With the GNOME Extension catalogue now online it’s never been easier to add extra features to your GNOME Shell desktop.
Below we list five extensions that help tweak the GNOME Shell experience into something more familiar feeling…
Frippery bottom panel
One of the biggest ‘gripes’ people have with GNOME Shell is the lack of a desktop-based application or workspace switcher (this is currently done using the Activities Overlay).
The ‘Frippery Bottom Panel’ extension brings desktop-based switching app and workspace switching back – and whilst it’s not the most beautiful of panels, and lacks many of the features of the old GNOME 2 panel, it does its job of easily switching, maximising and minimising windows admirably.
It’s worth noting that only windows open on the active workspace appear in the taskbar.
Frippery Move Clock
GNOME 3’s center-aligned clock has always bugged me. But with ‘Flippery Move Clock‘ extension I can effortlessly shunt it over to the right-hand side – just like old time!
Frippery Applications Menu
‘Frippery Applications Menu’ replaces the ‘Activities’ button with a more traditional application menu. Adding this does remove a clickable call to the Activities Overlay, but hitting the Super Key/Windows Key will still bring it up.
Alternative Status Menu
This handy extension adds separate Suspend, Hibernate and Power Off options to the GNOME status menu – something many feel should come as default.
Drive Remover
‘Removable Drive Menu’ is a simple enough Status Menu for accessing and safely ejecting any ‘removable devices’ such as CD/DVDs, SD cards, or USB thumb drives.
What are your favourite extensions available form extensions.gnome.org? Let us know below.