Suggestions for Usability Enhancements in GhostBSD

vimanuelt

brianthehughes Sure! In GhostBSD, while most keyboard shortcuts align with the MATE desktop standard, introducing additional shortcuts during installation could enhance user-friendliness. This might involve modifying installation scripts to configure shortcuts through MATE's dconf or XFCE's xfconf settings. For quick app launching, integrating tools like Synapse in MATE or ensuring xfce4-appfinder is activated by the Super key in XFCE could mirror the quick-search functionality seen in Windows. (Perhaps XFCE on GhostBSD already has this. 🤔) Additionally, for panel settings management, developing a simple GUI tool that allows users to switch between preset configurations like Default, Custom 1, and Custom 2 would simplify customization. This tool would manage different configurations stored in files, applying them via dconf load or xfconf-query depending on the desktop environment. These enhancements could make GhostBSD more flexible and appealing, offering both new users and customization enthusiasts a more tailored and efficient desktop experience.

brianthehughes

I would like to be able to hold a key and drag a window from one work space to the next.

With the displayed workspace changing (because hot key) instead of tiling the window when I reach display edge.

I like the existing Mate tiling by drag to edge window handling, but moving windows to other workspaces by click dragging in the workspace panel is tiny/finicky. Right click menu selections of tiny window corner controls is functional but on par with working in the workspace panel.

If I’m dragging a window I shouldn’t need to use both hands to trigger a keyboard combination. I only have two hands. 🦖

teekay

Just thought I'd mention some things I do for usability which may trigger some ideas:

I add System Monitor (for CPU, memory and network) to the panel. I can't believe this isn't standard across all desktops, but how else are you to know you're running out of RAM or your network connection is being maxed out? It's like buying a car that has no gauges.
I run "dunst" to show and manage notifications, because default one doesn't persist missed notifications, I think.
I run "synapse" to be my "quick run" because the MATE one only find apps in your menu, doesn't work for scripts or files or quick calculations, etc.
I run "AutoKey" for making text expansions/snippets and also shortcuts for things like volume control, etc. For example I just type :em into any input (including terminal and browser) and it auto-expands to my email address.

I really wish there was a graphical tool to manage my sound volume for various devices and channels, the default one lets you select a device but not control things like PCM channel. I also really wish there was a graphical tool for partitioning disks like gparted.

vimanuelt

teekay Having a hot key for System Monitor would be nice.

brianthehughes

teekay
MATE does have System Monitor task bar utility.
XFCE does as well...

Access the feature via Right Click on the panel and Add to Panel...

Love your suggestions and shared solutions!

I changed up the Classic Menu for the Brisk Menu to get Super-key menu opening and automatic menu filtering, but indeed it still only filters applications.

teekay

Another usability improvement would be to enable auto-mounting of MTP devices. I currently have to manually run jmtpfs -o allow_other /media/mtp every time I plug in my Android phone. When I click unmount in Caja, a gvfs*** process goes berserk and maxes out the CPU at 100% till I kill it. MTP is painful in GhostBSD.

vimanuelt

Any more suggestions?

grahamperrin

Enhancements on the release roadmap:

https://github.com/orgs/ghostbsd/projects/4/views/19?filterQuery=-release%3A25.01-R14.2p1+label%3Aenhancement

vimanuelt

grahamperrin
Great to see!

WB7ODY

ORCA screen reader for low vision or blind people. Can you install via "pkg install orca" ? does orca screen reader now work?
Fred Finster was helping out another user to install orca. I think ORCA is a very useful tool for low vision people and GhostBSD could be useful to their computing needs and internet connecttivity.

Giskard

I would like it could be mount external drives (initialized not only with UFS, but also with FAT, NTFS, ext4...), CD/DVD ROMs and MTPfs out of the box, without doing extra configurations and scripts. This on both Mate and XFCE.

What I'd like is to be able to attach a disk, a drive or a smartphone set to file transfer, and see their icon on the desktop (or on "Computer" in caja) automatically.

vimanuelt

Giskard
You can request a new feature here.