Gnome/Metacity is tweakable, y’all.
I hear/read it a lot. Gnome/Metacity is not as configurable as other Desktop Environments (DE). That's not entirely true. It's not as EASILY (read GUIfied) configured as other environments.
Wait! Which environments provide a GUI configuration for all of the tweakable desktop elements like title font, window border, button shape, size and/or placement?
I can think of 2 that allow such fine-grained control in a GUI:
I prefer Gnome for all its "bloat" and "size." Again: Why is this? On a modest system (Intel Celeron 2,2GHz, GeForce 8400 GS, single 21" display via DVI and 2GBs of RAM running the latest Arch Linux 64-bit version), I can enable the built-in compositing in Metacity without noticeable impact to my desktop performance. 3D performance drops dramatically, but I turn off the compositing if I really need 3D performance, like when playing games or playing games.
Gnome is very configurable, however. Like with other DE/WM combinations, you'll have to get "under the hood" and "get your hands dirty." This means that a few config files have to be tweaked, you WILL need a command prompt and the changes may not be permanent. It's Linux, not OS X or Windows.
I've modified the default icon theme, changed the background of the panel and other tweaks that make my desktop:
- Unique (Like every other alternative-OS-running-mofo's desktop. Is that ironic?)
- Personal (That's what PC meant originally, right? No reason it should mean anything else now.)
- Functional (By adding this myself, I can be more productive. Can be, but I'm not)
I like the customization freedom I have with Gnome. Is it as easy as in other DE/WM combinations? No, not really? Do I care? Nope. Not enough to remedy the situation.
Posted by Bean
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