Anything but the buttons!

Following the theme changes in Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) development version, the most recent (0.1.5.4) update you will notice that the “window management”  buttons have moved over to the top left, this is a design choice with the most recent changelog for that package sporting “correctly set the wm buttons on the left corner”:

The development version is a wonderful area to try new concepts, and this is something that is being tested.  I tried to use this for nearly an hour and found that my habit was too strong, and it’s not one that I currently wish to change.  I decided to revert it to something i’m used to (the far right), I’m not aware of an easy (graphical) method to do this, which means that we need to pull out some gconf -foo (hurray)!

Lets open gconf via holding ALT+F2 and typing “gconf-editor“.  This will open the application and allow changes to be made. I should warn that fiddling with gconf, and making errors could cause bad things to happen.

In this screenshot I have navigated to “/apps/metacity/general/” and double clicked the “button_layout” option.  On the end of the line (highlighted) there is a “:”.  This colon needs to be moved to the beginning of the line, so it reads - ”:maximize,minimize,close” rather than “maximize,minimize,close:” which it currently reads.

When you press OK, the buttons will automagically move over to the side we are all accustomed to.   However, if this design decision isn’t reverted then you will need to fix this on the rare occasion that the theme is updated.

March 5th, 2010 | All, Blogroll, hantslug, lugradio, ubuntu, ubuntu-uk

16 comments

[...] know this is a controversial opinion, but I want to be one of the few to publicly announce that they love the window controls on [...]

Pingback by Anything but the buttons, or how I learned to stop clicking and love Do at KILL THEM ALL AND LET A NORSE GOD SORT 'EM OUT — 7 March, 2010 @ 8:42 pm

[...] from the right-hand corner to the left along with instructions for changing it back but Daviey has already done that for [...]

Pingback by ANYTHING BUT THE BUTTONS! redux « leftyfb.com — 7 March, 2010 @ 3:34 am

Actualy there is a graphical aplication to change the order of the buttons any way you want it … it is called ubuntu-tweak.

It has a category called : window manager setting and there everything can be changed

Comment by sfantu — 6 March, 2010 @ 11:41 am

It might also bear repeating mentioning the common sense idea that you can rearrange these on either side you like, but also that the traditional order is:

“:minimize,maximize,close”

Comment by Nathan Haines — 6 March, 2010 @ 5:57 am

I prefer the window control buttons on the left. I actually changed them a while ago on my Ubuntu Dell netbook, because it requires less mouse travel.

I would like it if they make the buttons change colour as on the Mac as well.

If they do decide to go they way, they should try to make it much easier for the average person to find out how to change it back. Then people can experiment easily and quickly.

Comment by Zac — 6 March, 2010 @ 1:27 am

@Daviey – I agree with @Markus on this one. In this case, I would have to assume then that you aren’t most users, as you are having to touch something in order to get it to behave the way you want, and not the way the developer or the designer wants. In KDE, the overcomplication is typically well hidden under a tab or button called “Advanced”. Undercomplication, like that is a word, isn’t good either.

Comment by nixternal — 5 March, 2010 @ 11:51 pm

@Markus I didn’t set out to prove one way or the other. I actually feel it it right to hide features most users will never touch, it over complicates the desktop environment.

Comment by Daviey — 5 March, 2010 @ 11:03 pm

Jack from LOST agrees to this post:
http://i50.tinypic.com/1zyfwhk.jpg

Comment by TLF — 5 March, 2010 @ 11:02 pm

gconf-editor? Why now Windows RegEdit?
Dude, you just proved that GNOME really does not have better usability than KDE Desktop

Comment by Markus — 5 March, 2010 @ 10:47 pm

[...] you might not like the answer. However, with KDE, you can put the buttons wherever you would like Daviey, Mike, and everyone [...]

Pingback by Let me tell you where to put the buttons… :: Richard A. Johnson — 5 March, 2010 @ 9:51 pm

I was about to write up this same exact thing on my own blog. You’ve saved me the time.

I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again; They can set whatever they want as default. Just give the average end user an EASY and intuitive way to change it to their liking.

gconf-editor is not average user friendly and this type of this is most certainly something the average user is going to want to change back. No matter how much the design team wants everyone to “just get used to it”.

Comment by leftyfb — 5 March, 2010 @ 8:51 pm

Just as a point of interest, If you look at your screenshot you can see that the new icons don’t take into account that not every button is present on every window (note the Edit Key box). This is really ugly and should be pointed out by someone higher up the food chain than I.

Comment by Nick — 5 March, 2010 @ 8:45 pm

If they’re on the left, whatever. I’ve done that from time to time myself. But the close button belongs in the corner or you’ll even confuse the mac users. Serious usability problem.

Comment by ethana2 — 5 March, 2010 @ 8:44 pm

i’m wondering why the hell even thinking about applying this. sometimes change is good but definitely not this one

head out of idea to create something new?

Comment by novatech — 5 March, 2010 @ 8:43 pm

@ramses I tried it for an hour, and found it frustrating. It’s not a habit I want to change at the moment, and therefore put it back to something that I am more comfortable using.

Comment by Daviey — 5 March, 2010 @ 7:49 pm

Instead of opening gconf-editor why not give it a chance and use it for a couple of days first?

Comment by ramses — 5 March, 2010 @ 7:30 pm