I’ve been using Fedora for a couple of months now, and have been loving it. Very soon after I jumped into this community (among other Linux communities) and started laughing at all the people saying “KDE rules, GNOME drools,” and “GNOME is better, KDE is for babies.” But then I thought, “Why not give KDE a try? The worst that happens is I go back to using GNOME.”
Now I get it. The level of customization is incredible, it’s way faster than GNOME, and looks beautiful too. At this point, I’m not going back.
I’ll happily contribute to the playground fight over desktop environments. KDE rules, GNOME drools.
KDE has a lot of nice points, I do really like the customization and I think I prefer a lot of the default KDE apps over their GNOME counterparts.
But there’s just something about GNOME I find really comfortable to use. I feel like on paper I should like KDE more, but I always end up going back to GNOME and being happier with it.
I have a similar feeling about it. I think I would prefer the customization of KDE, etc, but GNOME just works for me right out of the box. I don’t think I change anything except the monospace font nowadays (in Tweaks). It works great and gets out of the way. For people who do not like the GNOME workflow I suspect it would be horrific because there is far less customization.
I don’t think I change anything except the monospace font nowadays
Which font do you use?
It works great and gets out of the way.
I think that that’s why some Gnome users just stick with it. I personally don’t want to customize anything, if possible. I don’t even want to concern myself with the DE at all if possible. Any time I spend on the DE is time I don’t spend doing the things I actually want to do. But that’s the beauty of Linux: everyone can use whatever fits their needs best, be it Gnome, KDE, xfce or anything else.
I will swap out the default font with a monospace Nerd Font. I’m currently using the Cascadia Code Mono Nerd Font, but I will change it every so often.
Thanks. I didn’t even know that Nerd Fonts existed! :D
Gnome is sleek, gnome is special, gnome is unique. I love gnome. I’ve used KDE, but I don’t want a Windows clone, I want something special.
[…] but I don’t want a Windows clone, […]
KDE fortunately doesn’t have to be a Windows clone. There are several guides available on how to customize the UX / workflow to something completely different. I get what you mean, though, the default UX seems to be at least inspired by Windows.
I hear you there. I like the workflow of GNOME, and I wish I could make the app launcher in KDE be as minimalist as the GNOME launcher in ArcMenus. But at the same time, a number of things I was using the launcher for can be done as a keystroke in KDE, so it kinda makes up for it.
I’m in the opposite situation. I started on KDE but moved to GNOME. I sometimes think about moving back to KDE but I do love the design consistency of GNOME. KDE’s endless theming is great, but I only ever used the default them because I’d notice little inconsistencies otherwise. I’ll probably be on KDE Plasma 6 though, because I tend to jump ship to the shiny new thing that will solve all my problems.
I’ve also been a Gnome user for a while, but i am looking forward to plasma 6 as well. I highly doubt I’ll make any sort of switch, but I’ve never had a good time running plasma 5 so i would love to like kde more. Wayland by default is going to benefit gnome too since it’ll put more priority on bugs and lack of support that is still somewhat common among the less desktop-tied apps.
(My Plasma 5 woes have been on multiple devices, multiple times over multiple years, with and without basic customization. i was basically never able to go a day without some sort of major shell crash. I got way too familiar the the command sequence to restart the desktop ui)
I do find KDE to be a bit info dense and it doesn’t look like 6 is changing that aspect of things (at least by default), but it does look a bit less busy at least. I also never like basically anything about classic windows UI, layout, or task flows so KDE leaning into those just doesn’t work well for me. That said, while i like gnome being more minimal, i do wish it had a bit more capability to expose hidden/nested options more easily than requiring extension installs.
I’m similarly excited about cinnamon 6. A bit unfortunate (and understandable given its goals and usage share) it is still X11, but there’s a lot about it that demonstrates a solid middle ground between gnome and KDE.
I am usually on the pro-Wayland side but with GNOME and KDE the Wayland implementations are fairly independent. That means that your statement that KDE going “Wayland by default is going to benefit gnome too since it’ll put more priority on bugs” is watered down somewhat.
Fixing bugs in the KDE compositor / display server ( KWin ) will not necessarily address bugs or missing functionality in GNOME ( Mutter ). A lot of what they share is also shared with Xorg ( libinput, libdrm, KMS, Mesa ).
On the application side, apps lean heavily on the toolkit libraries. KDE apps are built with Qt and GNOME apps are built with GTK. Fixing Qt bugs may not improve the quality of GTK and vice versa.
