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.
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.
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.
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
Same. I have zero performance issues with Gnome, but I’m using a badass $3000 custom gaming computer.
Actually KDE devs said they use the GPU a lot for Desktop stuff so it breaks more often but is performant
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 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.
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.
Welcome to the KDE gang.
Both DE have different targets. Gnome takes a bit more time for development. They are both great projects.
You’re not entirely incorrect. But, KDE is better.
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.
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 apps like Plasma systemsessings, qBittorrent etc using Qt.
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
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.
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.
I like them both. GNOME’s desktop metaphor is nicer but it can be replicated on Plasma with a few shortcuts. Plasma has a few niceties not present in GNOME. GNOME is prettier. Dolphin is a better file manager than Nautilus. GNOME programs don’t have a way of rebinding keyboard shortcuts.
It just depends on what I consider more important at the time.
I do agree that GNOME is really beautiful. I spent time making the taskbar more like GNOME before commiting to using KDE.
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 tried GNOME for all but three minutes until I found out that you could be scrolling along with your mouse wheel and oop, a slider suddenly appears under your cursor, steals focus, and now your mouse wheel is moving the slider before you can notice where it used to be.
What an awful default choice for UI/UX behavior.
That has never happened to me in the many years I’ve been using Gnome.
I used Gnome for half an hour when I noticed I can three-finger-swipe left/right to switch workspaces and swipe up/down to open and close the overview. I’ll never use anything else on my laptop!
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.
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.
+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 started using kde once personal computers became beefy enough to handle it well around 2002 but switched to gnome because gnome felt more polished at the time and i recently switched back and, you’re right, the customize-ability is impressive after using gnome for the last 15-ish years.
it’s also daunting/frustrating at times too.
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”.
