Show and hide the network servers icon on the desktop

Like the disks volume, the trash, the home folder and the computer icon also the Network Servers icon can be hidden or shown again if needed by executing a simple command. To hide the network servers icon you can execute the following command inside a terminal window:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop network-icon-visible false

To show the network servers icon you can execute:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop network-icon-visible true

The change is permanent and immediate so doesn’t require any restart.

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Show and hide the computer icon on the desktop

Like the disks volume icons, the trash icon and the home folder icon also the Computer icon can be hidden or shown again if needed by executing a simple command. To hide the computer icon you can execute the following command inside a terminal window:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop computer-icon-visible false

To show the computer icon you can execute:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop computer-icon-visible true

The change is permanent and immediate so doesn’t require any restart.

Show and hide the home folder icon on the desktop

Many users prefer to adopt the desktop behavior like in GNOME 2 or others operating systems so they can still enable the classic desktop as seen on a previous article.

Like the disks volume icons and the trash icon also the home folder icon can be hidden or shown again if needed by executing a simple command. To hide the home folder icon you can execute the following command inside a terminal window:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop home-icon-visible false

To show the home folder icon you can execute:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop home-icon-visible true

The change is permanent and immediate so doesn’t require any restart.

Show and hide the trash icon on the desktop

Many users prefer to adopt the desktop behavior like in GNOME 2 or others operating systems so they can still enable the classic desktop as seen on the previous article.

Like the disks volume icons also the trash icon can be hidden or shown again if needed by executing a simple command. To hide the trash icon you can execute the following command inside a terminal window:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop trash-icon-visible false

To show the trash icon again you can execute:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop trash-icon-visible true

The change is permanent and immediate so doesn’t require any restart.

Show and hide the disks volume icons on the desktop

Many users prefer to adopt the desktop behavior like in GNOME 2 or others operating systems so they can still enable the classic desktop as seen on the previous article.

However, when the desktop is enabled, many icons will appear, polluting and reducing the free space.

We can hide, and show again if wanted, the icons for the disks volume by executing a simple command. To hide the volumes icons you can just execute inside a terminal (in a single line):

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop volumes-visible false

To show the icons again you can execute:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop volumes-visible true

The change is permanent and immediate so doesn’t require any restart.

The desktop

Surely the very first thing you notice when you approach to the GNOME 3 is an empty desktop. Just a wallpaper background, no icons at all and, as you’ll soon discover, no pop-up menu if you right click on the desktop background.

If you’ve ever tried to save some files in the desktop folder (the exact folder name depends from the distribution, sometimes is called Desktop, sometimes is translated in your language like Escritorio, Scrivania or similar names) you could have found that your files won’t be shown in the desktop, like if it’s dead, unusable for everything.

Indeed the whole classic desktop in GNOME 3 should be considered as deprecated but many users aren’t still ready to abandon it so we’ll see here how to get the classic desktop back .

Switch between the windows

Another way to move between the windows is using the Application switcher, a popup window which appears using the default shortcut keys ALT+TAB. Its usage requires to keep the ALT key pressed and press the TAB key multiple times to move between the applications.

The windows organization

When multiple windows are opened the desktop can soon become a mess, fulfilled with many windows covering the others and to find your application can be really frustrating. The GNOME Shell offers multiple possibilities to help the user to handle multiple windows.

The absence of a classic windows list like in others desktop environments could initially make you feel lost, it’s never easy to change your habits. After years of MS Windows, Apple OS X, GNOME and KDE the new GNOME Shell solution will surely appear unfriendly to adopt but after the initial approach it should you result really simple and natural.

The Dash

When you open the Activities overview, in the left side you can see the dash, a dock bar for your favorite applications and to offer a place for your running applications.

Every icon in the dash can be removed or moved and of course you can also add new icons in the dash. It’s usage is pretty straight, just to click upon the icon and the corresponding application will be started.

When an application is running, its icon on the dash will present a light white glow (in the left picture you could see it under the Firefox and Shotwell icons). Whenever you click the icon of a running application the existing window will be moved in the foreground and made visible again.

In contrast to the old GNOME 2 panel, clicking the icon of an application already visible it will not hide or minimize the visible window, it will simply show it again and close the activities overview.

Exploring the GNOME Shell (part 4)

While it’s surely the most important part of the GNOME Shell I left it at the last to give it more attention as it needs. I’m obviously talking about the Activities button, located in the upper left corner of the panel.

You can click upon it but you can also simply move the mouse pointer in the upper left corner of the screen to make it react as it was effectively pressed. In such case, a light blue animation (called ripple) is shown to help the user understand why the Activities screen was shown.
With the default keyboard configuration, the left Win key also works like to press the Activities button.