Essential GNOME Extensions for a Modern and Productive Desktop
One of the advantages of Linux is the wide variety of desktop environments we can choose from based on our preferences. Additionally, each desktop environment can be customized by users to suit their specific needs. GNOME is one of the most popular desktop environments out there. I personally enjoy using GNOME because its interface blends a tablet and desktop feel, which perfectly fits my workflow. Some users might not prefer GNOME due to its more limited customization compared to other desktop environments. In this post, I will share several GNOME extensions that I use to make the GNOME interface look more modern while also boosting user productivity.
GNOME Extensions for a More Modern Look
The GNOME extensions I use to achieve a more modern interface are Vitals and Night Theme Switcher.
Vitals
Vitals is a GNOME extension designed to display resource usage, such as RAM, CPU, temperature, and more. This resource usage is displayed on the right side of the top bar with modern icons. You can also customize which resources you want to display based on your preference.
To install the Vitals extension, you can visit the Vitals Extension page.
Night Theme Switcher
Night Theme Switcher is a GNOME extension that I use to automatically toggle the GNOME theme from light theme to dark theme and vice versa. The timing for this theme switch can be configured based on your preferred schedule or automatically adjusted according to sunrise and sunset times.
The Night Theme Switcher extension can be installed via the Night Theme Switcher page.
GNOME Extensions for Productivity
The GNOME extensions I use to make my work smoother are GSConnect and Hide Top Bar.
GSConnect
The GSConnect extension is used to connect your computer to an Android smartphone, offering features such as file transfer, viewing notifications, managing calls, and many others that can be enabled in the settings. To pair your machine via GSConnect, you must first install the KDE Connect application on your Android smartphone. This extension makes it incredibly easy for me to send and receive files, as well as handle notifications from my phone.
To install the GSConnect extension, you can visit the GSConnect Extension page.
Hide Top Bar
Hide Top Bar is an extension that functions to hide the top bar on the GNOME desktop. It is highly suitable for smaller monitors as it provides more real estate for active application windows. The Hide Top Bar extension hides the top bar intelligently; it will only hide itself when an active application or program window touches it. This extension helps maximize my working window space—if I ever need a quick glance at the top bar, I can simply press the ‘Super Key’ on the keyboard.
To install the Hide Top Bar extension, you can visit the Hide Top Bar page.
