GNOME 3.8 available

GNOME version 3.8 is now available, an expected release that comes with many new features and improvements.

GNOME 3.8 is the result of 6 months of work by the GNOME Project and contains 35936 contributions made by approximately 960 people.

These are some of the improvements that you can find in the new version.

Launch applications

GNOME 3.8 introduces a new application launch view. The Frequent tab includes the most used apps, which means you won't have to spend time searching for the things you use the most. The All tab shows all of your applications and also includes application folders, which contain various groups of applications. This makes it easier to browse your applications.

Search

Searching from the Activity View has been redesigned with a new search results view, as well as new search settings. Together, these enhancements allow any application to display search results, making searching from the Activity View a more powerful way to access content provided by applications. The new search settings provide control over which applications will display search results, as well as their order in the results list.

Privacy and sharing

As part of GNOME's ongoing commitment to protect the privacy of our users, 3.8 includes extensive new privacy and sharing settings. This allows you to control who has access to the content on your computer, how much personal information is displayed on the screen, and what tracking features of your activity should be activated.

Watches

The latest version of GNOME includes a new kernel application, called Clocks. In 3.6 a first version of this utility was published and it has matured along with the rest of the applications belonging to the GNOME suite of applications. It includes several useful features, including clocks for different parts of the world, alarms, a chronograph, and a timer.

Improved animation rendering

GNOME 3.8 includes a significant technological advance in the way animated graphics are rendered. By improving coordination between the components responsible for displaying motion graphics, efficiency is much higher and performance is improved. The result of this work is smoother and more robust visual transitions and changes in the size of the windows. Video playback is also smoother under some conditions.

Classic mode

Classic mode is a feature for those who prefer a more traditional desktop experience. Built entirely on GNOME 3 technologies, it adds various features such as an application menu, a places menu, and a window switcher at the bottom of the screen. Each of these features can be used individually or in combination with other GNOME extensions.

Details

GNOME 3.8 includes a large number of bug fixes and small improvements. Many details have been taken into account to offer a more polished experience, including new animated transitions, visual improvements, and usability fixes. Many of these enhancements have been made as part of the Every Detail Matters initiative, which has fixed nearly 60 bugs during the 3.8 development cycle.

Input methods

Built-in input methods were first introduced in the previous version, in GNOME 3.6. A lot of work has been done on them, adding new features and fixing bugs. The changes include a new on-screen selector for input methods, pop-ups with candidate characters, new Region and language settings, and the inclusion of all input method engines in the input method menu.

And more…

There are many more things in GNOME 3.8. Read more to discover them ...