GNOME Shell frippery
====================

The shell in GNOME 3 can be modified by writing extensions in JavaScript.
Here are some extensions I've written to provide a user experience more
akin to that of GNOME 2.

Move the clock

  Move the clock from the centre of the panel towards the right. This
  isn't a very significant change, but it was the first extension I wrote.
  One minor annoyance is that the width of the clock changes with the
  time so the indicator icons move about a little.

Favourites in panel

  Place a launcher for each favourite application in the panel.  It isn't
  possible to manage the list from the panel: instead you can add, remove
  or move favourite applications in the dash and the panel display will
  update to match.

Applications menu in panel

  Replace the Activities button in the panel with an Applications menu.
  The menu is implemented using facilities supplied by the shell so it
  doesn't behave exactly like a normal menu.

Disable dynamic workspaces

  The GNOME 3 shell attempts to maintain just one empty workspace.
  New workspaces are created on demand and when the last application
  in a workspace is closed that workspace is removed.  This extension
  disables that behaviour.

The latest version of the extensions can be found here:

  http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html

They are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
version 2 or later.  See the COPYING file for details.

There doesn't seem to be an easy way to manage extensions yet so if you
don't want to use any of them just delete the corresponding directory.
The extensions can be made available to all users by placing them in
/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions.  After installation you'll need to
restart the shell to make the extensions take effect: enter 'r' in the
Alt+F2 dialog or log out and in again.

If you're using the extension that disables dynamic workspaces you'll
probably need to adjust the number of workspaces.  When the extension
is started with one workspace present (the default in GNOME 3) it'll
automatically create four static workspaces.  Failing that you can modify
the gconf key /apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces.  This can be done
using gconf-editor or with a command like:

    gconftool-2 -t int -s /apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces 4

The extensions hook into the very core of the GNOME shell. It's almost
inevitable that future changes to the shell will break them and that
they'll be incompatible with other extensions.

Ron Yorston <rmy@tigress.co.uk>
