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Comment by barrkel | Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu's default control layout looks ridiculous to me - everything is too far apart, the margins are too big, the buttons are too big, the fonts are too big, acres of space are wasted by toolbars in the File Browser in the screenshot, etc.

It looks like a toy for people with poor eyesight.

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Or big screens.

Unix machines have traditionally been used with big monitors. It's not surprising at all Gnome uses lots of pixels.

And there is nothing forcing you to use Ubuntu's default layout. You have literally hundreds of options to choose from. I tend to change look and feel more or less on a monthly basis.

The more you change it, though, the less likely you are ever to get it back to a previous set of settings. :( Switch to KDE and back to Gnome in Ubuntu 9.10, and you'll find yourself, bizarrely, with a KDEesque mouse theme, even after you uninstall all the kubuntu-desktop stuff (which should not be necessary, I would expect).

I use Ubuntu because I have the free time to screw around with my home computer, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who don't have the time and knowledge to do that, unless all they ever want to do is use what it comes with out of the box.

> unless all they ever want to do is use what it comes with out of the box.

Most people don't. At the very least, most (non-geek) people don't switch desktop environments often. The people that are 'too busy' will just settle on a desktop environment and stick with it.

I live with Windows 7 on two monitors, combined pixel area approximately 3600x1200, and it's still not enough even with Windows's more condensed by default tree views, list views, menu bars, toolbars etc. I have e.g. my desktop icons dialed down to 32x32px. I like my toolbar buttons 16x16px. I like my buttons approximately 75x25px. Information density.

When running XP, as I still do on my non-Linux laptops, the total vertical space wastage at the top of Windows Explorer is 65 pixels, including title bar, toolbar, menu bar and location textbox. This is possible because on XP the toolbars and menu bars have customizable locations, unlike Vista and above - I have screenshots in my blog here:

http://blog.barrkel.com/2008/08/venting-on-vista.html

Unless you are talking about a pixel area somewhere in the region of 8000x3000 on high dpi screens, the Ubuntu proportions are nowhere near acceptable.

You have very unique needs. I am always with a lot of open windows, using small fonts and icons and usually have more than one screen at hand, but I am sure I would feel lost on a 3200x1200, at least for a while. A couple weeks ago, I discovered the big Integraph (I restore and collect interesting computers and this one was just gathering dust) screen my mother uses was capable of going up to 2048 by about 1500, I felt oddly agoraphobic.

It's 3600. 1920x1200 on one screen, 1680x1050 on the other.

There's a trick to window management - I use cascading windows on the second monitor, as I detail here:

http://blog.barrkel.com/2009/11/on-difficulty-of-setting-win...

Unlike Windows 7, Linux has proper virtual desktop support, so you can get a big working area without actually having that huge resolution.

I think you're missing the point. You can have as many virtual desktops as you like - and Windows does support multiple desktops, moreover there are utilities that emulate virtual desktops - but that doesn't let you display lots of information all at once.

Why is it a good thing to have hundreds of layouts to choose from? The paradox of choice is real: http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_ch...

Because it's a dumb comparison. Ubuntu provides at most 3 or 4 different default themes to choose from. If you want more, you can go explicitly looking for them on the web, but otherwise there's not choice overload.

I agree. The GTK font looks big. The button color and the GTK app color is not matching well. Giving same color to Title bar and menu bar is not a good Idea IMO. But I feel, the new look is better than the previous default brownish theme. Like the new logo of ubuntu. The font is minimal & elegant.

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