GNOME 3.4 Release Notes

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2. What's New for Users

Figure 1 GNOME 3.4

3.4 is the second GNOME release since 3.0 back in April 2011. It brings a large number of improvements to the user experience, including many bug fixes and small enhancements. The result is a shinier, more polished, more reliable GNOME 3.

This release also contains some important new developments. Our applications have been a major focus for recent design and development effort, and a host of applications have had significant updates for this release. You will also see improvements to the building blocks that our applications have been made with. This includes smooth scrolling, refreshed user interface components, a much refined visual theme and application menus.

Other highlights for this release include a new document search facility, a new application called Boxes, video calling, and a new animated background that updates over the course of the day. Enjoy!

2.1. New Look GNOME 3 Applications Our applications have been a major theme for this release cycle. The new applications that were released in 3.2 have all received major updates that make them better looking and more pleasurable to use. Several existing applications have also received an overhaul so that they are more consistent and integrated with GNOME 3. Figure 2 Documents Documents, the new application that allows you to easily browse, search and organise documents, has received a major design refresh. The result is a fresher, cleaner application. The new version comes with a refreshed interface, the ability to create collections of documents and support for printing. Figure 3 The new look Epiphany, now called Web Epiphany, the GNOME web browser, has been renamed Web. It has been given a beautiful new interface for 3.4, which includes a redesigned toolbar and 'super menu'. There have also been a number of performance improvements, including faster browsing history. Figure 4 Contacts Our new contact application has also received a major update. The main contact list has been improved as has the layout of contact details. Contacts sports a number of other new features, including inline linking suggestions and a new avatar selector. Disks is the new name for GNOME Disk Utility, and it has had a major overhaul. The tool, which allows you to manage the disks on your computer, has a refreshed interface, integrates better with GNOME and also received several new features. Another tool we have updated is Passwords and Keys. It has also been given a much more refined and elegant user interface.

2.2. Document Search Figure 5 Search for Documents from the Activities Overview Searching from the Activities Overview already gives you a quick way to access applications, contacts and system settings. A big new feature for this release is the addition of documents to these search results. It means that document search is always at hand. The new document search facility is provided directly by the Documents application. As a result, you can search the documents you have on your computer as well as those stored in your online accounts. This ability for Activities Overview search to provide a window into your applications will be extended in future releases to include other types of content, such as Music and Videos.

2.3. Application Menus Figure 6 Application Menus Application menus are a new feature that will become an increasingly familiar part of our applications in the future. These menus, which are labelled with the application's name and can be seen in the top bar, provide a new space for options that affect the whole application (as opposed to specific windows), such as application preferences and documentation. A number of applications, including Documents, Web and Contacts, are already making use of application menus for this release. Focus-follows-mouse Users An exception will be made for focus-follows-mouse users; for them, a classic menu bar will be shown.

2.4. Refreshed Interface Components A number of our application interface components have been modernised this release. These changes will make applications more elegant and easier to use. They are particularly focused on removing difficult click targets. Figure 7 Our New Colour Chooser Look Our colour chooser dialogue has been brought up to date for 3.4. The new design provides easy access to a tasteful palette of colours, as well as a mechanism to create a set of custom colours. It is much more straightforward to use than the previous version. Scrollbars are another component that have been updated for 3.4. The new version takes up less space and removes the tiny 'stepper' buttons that traditionally feature on scrollbars, and which can be a particularly difficult click target. We also revised the design of spin buttons for 3.4, which used to be fiddly. The new versions are much easier to use and look great too. When maximised, certain applications will now hide their title bar. This ensures more space is available for the application.

