In the first of a series on what new software users can expect to find in Karmic Koala come October, we take a peek at the ‘Gnome Control Centre’. Akin to the Windows Control Panel, it will better help users make all-important changes when/if needed…
New? Not Really….
Gnome Control Centre has actually always been in Ubuntu. Did you not know that? Nor did i! Previously the only way to launch it was from the command line or to add it to your panel through the ‘Main Menu’ feature. For such a useful and clear-cut application, it seems a shame it was hidden away for so long!
Times are a-changing however, and from Karmic Koala the Control Centre will be accessible directly from the ‘System’ menu. Making it so visible will surely speed up helping people when they need to make a tweak or configure Gnome.
Going Further?
Despite the current Control Centre being an improvement on the endless menu’s of the system menu, it too suffers from an unnecessary and somewhat badly designed layout.
Due to this, proposals have been made to simplify the Control Centre even more
Although not finalised, and certainly not likely to end up in Karmic Koala, these designs are evidently part of the ongoing movement towards cleaner, sleeker User Interfaces for Gnome applications. Banshee and F-Spot have both received such treatment, and it won’t be long before even more Gnome applications become even easier to use.