Smaller projects will share more infrastructure. Many other environments are using Wlroots as a compositor library for example. Fixing bugs there will benefit them all but again is independent of KDE and GNOME.
Your point is still valid though. For one thing, the larger the Wayland user base, the greater the number of use cases the Wayland protocol itself will be adapted to address and the more testing and development everything in the Wayland ecosystem will get.
Over time, one benefit of multiple implementations will probably be code quality. Apps that run well in multiple environments are well implemented and the same is true of environments that provide the necessarily features to a large body of apps. In that way, more bugs will be found and fixed in all environments.
I always use Breeze lol. Breeze cursor is a true gem. Icons not so much, the big ones are okay, the file icons are sometimes very okay and the small b/w ones are pretty horrible.
I love Adapta Qt theme, but only for the small icons.
Yeah I have the breeze cursor on my i3wm setup, it is the only cursor I like.
They’re both good DEs with their pros and cons. I’m glad you found something you’re happy with! For me that’s Gnome but I’ve used Plasma 5 quite a bit two and it’s a close second for me. I don’t think there’s much use in bickering over which is “better”.
That’s why I’m calling it a playground fight. They’re both good, but right now I’m loving KDE. GNOME is really beautiful. I organized the taskbar in KDE to be similar to default GNOME, but with some extra stuff that I’m digging too.
it’s way faster than GNOME
Real question, are you on modern hardware? Only time I’ve noticed anything slow on gnome is on a pretty under powered laptop
Actually KDE devs said they use the GPU a lot for Desktop stuff so it breaks more often but is performant
Same. I have zero performance issues with Gnome, but I’m using a badass $3000 custom gaming computer.
+1 Plasma. However, I don’t dislike gnome. Gnome just doesn’t fit my personal taste of workflow and customizability. Other that that, gnome did a pretty good job on the look and feel department. I feel at home on Plasma (and almost at home on xfce)
I appreciate KDE for being a comprehensive toolbox that will let just about anyone craft the mouse-driven GUI of their dreams given enough time and effort. I appreciate GNOME for its bold and unified vision, which isn’t afraid to cull features or embrace innovation.
In what sense do you mean “faster” though? If you mean more performant, I haven’t experienced that – both desktops are extremely responsive.
This is purely anecdotal evidence, but on my 2013 ThinkPad X220 (dual-core i5, 12GB RAM) Plasma “feels” snappier and more responsive than GNOME.
I can also back that up! KDE feels way faster than Gnome (and especially Cinnamon) on older computers
Sokath, his eyes open.
Welcome to the KDE gang.
Both DE have different targets. Gnome takes a bit more time for development. They are both great projects.
That sums it up quite nicely. Thanks
You’re not entirely incorrect. But, KDE is better.
In your opinion.
I’d take Gnome anyday.
I can respect GNOME, it’s just not for me. There are a lot of other DE’s I really don’t get, for example: Xfce, Mate, Budgie, LXQt, any pure WM desktop in existence, the list goes on… But if people still develop them, I guess there is a market.
Well, for example, Xfce is very lightweight, so it works better for old hardware.
Xfce works better everywhere and with everything, however it falls to the same pitfall that KDE has, eventually you’ll require some libadwaita application, flatpak and whatnot and then you’ll end up with a Frankenstein system half Xfce half GNOME components and themes that don’t apply to all apps equally. :(
I essentially did the same. Used GNOME for almost 10 years, then got my first try of KDE last year and don’t plan on going back either. GNOME has some really good points, I wouldn’t have used it so long if it didn’t, but I can actually use an honest to goodness theme on my desktop and customize without having extensions break on every update. Also, the UI in GTK is just too big and chunky for me, it’s like every window is designed for tablets or something. I don’t need a title bar that’s practically an entire inch tall. If you like GNOME, awesome, I will likely never say GNOME is bad, but I’m a KDE guy now.
EDIT: apparently I need to specify that the “entire inch tall” comment is exaggeration, because internet. My point being that GNOME’s UI is too big for my tastes.
title bar that’s practically an entire inch tall
… I think this is quite an exaggeration
You don’t know, they might be using a 70in TV as a monitor.
Yeeees, GTK looks awesome but I just cant see how apps like Plasma systemsessings, qBittorrent etc using Qt could work like that.
Gimp 3 alpha is pretty crazy, as GTK2 was very nice and usable, but already with GTK3 everything got huge, so now the buttons dont fit as well anymore.
Also I have to say GNOME would have some big issues for me.