2.5. A Bonanza of Smaller Improvements Incremental improvements and polishing has been a big focus for this release. The result is a large number of smaller improvements which add up to a big increase in quality. The visual theme is a lot more polished in this release. Many of the changes are subtle, but almost every part of the theme has been improved in some way. The overall effect is much better looking applications. A new initiative, called Every Detail Matters, has been focusing on improving the quality of the Activities Overview for this release. Thanks to these efforts, lots of small details have been taken care of, including improved application launcher labels, new window labels and captions, better keyboard navigation, more legible text styles and an easier to use dash. There are many other incremental improvements in GNOME 3.4. As ever, there are too many to list here, but they include: Network password dialogues, including those for VPN passwords, were stuck on GNOME 2 until this release. They have now been fully integrated with the GNOME 3 experience.

The return of Wanda the Fish! Yes Wanda, our trusty friend from GNOME 2, has returned. She's an easter egg , so we won't tell you exactly where to find her. Search and you'll receive.

Our built in screen recorder now produces smoother videos while also using less system resources. To use it, simply press Control+Shift+Alt+R .

The visual layout of system modal dialogues has been improved since 3.2. They look much nicer as a result.

Notification pop-ups are more intelligent now and will avoid the mouse or touchpad pointer, so that they won't get in your way.

Another important enhancement to notifications is that the message tray, which displays a summary of your notifications, is now shown if you haven't interacted with your device for a short period of time. This makes it easier to be aware of ongoing conversations or unanswered messages.

2.6. Smooth Scrolling Scrolling has got smooth in GNOME 3.4. In previous releases scrolling content could be a slightly abrupt affair. Now it is slick and graceful. Scroll operations gradually ease to a halt and have a tactile, physical feel to them. This is a big improvement which will make GNOME applications far more pleasurable and satisfying to use. Smooth scrolling is the first result of our ongoing touch input work, which is planned to deliver more features in the future.

2.7. New Animated Background Figure 8 Morning, Daytime and Night The default background (or 'wallpaper') has been updated for this release. The new version is a new take on the stripes theme from the previous background. The new background is also dynamic, becoming brighter and more radiant during the day, and dark and shadowy in the evening.

2.8. Improved System Settings System Settings have received a number of updates for 3.4. These changes include: Figure 9 Power Settings, Now with Extra Pretty Improved network panel layout, which now allows you to forget the configuration of individual networks.

A better looking power panel, which includes a redesigned status section.

Greatly enhanced Wacom graphics tablet support, including calibration and button mapping, as well as the new ability to configure multiple tablets.

Easier navigation thanks to the renaming of some panels and an updated 'All Settings' button.

2.9. Better Hardware Support Several of the smaller improvements that feature in this release address hardware support and integration, making GNOME 3 work with more hardware devices, and providing a more seamless experience. Various colour calibration improvements, which will now remember which device a particular colour profile is for.

Better handling of docking stations and external monitors, so that a laptop will now stay running (and not suspend) when it is connected to an external monitor, even if the lid is closed.

Support for volume keys on USB speakers and headsets.

New support for multiseat setups, such as pluggable USB multiseat devices.

2.10. Documentation That Really Helps You Traditional user documentation is written like a paper book; a good story, but it is very long and takes time to read through. It's not ideal if you just want to quickly find out how to perform a certain task. To address this, applications are gradually updated to provide topic-orientated documentation. The following applications provide new documentation in GNOME 3.4: Baobab The disk usage analyser

File Roller The archive manager

Glines Iagno Mahjongg Sudoku The games, and

log file viewer The

Zenity The dialogue box tool

There have also been large improvements and enhancements to the Desktop Help

2.11. Video Calling and Live Messenger Support Figure 10 New to Empathy: Video Calling 3.4 includes a number of improvements to the Empathy chat application. Foremost among these is its brand new audio and video calling interface. This provides a really nice way to do video calling, and it is fully integrated into GNOME 3, so you can quickly and easily respond to video calls as they come in. Another major enhancement to Empathy for this release is the new support for both Windows Live Messaging and Facebook chat, so that chatting with your friends is easier than ever before. There are several other improvements included in this release of Empathy, including: The accounts dialogue has been partially re-designed, giving it a simplified interface that is easier to use.

Improved integration with Contacts , which simplifies the user interface and means that Empathy can take advantage of Contacts' features, such as linking suggestions.