Minimize and Maximize Buttons Removed in GNOME 3

As far as desktop environments go, there are none quite as controversial as GNOME. The reason is that the GNOME developers have often implemented features (or feature reductions) that have been considered important, and to some, the changes make sense, while to others, it might seem that the developers are just stubborn and want to change whatever they feel the need to.

I admit that it’s rare when GNOME makes a totally major change that I agree with. Weeks ago, it was announced that GNOME 3 will drop the ability to have a notebook remain on when its lid is closed. There are work-arounds, but out-of-the-box, it just won’t happen, much to the angst of many.

Fast-forward to last week, and we reach yet another controversial decision… the removal of the minimize and maximize buttons in the titlebars of open applications. As in… the buttons that have been in every mainstream OS and desktop environment for as long as windowed environments have been around.

There are a couple of reasons for the change, but the main one is that GNOME 3.0 isn’t a typical desktop environment, and it’s laid out a bit different than others. Since I can never seem to get the live CD to work properly, I can’t really comment much on how it works, but I plan to test a more recent build soon. All the while, you can still minimize and maximize, but it has to be done without those buttons. Right click the title bar to minimize, and double-click to maximize. Seems rather simple.

But simple as it may be, this isn’t a change that’s going to go unnoticed, and for those who use those buttons on a regular basis, the change might feel downright awful. Personally, I don’t use those buttons (I instead double-click the titlebar to maximize and click the application in the taskbar to minimize), so it’s a change I can go without. I’m still not sure I agree with the total removal, though. It’ll be interesting to see how things fare once GNOME 3 actually ships.

Minimise and maximise buttons were recently removed from the window titlebars in GNOME 3. Discussions of the change have been ongoing for some time, but the decision only just happened, and the change came as a surprise to many. Personally speaking, I think the removal of the buttons is a definite improvement, and it’s a move that I’ve been in favour of for a while. Though Owen gave a really excellent account of his reasoning for the decision, some people are still wondering why the buttons have been removed, so I thought I’d try and explain why I think it’s a positive change. As with most major design decisions, the removal of the buttons is an attempt to balance a number of factors: there isn’t a single reason that you can point to.