The popular ddterm GNOME extension has been updated to support GNOME 44 and GNOME 45, which is included in Ubuntu 23.10.
This drop down terminal (hence the name ‘ddterm’) for GNOME Shell is my go-to terminal on Ubuntu (and Fedora) because it’s responsive, has tabs, works natively with Wayland, and has a colossal crop of customisation options – enough to satisfy the most pernickety of pernickitists!
Now, ddterm is not the only GNOME extension of its type and you’ll find a swathe of standalone apps (e.g., Guake, etc) that do similar things to this one.
But if you use GNOME Shell and you’re not currently tied to an alternative drop-down terminal tool of this type then, honestly, ddterm is well worth taking some time to toy with.
An overview of ddterm features:
- Set terminal position (top, bottom, left, right)
- Resize window by dragging border with mouse
- Choose/adjust slide in/out animations
- Configurable keyboard shortcuts
- Customise appearance
- Optional panel icon
- Set tab position
- Ability to give tabs custom titles
And that’s just the start.
Pop open ddterm’s Preferences to uncover an array of advanced options. Take the time to properly look through what’s available as this GNOME Shell extension is far more advanced than you might assume at first glance.
You can install ddterm from GNOME extensions (using a web browser or, my preferred method, using the slick Extensions Manager app available in the Ubuntu repos or from Flathub).
As this extension is compatible with GNOME 3.36 and above you can also use it on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and above. While ddterm doesn’t have a place in my list of the best GNOME extensions right now I can certainly see myself revising it!