One of the points mentioned here was for the visually impaired. I happen to be the only totally blind active member here and I found that gnome (among some of the other GTK based DM’s) to be highly accessible. The fact that it can be navigated and interacted with strictly by keyboard makes it the best DM for those like me. And yes, I like the design that went into windows 3.11, 05, 2k and windows 7. All of them were panel displayed interactive desktops that were easy to navigate. Gnome just took it a step further and made the DM completely enabled for keyboard interaction. Also, I like how one can, directly with keyboard interaction, create new desktop icons and entries, edit or reconfigure menu items or even add new ones and not have to restart the bloody interface (this was much of the problem with windows I didn’t like and still don’t).
Now, if they had an Aqua DM (OS X) that was GTK based, then I would be even more at home inside a linux GUI. I would even configure all the keystrokes to perfectly mimic the VoiceOver screen reader environment. :)
I wonder, I think that macports actually has sources for the Aqua desktop environment. So, how hard would it be to modify the base code to be GTK compliant and then compile for linux? Since coding is not my thing, it would probably be up to someone else to take a look and see if this could be done.
-Eric
From the Central Offices of the Technomage Guild, Accessibility Research and Development Dept.
> On Nov 10, 2020, at 4:30 AM, Matthew Crews via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
> On 11/9/20 5:58 AM, Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> A recent thread got me thinking: What does Gnome offer that any old
>> environment with a panel (the thing they used to call a "taskbar" in
>> win98)? What can you do with Gnome that you can't do with LXDE or xfce?
>>
>> I'm unable to use Gnome because I init with runit rather than systemd,
>> but I'd still like to understand how Gnome makes life easier for people.
>>
>
> I've used Gnome for quite some time on my Fedora setup. I like it
> because of its distraction-free design. It gets out of my way and lets
> me focus on work, while at the same time looks pretty.
>
> It has a few major things going for it.
>
> * Excellent keyboard-only navigation
> * All of the major components are well integrated with each other
> * Frequently updated (6 month development cycle, with bug fixes between
> each major update)
> * Several major distros and their corporate sponsors contribute to it
> directly (Fedora, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Debian, to name a few)
> * One of the best DEs for the visually impaired (so I'm told anyway,
> that that with a grain of salt)
> * It's pretty, especially the most recent versions.
>
> Its obviously built around GTK applications, but QT-based applications
> work just fine. And of course if the terminal is your thing, you can
> open a terminal.
>
> The workflow definitely takes getting used to, especially if you are
> used to something more akin to Windows. A few of the default settings
> are a bit batty too. It took me a solid month to get used to the
> workflow, but that was over a year ago and now I don't even think about it
>
> The mistake people make with Gnome is that they try to turn it into
> something its not with extensions: give it a launch bar a la KDE Plasma,
> remove the top bar, that sort of thing. At that point it defeats the
> purpose of running Gnome in the first place.
>
> The only extension that I consider absolutely vital is an extension for
> adding tray icons, since some applications require the system tray.
> Otherwise I'm content with a pure vanilla experience.
>
> My 2¢
>
> -Matt
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