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Xfce is great

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91–100 of 254 posts

Re: Xfce is great

#91
post #6

I love the idea of a minimal desktop environment, but I've never tried XFCE. Are there any themes that folks here would recommend to make it much prettier? I find the screenshots on their homepage very intuitive but a bit ugly.

I use Arc-Dark with elementary-xfce-dark icons (but have a script to switch to toggle dark-mode, where light mode is Adwaita with elementary-xfce icons).

TBH I typically run things fullscreen, so the only part of xfce I normally "see" is a thin task bar at the bottom with open windows and clock and such. Well, except for when I use Thunar, which is a nice enough file manager.

Re: Xfce is great

#92
post #34

If anyone is actually switching to Linux in the current hype cycle, I'd very much recommend starting with XFCE if you can. In my experience it really does seem to be the lowest-BS desktop out there, like the good parts of Windows XP.

I'm not sure I agree. It takes getting used to, and the default designs tend to feel old-fashioned, giving a false impression that it won't do what you need. The settings feel like you're almost in a config file. Except for on old computers, Gnome or Cosmic are safer starting points. I guess I assume "BS" means "UX flourishes that most end users are used to," and I'm not sure minimizing it immediately is the best app…

> The settings feel like you're almost in a config file.

What on earth?

No, the config has dialogues and intuitive controls. There is a settings-editor you can go into if you need to, with a bit more of a regedit kinda feel, but I haven't looked in there in years.

> Gnome or Cosmic are safer starting points.

In Gnome, can I move the UI elements to locations I want them in? Or are we still in a situation where it's opinionated and you have to seek plugins to get an experience that you actually want?

Re: Xfce is great

#94

If someone somehow enlarge the 1px handle for windows resizing by default (not default theme) I can say 'it's perfect'.

That is not XFCE itself, that is up to your theme. I'm on the Dracula theme and have about 16 pixels.

Re: Xfce is great

#95

If someone somehow enlarge the 1px handle for windows resizing by default (not default theme) I can say 'it's perfect'.

The workaround for me is to always resize by clicking Alt, right click, and drag. At the end of the day, that's probably just straight up easier, since you never need to bother getting close to the borders of the windows.

Re: Xfce is great

#96
post #95

If someone somehow enlarge the 1px handle for windows resizing by default (not default theme) I can say 'it's perfect'.

The workaround for me is to always resize by clicking Alt, right click, and drag. At the end of the day, that's probably just straight up easier, since you never need to bother getting close to the borders of the windows.

I recommend changing the key to Super. As holding down Alt and clicking/dragging is often used by many applications and simply won't work then.

Re: Xfce is great

#97

Lovely post, Xfce indeed is what I also reach for, especially when I need something for limited hardware, a small install size or just something quite stable and dependable! It’s probably not the #1 in all of those categories, but does a good enough job across all of them that I’m satisfied. > I stopped writing posts like this for years, out of fear of how people from specific desktop environments would respond. I pe…

Cinnamon is indeed great ! Looks great out of the box and easy to configure quickly. I generally have to set a bunch of options and set up two shortcuts and I can do that under a minute. I think it deserves more praise. GNOME is too limited and I get lost in KDE, cosmic does not support gestures yet... I always come back to it.

Re: Xfce is great

#98
I used to be on Gnome when it was the old interface (windows XP style), then moved to MATE. Never used Xfce. How does it compare to MATE? I remember mate being ever so slightly unstable (not sure if it was HW compatibility issues).

Re: Xfce is great

#99
post #96
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The workaround for me is to always resize by clicking Alt, right click, and drag. At the end of the day, that's probably just straight up easier, since you never need to bother getting close to the borders of the windows.

I recommend changing the key to Super. As holding down Alt and clicking/dragging is often used by many applications and simply won't work then.

I just learned that you can use Super + Left Mouse to drag windows around and Super + Right Mouse to resize, due to this discussion. I have been using XFCE forever, mostly using hotkeys for tilling, and just did not know :D

Thanks !

Re: Xfce is great

#100
I ve excludively used Xfce thru my linux journey, but cant make it work for a high dpi framework laptop. So Gnome it is :(
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