linux but I also have to use a Macbook and a Windows machine and of the three I absolutely hate using the macbook. It feels like very design choice in MacOS was purposely chosen to annoy the hell out of me.

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#319

Post by selfhoster11 »

grey_earthling wrote: post #286
selfhoster11 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention, some people just want to theme their desktop. To make the computer feel like it's theirs.

> Please read the letter all the way to the end. This is aimed at distributions breaking apps by default, not tinkerers playing with their own setup. https://stopthemingmy.app/

I have read through it. I just vehemently disagree that their requests are reasonable.

The only reason why people care so much for their apps' "branding" is being enforced by product management. Absent that pressure, you get a reversion to the Windows ecosystem pre-2005 (more or less), where every user can make their desktop as nice or ugly as they want, and by and large, the sky isn't falling. Because everyone works with the platform and tries to fit into it instead of breaking the mold.

Re: A new wave of Linux applications

#320

Post by musicale »

taeric wrote: post #246
greggsy wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shift+Command+5 gives you the full screenshot experience, and let’s you define where to put it (Desktop, clipboard, etc.) Once you select a location, it will be the default for next time. Preview let’s you create a PDF pretty easily? No idea what’s going on with your restart issue tho.

Thanks for the 5 tip! Hopefully I remember that. Not clear how to use preview to make a pdf with multiple images. I'm guessing that is something that is easy if you have to do it often? I'd probably reach for html or word. Probably word, first.

The easiest way is to open your PDF document in Preview, turn on View > Thumbnails (if it isn't on already) and drag and drop your image document into the thumbnail pane.

You can combine entire PDF documents this way, either dragging them from a Finder window or dragging the title bar icon from an open document.

You can also drag and drop thumbnails between open PDF documents in Preview, and you can create a new document from the clipboard if needed using File > New from Clipboard. (Note if you want to drag other pages into it you will need to save it as a PDF first.)

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