The 10 best features in GNOME 45

The GNOME 45 release is attracting a lot of attention. GNOME 45 is scheduled for release on September 20, 2023 and the good news is that it is available in Ubuntu 23.10, which will launch next month

Today's article will list the notable improvements, changes, and new features in GNOME 45. While not exhaustive, this summary will give you a good idea of ​​the biggest additions for users in the release. new version.

1. New workspace indicator

Take a look in the upper left corner - it's the new Activities Indicator!

GNOME developers have replaced the simple 'Activities' text label (which is a clickable button, although not everyone will realize that) with an alarm indicator that lets users know they are in the workspace. any. You can also scroll the mouse wheel while hovering over the indicator to switch between workspaces, which is very useful.

The application menu is displayed in the Top Bar when a focused application has been completely removed.

2. Full height sidebar

A bunch of core apps use full-height sidebars in GNOME 45. They don't exist to just look pretty, but to improve the 'adaptability' of apps as they switch between different styles. different width and height.

These new sidebars are present in Nautilus (which provides some additional tweaks to support them better, such as moving the file transfer indicator to the sidebar) as well as Calendar, Characters, Contacts and Settings.

3. Faster file manager

During this cycle, GNOME developers spent a lot of time making different parts of the core GNOME Shell experience faster - and that work extended to the heart of the desktop experience: Nautilus file manager.

GNOME says the file manager benefits from 'significant speed increases', with search results returned in just milliseconds, even when sifting through folders full of files! Faster search is something most of us will appreciate even though it may not be as obvious as the other changes.

Other changes to file search include faster thumbnail generation, improved order of search results, and a new button to expand certain searches to 'search everywhere', instead of just location starting location (and folders within it).

4. New core application

GNOME 45 comes with two new core applications: Loupe, an image viewer; and Snapshot, a camera app. Both are modern, well-designed and feature-rich applications that serve as first-class alternatives to Eye of GNOME and Cheese.

Loupe works well with touchscreens and multi-touch touchpads. All popular gestures, including pinch to zoom, two-finger rotate, are supported with smooth animations to go with it. Image information is collected through the properties sidebar and there is a native print dialog.

Snapshot ditches Cheese's gimmicky filters to position itself as a camera tool, not a novelty app. It's still useful for testing webcam performance but is also designed for taking the right photos – with on-canvas controls, toggle to switch cameras, video support, etc.

One (fixable) downside for Ubuntu users: Neither Loupe nor Snapshot are currently available in the Ubuntu repositories, but you can get them from Flathub. (Loupe is available on the Snap Store but some features, like printing, are listed as 'unavailable' in Snap).

5. Keyboard backlight control

The Quick Settings menu now includes (on supported hardware) a toggle to control the keyboard backlight. Clicking the toggle switches the backlight completely on/off, while the keyboard backlight brightness can be adjusted from a slider in the sub-menu.

6. Quick Settings shortcut

In GNOME 45, the top right system status menu, also known as Quick Settings, can be opened with a new keyboard shortcut: Super + S . It's a small-sounding change, but once committed to memory, it makes moving around the screen a lot easier.

7. Webcam activity indicator

Some GNOME releases have added a microphone indicator. This appears in the Top Bar to let you know which apps are using the microphone. GNOME 45 introduces a similar indicator for camera activity. It appears when the camera operates via Pipewire.

8. General application improvements

A series of GNOME's core applications have been updated to take advantage of the latest technologies, user interface changes, design trends, etc. Some notable improvements include:

1. Calendar adds sync shortcuts ( F5 ) and calendar management ( Ctrl + Alt + M )
2. Software may delete application data when uninstalling Flatpaks
3. Console has options dialog, for example, font customization
4. Maps adds zoom buttons to the canvas and direction indicators to the title bar
5. Connections supports copying text, images and files via RDP
6. Simple Scan (document scanning tool) is ported to GTK4
7. Calculator can convert more currencies, including Taiwanese dollars
8. Web (also called Epiphany) adds a dynamic tab overview

All in all, great stuff - and most of these apps are a suitable install in Ubuntu 23.10.

9. Formal 'Light' style

In Ubuntu, GNOME Shell uses a light color design by default but in Linux distributions that offer GNOME the shell UI is dark. To make it light, third-party themes are needed. But everything has changed in GNOME 45.

GNOME 45 supports light style which can be enabled via command line switch or by installing GNOME extensions. The lack of a user-accessible switch is temporary while GNOME developers explore how and where to display the settings.

10. Installation support

The Settings app has been equipped with many new options. You can now configure the date/time format in the Top Bar (without having to install the Tweaks app); Sharing and Users uses information bubbles to explain options; This is the new Privacy dashboard ; and new keyboard layout viewer.

But the most loved change is the redesigned System Details dialog box accessible from the About section. This has a compact design that takes up less space but displays more information and is more organized. Finding out what software version your system runs has never been easier in GNOME.

Kareem Winters

Update 22 October 2023