Ubuntu Desktop – GNOME Extensions poll results
Ken VanDine
on 12 June 2017
Tags: GNOME , Ubuntu Desktop
We ended the poll with an incredible 18,330 responses. You can see the numbers below. We’ll use this data to understand features Ubuntu users care about, not just which extensions. For example, Dash to Dock’s popularity doesn’t necessarily mean we should ship Dash to Dock as an extension by default, but rather it shows us our users would like the dock to be visible at all times or shown/hidden automatically as opposed to only shown in the activities view. Understanding this data will help us decide the best way to provide our users with the experience they need. Perhaps we work with upstream GNOME to provide a setting we could override which shows the dash outside of just the activities view.
These are discussions we need to have both within the Ubuntu Desktop team and with the GNOME designers and developers.
Understanding the poll
Each extension was an optional vote, so the total responses for each one will vary. Votes were a range, 1 for not very useful and 5 for very useful.
We also polled our users for opinions on where to place the window controls. In Unity we had window controls placed on the top left, however it probably makes sense to follow GNOME more closely here especially considering how some apps take advantage of the GTK Header Bar. Our poll showed that users are split nearly down the middle on this, slightly favoring the right.
Now that we’ve collected all this useful data, we need to discuss the best means to accommodate our users while still having a desktop we can properly maintain and support. We’ve already started the discussions with the GNOME design team and gnome-shell maintainers. Stay tuned here, we’ll be sure to keep you updated from time to time on our progress.
Ubuntu desktop
Learn how the Ubuntu desktop operating system powers millions of PCs and laptops around the world.
Newsletter signup
Related posts
Introducing Netplan v1.0 – stable, declarative network management
After more than 7 years of development, Netplan v1.0 delivers improved stability and maintainability alongside a host of other new features.
The Coronation of a New Mascot: Noble Numbat
On the eve of our 20th anniversary we are thrilled to present the Noble Numbat, the mascot for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
Accelerate AI development with Ubuntu and NVIDIA AI Workbench
As the preferred OS for data science, AI and ML, Ubuntu plays an integral role in NVIDIA AI Workbench capabilities.