Gnome has been my favourite Window Manager for ages, to me it feels like a cosy blanket meaning that I’ve arrived at home 🙂
Part of that feeling is because of the awesome extensions that so many enthusiasts have made over the years. If you don’t know, the extensions add so much productivity and possibilities to an already great window manager.
I’ve put my favourite extensions in the list below. This list is part so that I can remember myself but also to explain why some of these extensions are so cool to use (to me at least)
Click the Extension name in the table below to go to the extensions web page on extensions.gnome.org
| Extension | Awesome index (1-5) | Why it is so awesome |
|---|---|---|
| Activities Configurator | 3 | Allows you to customize the Activities logo and fine tune the menu bar |
| Caffeine | 2 | Disable the screensaver and auto suspend, great for watching video’s or extreme prolonged pondering of diagrams |
| Clipboard Indicator | 5 | Clipboard manager for Gnome. I ALWAYS use a clipboard manager, doesn’t matter if I’m working on a Windows, Linux of OSx machine, it is one of the first things I install. Such a productivity booster. Clipboard indicator is one of a few clipboard managers in the extensions repository, I like the simplicity.  |
| Dash to Dock | 5 | A dock for the Gnome Shell. One of the most popular extensions because it turns the dash into a dock! (What’s in a name) Makes switching and launching of applications easier. |
| Desktop Icons NG (DING) | 2 | Adds icons to the desktop (for the ~/Desktop folder) |
| Draw On You Screen | 3 | This extension allows me to draw on the screen when making screencasts. You can toggle the drawing on/off with a keyboard shortcut. |
| gTile | 5 | Makes it easy to order your windows in a grid. Very nice productivity tool. I mostly use the 5×4 grid, with browsers having a size of 2×4 and terminals sized 1×4. You can switch on the fly between three (configurable) grid presets  |
| Internet Radio | 4 | Small widget which streams internet radio. I most often listen to Pinguin Radio and some of the local Dutch radio stations. Note: Does not listen to the keyboard media keys Favourite radio stations: Pinguin Radio: http://streams.pinguinradio.com/PinguinRadio192.mp3 Radio 538: http://22353.live.streamtheworld.com/RADIO538AAC.aac Radio Veronica: https://20873.live.streamtheworld.com/VERONICA.mp3 Radio 3FM: http://icecast.omroep.nl/3fm-bb-mp3 |
| Quick Close in Overview | 5 | Very simple yet effective: Middle mouse button in Overview (Win-key) closes the application |
| Sound Input & Output Device Chooser | 4 | Shows all the input and output devices. I love this since I have several audio in- and outputs (USB amp / headphones / HDMI output via monitor) for different purposes. This extension gives me the current selected in- and output as well as letting me choose quickly.  |
| System Monitor | 5 | One of the simplest and cleanest looking system monitors (CPU, Mem, Storage, Network, Load) It takes minimal space in the bar, yet gives me exactly the information I want on a glance. The extension works with colors (Shades of yellow, orange, red) to show how busy a resource is. For me this is very convenient if I want to know IF my CPU is being used heavily. One click on the pane and you see the top 5 of each category in a handy overview.  |
| VirtualBox applet | 3 | Shows a list of running VirtualBox machines. I use this widget mostly to check if there is any running Vagrant stuff I forgot after a day of work |
| Workspace Scroll | 3 | Allows me to scroll anywhere in the top panel to change the workspace. Very convenient when working with multiple workspaces. |
| Wallpaper Changer | 4 | Changes the wallpaper based on several providers, I have it set to pick a picture from a folder every 30 minutes. It also serves a little like a pomodoro timer that way. |
| Tray Icons | 4 | Always handy to keep the tray icons in sight. |
Summary
I feel these extensions help a lot with increasing productivity and are a massive part of why I love working on Linux with the Gnome Window Manager.