why the silly left sided taskbar buttons on ubuntu

why did they put the buttons on the left side now since ubuntu 9.10?

 

I see you have some reading ahead of you.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633

 

yea i was wondering why they made this change in the first place as the default? it seems the right side is most popular Id imagine? windows is like this, and certainly gnome has been like this for a long time as the default? you know what they say, if it aint broke....

 

There is no real answer, that's why I linked you to the long bug report (see the links there for Shuttleworth's responses). It was an arbitrary design decision -- I'm not expressing any opinion.

 

Mark Shuttleworth can bite me. I really dislike the direction he's been taking ubuntu (and I'm tired of talking about it).

 

Im out of the loop in the news/messages on this issue. Essentially it is not so much a bug albiet in the bug report lol, but a design decision so that software developers can use the space on the top right should they wish?? Is this essentially the justification? Then it begs the question, using this justification why couldnt developers use the left side?

Well I duno, its one of the original reasons why I have kept 9.10 and not upgraded and even thought about changing over to debian because they are more old fashioned, nevermind the fact i dont really like the purple screen on new ubuntu when it boots.

 

It's extremely likely that 10.04 will be the last Ubuntu I will use. Now that debian 6.0 is officially out I may give that a try.

 

It's easy enough to change the side the window buttons are on with gconf.

Code:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:minimize,maximize,close"

Or just use a different theme...

 

I know that's the topic of discussion for this thread, I guess I was just displaying my general unhappiness with where ubuntu is heading, and the fact that I pretty much don't like Mark Shuttleworth. Maybe I was going off topic, sorry for that.
It's an easy enough fix that you posted. Unfortunately I seem to have to "fix" a lot of things on ubuntu to get it how I like it, as I can't stand the default installation. Unfortunately also so many have seemed to say that ubuntu is one of the easiest distros to use, and is one of the most compatible with hardware which is why I mainly use it still today.

 

Could always just install a minimal system, then put vanilla gnome or KDE on top of it.

 

I sure hope ubuntu doesnt change for the worse. Its the only distro I have consistently used over the years. But hey as long as its open source I can live with a few alterations or even a few minor hacks to get it right.

 

One of the first things I do when I install Ubuntu is throw on a theme called ClearBloodline - its on GnomeLook.org. It takes care of that ever so necessary task of putting the window buttons in the right place. The switched side buttons didn't really bother me in the early days, but now that I switch between OSes so frequently, I like to have certain UI elements somewhat consistent between them.

There's always a way to fix whatever you don't like about your distro of choice. I give kudos to Ubuntu for making the simplest installing distro out there. The quickest path to a bootable, usable Gnome desktop seems to be the latest stable Ubuntu, hands down. I may give the latest Debian a go when I have a free weekend, though. 11.04 may have made a few too many changes for my taste.

 

ubuntu-tweak lets you change the buttons back plus a bunch of other visual tweaks and settings.

Ubuntu Tweak - Let's rock with Ubuntu

 

The thing is why make such a wierd convention the standard in new versions? its a little too mavrick. its like putting the windows start key in the center of the task bar by default or something random like that

actually when i was doing the usual runaround the different distros, the ubuntu 9.10's style was what made me stay with ubuntu instead. but soon after they made things purple and put the keys on the top left etc, i duno its getting a little too much

 

It is unbelievably easy to theme Ubuntu, and most other gnome based distros, with themes and icon sets available on gnomelook.org. The beauty of Gnome is that you don't have to settle for what anyone says your desktop should look like - it is yours to customize as you see fit.