You’re trying to use Gnome the way you’re used to using a desktop.

If you try and learn the Gnome way, you’ll have a better time.

To be honest I had the same problem when I first went from Windows to OSX, I was struggling, trying to make OSX familiar, but when I decided to learn the Apple way, everything became easier.

I don’t use a dock at all. My workflow is super+app-name and alt+tab.

But this is the same for me on Plasma or any other DE. I just don’t need or use a dock.

Have you considered Pop OS from System76? Pop OS has a GNOME-like DE where the dock is fully displayed. It’s very much like the macOS DE. The current stable release uses a GNOME-like DE, and the developers at System76 are working to make it into their own DE called Cosmic.

I have extensions that do small QOL things. I can still use GNOME just fine without a single one of them enabled.

How do you cope with the lack of a dock and system tray?

I don’t cope with that. I don’t really see a huge benefit to having a system tray. Before GNOME 44 added the background apps view to the quick settings menu I just put anything that was ‘background’ into a workspace. Even after 44 I still have this habit and rarely actually need the background view.

As for the dock argument I’m not sure what an always visible dock would provide that the current dash does not. I think I might even prefer the current dash over an always visible dock. Whenever I want to switch windows I just go to the overview and pick out whatever window I want. It’s a lot easier to hit a huge window than to have to target a small icon at the bottom of the display.

I understand that some people might disagree but I actually love what GNOME does (most of the time).

I use it with a system tray but no dock. The overview when you press meta is enough for me.

I do, I don’t even have Tweaks installed.

I used to be an avid customiser of software, but one day I realised that I spent a lot of time tweaking things and didn’t get a great workflow anyway.

The thing about GNOME is it has a great in-built workflow and I work more efficiently now I just let it make the decisions for me.

I also kind of think that if you’re the type to install a lot of extensions you’d probably be happier with KDE anyway.

That’s me!

Keyboard centricity is a bonus to me. I don’t like having visible UI elements that don’t do anything for me (docks, task bars). I also dislike the trend of programs not closing when I close them (system trays).

In addition to these things, I value a degree of minimalism, and I’m a heavy user of virtual desktops.

I don’t need to cope with any of these potential downsides, as they’re not downsides to me in the first place. All of this said, the KDE community seems a lot more welcoming. I tend to suggest KDE Plasma for any people trying out Linux.

Hope this helps 👍

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention the most controversial one of them all. I love single click to open.

I tried really hard for about a year to use gnome without extensions.

I’d say at best in the end it wasn’t annoying me too much.

Recently tried dash to panel again and yeah. I’m not going back.

I do not understand how people manage multiple programs open without a tray. Do they just memorize in what workspace everything is at all times ?

I use Debian + Gnome without custom extensions and like it.

I don’t use too many programs, so in the overview I have Firefox in position 1, signal in position 2 and steam in 3. Then I use Win+1,2,3 to launch them.

For other programs, I hit Win and then start typing the name and hit enter.

For switching between windows, i use alt-tab or alt-(key above tab). If I have many windows or playing game in full screen, I hit Win-key once and choose the window i want.

I don’t use workspaces, never found a good flow. And I rarely miss a taskbar.

I use blur my shell, but I don’t really need it.

I started liking Gnome a lot more once I let go of trying to recreate the Win95 UX that pretty much everyone else uses.

It was such a pain at first, but then it just clicked and now I couldn’t go back to that clunky workflow.

I know most people like it that way, but IMO Microsoft didn’t create the perfect UX paradigm back in the early 90s

I don’t use the dock or a system tray really.

• Each app is opened on its own workspace and it’s always the same workspace. Slack on 1, Thunderbird on 2, Tilix on 3, IDE on 4, Firefox on 5, etc.
• Each workspace gets its own key mapping: Ctrl+F1 for 1, Ctrl+F5 for 5, etc. so switching is quick and easy with no mouse needed.
• To open a new program I just hit Win followed by the first 2 or 3 letters of the name and Enter.

I use the following extensions:

• Burn My Windows
• Pure Perfection
• Clipboard indicator (for clip history)
• System Monitor (to keep an eye on resource use)

I do. Gnome is a special case because it doesn’t give you a lot of options. It’s take it or leave it, and it doesn’t follow the traditional mouse-centric desktop workflow.
But in my opinion it’s absolutely perfect for a laptop where you use the keyboard and touchpad. With a few key combos and swipe gestures you can fly through the UI and it only ever shows you what’s relevant at the moment.

I don’t really see any benefit to using pure gnome. Extensions aren’t a negative if they improve your workflow.

Not having a dock is one of my favorite things about gnome. I actually use an extension to hide the top bar too. There’s just something so satisfying about having 100% usable space on screen. I get all the info back in the win-key overlay, so I don’t really need that stuff on screen at all times.

The only extention I use is system tray, cause I rely on apps that use it. But everything else is Gnome-way and I love it