[Article proposal] Ten essential Gnome Shell extensions

Team Workflows Fedora Magazine
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Hi, just a very simple proposal. I’ve collected ten to fifteen Gnome Shell extensions which I recommend to people when they install Fedora. I have a bit to say about each one and it’s annoying to have to write the same thing over and over! I’ve been thinking about writing an article for my own blog, but I don’t have a stable blog at this time. So I realized this might make good Fedora Magazine content.

According to a quick search it seems like there hasn’t been an article about Gnome Shell extensions since January 2019, and many extensions have lost compatibility since then, so I think it’s prime time for a new article.

I would most likely cover these extensions:

  • Applications Menu
  • Better OSD
  • Containers
  • Disconnect Wifi
  • GSConnect
  • Night Time Switcher
  • Places Status Indicator
  • Remove Alt+Tab Delay v2
  • Screenshot Tool
  • Sound Input & Output Device Chooser
  • Systemd Manager
  • Tweaks & Extensions in System Menu

That is 11 extensions but the exact list is volatile, that’s just to give you an idea.

I want to write a blurb for each one, a rationale and if it has settings, some recommendations.

What do you think?

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+1 from me.
That sounds like a pretty good article. Depending on how much you have to say about each extension you might consider making it a two part article. Also, is this aimed at the default Gnome DM?
When we get another +1 we’ll open a Taiga card to track it.

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+1. Because they are notorious for breaking from one GNOME version to the next, maybe “for GNOME 41” should be added to the title and all extensions should be verified against that version?

@rlengland: I’m in transit and on my cellphone, so would you mind creating the card?

Thanks.

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@sanqui I’ve created Taiga card #389 for your article.

Information on writing for the Magazine is located here.

Please let us know if you have questions, and thanks for volunteering to help on the Fedora Magazine.

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Thanks for accepting the article!
I’ll make sure to upgrade to the Fedora 35 Beta to verify Gnome 41 readiness of the extensions I’m going to be writing about.

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I would not title it essential, because if they were, they would not be extensions. And invariably someone will come along with their own set of ‘essential’ extensions.

2 Likes
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Of course, it can be called ten cool, or useful extensions too.

Anyway, I have some bad news: I’ve upgraded to Fedora 35 Beta and only three of the 11 extensions I’ve listed above are compatible with Gnome 41 at this time. So I may have to shelve the idea for a bit…

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The only one I’d personally add is Clipboard Indicator.
It, GSConnect (and Appindicator for those sweet sweet tray icons) are the only ones I find essential for my use case.

But I think it is a great idea, specially for newer users.

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Ein Prosit @steiner ,
Welcome to the discussion area of Fedora Linux!

1 Like