I'm not shitting here shitting on GNOME but I haven't tried it since gnome 3 released.

I got kinda stuck on tiling wms because I hate having to think about laying out windows and so this blog post is exciting! They're very correct that tiling wms only partially solve the problem because you often have to tweak for proper line length or just deal with random void space in settings apps.

Obviously mosaic isn't in yet, but if I wanted to dip into GNOME can it do (or are there addons or alternative more efficient things to try) for the following:

• snappy keyboard only application launching e.g. dmenu style.

• a way to activate a tiling wm mode for when you're doing something like software Dev or at least a way to save and lock particular layouts?

• tell software to always open on a particular monitor?

• manipulate windows without using the mouse + move focus to different screens without using the mouse?

• display a string in the status bar (I assemble my status bar using a custom shell script which outputs a string. I'd like to not reinvent it)

Cause reading this blog I'm kinda keen to see where they take GNOME and get in early so it's easier to learn.

Like I said, I last used GNOME 2 so it's been a while and I'm sure in my head it's unfairly judged.