- I dont want a top panel on a laptop, as it makes me look down more
- docks are weird as they waste screen space. Why not use a normal panel, everything there, at the bottom or side?
- not seeing all my open apps is weird, also not being able to open or close from the panel is weird
- I and I guess 99% of Desktop users dont need virtual Desktops. As they dont change the panel and more, I dont even use Workspaces on Plasma
- thus, normal window decorations are necessary
- hitboxes need to be in the upper corner and not some padded thing in the center. Every decoration failing this (looking at you Firefox & Thunderbird) just sucks
- UIs need to be compact when needed. Not everyone is a child and settings are not that simple.
Gnome has some nice apps like Loupe that are actually more secure. And it probably is way more stable. But KDE apps are so great, at least for usability! Could not live without Dolphin for example
Edit: incomplete scentence
not seeing all my open apps is weird, also not being able to open or close from the panel is weird
The extensions that enable this are so simple too. Its a real shame its not built into the settings out of the box, even if they want that to be the default. I wish they made extensions more discoverable too, since you kinda need to know they exist in order to go get them, and easier discoverability would help people solve tbose problems faster.
UIs need to be compact when needed. Not everyone is a child and settings are not that simple.
I really wish these things were built in settings. Thunderbird Supernova’s setting for this is a fantastic example of how much of a difference it makes. Yeah, it’s a bit spacious by default. But once you drop the spacing to medium or small based on your needs and dpi, it feels great. Opinionated design done well makes for great consistency and feel, but it also needs to have some room for adjustments without needing to install stuff.
Agree, if they had the flatpak extensionmanager installed by default that would be cool. But dash to panel is still much worse, way less tray icons fit there, the app menu may be inconsistent.
Also I have to say that the complete lack of .desktop entry modification makes distinguishing flatpaks from native apps, or creating entries with slightly changed parameters, appending arguments like “force X11” etc. very hard.
Nautilus may be solid but it lacks so many features and I still dont know how to deal with it. If you know how to add a real “delete” entry that would be great.
I also think the traditional decorations extension is gone? But I dont know.
Didnt know you could change the UI density, thats cool.
If you know how to add a real “delete” entry that would be great.
At least in nautilus 42 the preferences let you enable a permanent delete option in the right click menu, if that’s what you are looking for.
Gimp 3 alpha is pretty crazy, as GTK2 was very nice and usable, but already with GTK3 everything got huge, so now the buttons dont fit as well anymore.
I reported that issue to gnome a while ago: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/issues/9907
Hopefully they will fix it one day because it means I wont be using gimp 3 otherwise.
Agree, on the point issue. 1440*900px is not low res haha, I have a HD screen in my other laptop.
Yes it just makes no sense.
Gnome is great because of the large UI size. Like my 14" notebook has a roughly 2800x1600 screen resolution and it’s still pretty usable without any UI scaling. If the bars are an inch tall, you’re either using a huge TV or a screen from the garbage dump. Gnome really needs a modern system.
I love both. I can’t decide on which to make my full daily. GNOME sleek. KDE is nostalgic and customizable. I have Fedora with GNOME and OpenSuse with KDE. OpenSuse has issues with some SD cards and some phone’s flash memory. GNOME can’t have desktop shortcuts, which I find annoying. I may just go back to Debian with KDE and GNOME and switch back and forth. I think that still possible. I haven’t tried that in a while.
IMHO no desktop icons is the one major thing that stuck with me. I use KDE Plasma now, but the desktop folder might as well not exist.
I see the merit in it, but I see the desktop as a shortcut area for most used apps. Like the dock, but I can’t stand docks. I normally have 2-3 icons on the desktop. Terminal is by keyboard shortcut.
Sleek is a great way to describe GNOME. It’s really pretty and slick, and I was sure happy with how it worked. Plus, with all my google accounts hooked into GNOME, Evolution just pulled all that info and gave me real easy access to my mail. I wish KMail did the same thing.
I never tied my accounts to anything, but that sounds awesome!
Gnome and KDE are both great for different reasons. One of the things that’s great about Linux as a whole is it gives people the ability to choose the stack they like most
Yes! I wholeheartedly agree with you. There are pieces of GNOME I wish I could bring into KDE, and vice versa.
I like 90% about KDE, GNOME and XFCE.
Depending in my changing needs and preferences I switch between them.
If I ever find the perfect DE (or maybe WM), I’ll let everyone know.
I think having options is the best part of Linux. I’ve used XFCE for years, but if I ever get tired of it there are plenty of great options.
