Alphabetical sort apps in Gnome Menu?

Any way to alphabetically organize software apps in Gnomes menu system ?

rich;)

If by this you mean the app grid then you might want to give this extension a try:

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/4269/alphabetical-app-grid/

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Thanks for this info. . . why aren’t these extensions included? I installed about a dozen different extension s and gnome doesn’t look the same. I’ve got a lot of new features that are interesting and worth keeping. What’s behind Gnomes hesitancy about extensions? Just wondering. . .

rich :wink:

Was that what you had in mind?

Have to ask them. Personally, I don’t care about GNOME. Thos guys are too up tight … you know. Go XFCE or KDE (I really like KDE).

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I think Gnome operates on the basis of “If someone, somewhere won’t like it, get it outta there!” The last thing they want is more features… It appears they want to be the 'locked down, no options desktop of corporations - presumably for easy maintenance by an IT staff. We mere non-corporate desktop users exist only as a testing resource to them…

(biased opinion of an XFCE user)
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I also think this is what they’re after. They’re cutting down more and more on the ability of customizing. They want the UI to be MacOS look alike but catered towards corporate implementations with less amount of customization abilities. I used to be a GNOME fanboy but after that big GNOME 3+ issue I gave up on it and moved to XFCE. But after playing with the recent KDE I’m falling in love with it too.

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If you have the time/patience to ‘play’, then KDE is probably a match for you! There is almost always a way to get what you want out of it, but the journey to achieve it may be long and arduous :grin:

And fun :wink: as long as it’s in a VM. I think DEs should give the option to customize. When you make it your own it gives you the satisfaction of achievement. Just like customizing your car and creating the ultimate dream vehicle you want. Just tinker in a VM once your reach the point of satisfaction and transfer those settings to the live.

Such a good idea - and I’ve never done it that way! I have always got right in my daily driver, THEN set up VM capability. What is it they say… Too soon old, too late smart? :grin:

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I basically use VMs for almost everything. I just love my daily setup too much. Unlike on Windows, we have kick-ass hypervisors like KVM or VirtualBox (not the best but works). Or even VMWare performance is far better on Linux than on Windows. So why not just use those?

My personal take is that menus are over-rated anyway.

If you’re looking for something in an alphabetical list, then you obviously know what it is.

So for ‘Custom Shortcuts’ you just hit menu and start typing ‘cus’ and for me, an arrow =>

I think menu’s only make sense if things can be categorised - but there are too many problems with that, many apps fit several categories.

Yeah, I don’t like to use menus as well. I just use a launcher (Ulauncher) and type in what I want. Much easier. Even at my work (Windows) laptop I use the search as a launcher.

Even better on KDE there are the ‘custom shortcuts’ with ‘Window Actions’ and ‘Mouse Gestures’.

If I draw a ‘>’ shape, it launches PlexHTPC

When that window takes focus, ‘unclutter’ is run. When that window loses focus, ‘unclutter’ gets killed.

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Think it’s best to stop we’re going off-topic. Our mods might bring the hammer down :slight_smile: .

But that requires using both keyboard and mouse. A good interface is easy to use with only keyboard or only mouse.

Thanks for all the responses. . . . I gave Gnome a whirl last night and finally decided to go back with what felt familiar to me . . . I reinstalled Cinnamon last night. I don’t think Gnome will fit my bill any time too soon. The app menu being scrambled leaving me to look for a work around tells me the developers aren’t working at what’s best concerning it’s functionality.

I think ‘Deepin’ has the nicest menu system setup that I’ve ever seen. . . but it as a distro puts it way behind most of the rest in so far as being up to speed with the latest cutting edge improvements in apps. I’d like to see it’s desktop revitalized and circulated in Linux distro circles. . . . Just my opinion.

Thanks to everyone. .

Rich;)

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Good decision :+1:

Unfortunately, this seems to be the trend throughout all aspects GNOME since the end of the GNOME 2.2 release cycle. GNOME developers don’t care about how changing or removing (mostly removing) a desktop function affects the users. They seem to be more concerned about nonsensical “visions” or trends about how a desktop or app should function or look.

They try to make everything “simple.” Unfortunately, their definition of “simple” is more about removing functions than it is about making the desktop or application easier to use. This forces users like you and I to go through the very convoluted process of adding unstable extensions just to fix the mess GNOME developers caused by removing a function.

There should be an easy way to arrange the menu alphabetically BUILT INTO GNOME! However, some developer(s) decided that it wasn’t needed, and for the sake of “simplicity” didn’t add it or removed it. However, in true GNOME fashion, the menu is ugly with unnecessary gaps in icon placement and an utter time consuming disaster to manually configure, thus requiring an automatic solution that’s not there. Also, in true GNOME fashion, adding the functionality back through an extension causes the desktop to be buggy and unstable.

After awhile you get tired of dealing with uncaring GNOME developers and other GNOME users who defend these boneheaded decisions on social media and in the forums like blind acolytes, and just leave GNOME for a community that actually cares about how you use YOUR desktop and applications on YOUR computer!

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Good rant. . . . Functionality and simplicity. . . need to work hand in hand. One cannot work without the other. Gnome has in my opinion gone far to extremes when you have to install questionable extensions to provide a simple way to alphabetically software apps even by name. Unless you’ve got them all memorized and know where to look for them you can be lost. Cinnamon’s menu is pretty functional. ‘Favorites’, ‘Categories’, ‘Apps listed alphabetically by name’. Simple, efficient and functional. Gnome is still searching for it’s own soul and the developers are lost in their own parallel world.

Rich;

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