No icons in my desktop (window manager, fluxbox). It's the UI I'm used since... too many years to count.
Custom keys to launch the most used apps.
Alt+F2 to launch less used apps.
And... the big star... one of my reasons for stay in fluxbox for so many years, the custom menu (right click anywhere in the root background, left click in the corner of the toolbar, or custom key to launch the menu).
Custom menu that can make includes, oh yeah, can be updated via cron/systemd-timer/scripts, etc so you can have a hierarchical menu to all your machines, by project, by datacenter, by service, IPMI, ssh, remote desktop... always up to date (i.e. from ansible-inventory). Or you can have your browser boomarks in the menu (with the same folder hierarchy). Or you can implement your own RSS in the menu via cron. Anything you can imagine.
For me, hierarchy > 2D positioning, and "desktop" != root folder for any "data".
Last step of my weird, non mainstream setup, is the all my data is not in my home, but it's in /data/myuser (in a partition separated from the OS), in folders like backup, docs, downloads, media, src, vms which are linked to my home. All dot files that I care are under my custom config management system (sh script + git), and all the data is in /data (+backups). Why I mention this? it's on topic... some apps try hard to use the "desktop" directory. So I have this bit just for them:
Because why the hell a browser need to mkdir ~/Desktop or ~/Downloads for nothing.
My app launching shortcuts/menu are very well organized and optimized. My data is in /data. I live without the "desktop is everything/anything/chaos-thing" seen in many people machines, and I'm happy.
When I've used other's OSs with a desktop full of icons, I dislike specially not being able to make the exact placement because of auto alignment.
If I used desktop+icons, would like something like diagramming apps: "Let me place things exactly where I want, but, let me align groups of selected items, horizontally and vertically, via context menu/shortcut when selected".
Just wanted to pop in as a fellow Fluxbox user that I have essentially the same setup.
All the apps that I launch multiple times per day have their own global shortcut keys. And then for everything else I have a setup where pressing the Windows logo key brings up a "start" menu right where the mouse pointer is. From this menu I can then launch the other apps that I use infrequently. Super convenient.
But really the best part of Fluxbox is that never changes. I think I've run the setup for about 20 years by now with only occasional minor tweaks.
As an old grumpy developer things not changing without my consent is the best possible feature. I have absolutely zero interest to learn new shiny things just because someone wanted to shove them down my throat!
Custom keys to launch the most used apps.
Alt+F2 to launch less used apps.
And... the big star... one of my reasons for stay in fluxbox for so many years, the custom menu (right click anywhere in the root background, left click in the corner of the toolbar, or custom key to launch the menu).
Custom menu that can make includes, oh yeah, can be updated via cron/systemd-timer/scripts, etc so you can have a hierarchical menu to all your machines, by project, by datacenter, by service, IPMI, ssh, remote desktop... always up to date (i.e. from ansible-inventory). Or you can have your browser boomarks in the menu (with the same folder hierarchy). Or you can implement your own RSS in the menu via cron. Anything you can imagine.
For me, hierarchy > 2D positioning, and "desktop" != root folder for any "data".
Last step of my weird, non mainstream setup, is the all my data is not in my home, but it's in /data/myuser (in a partition separated from the OS), in folders like backup, docs, downloads, media, src, vms which are linked to my home. All dot files that I care are under my custom config management system (sh script + git), and all the data is in /data (+backups). Why I mention this? it's on topic... some apps try hard to use the "desktop" directory. So I have this bit just for them:
Because why the hell a browser need to mkdir ~/Desktop or ~/Downloads for nothing.My app launching shortcuts/menu are very well organized and optimized. My data is in /data. I live without the "desktop is everything/anything/chaos-thing" seen in many people machines, and I'm happy.
When I've used other's OSs with a desktop full of icons, I dislike specially not being able to make the exact placement because of auto alignment.
If I used desktop+icons, would like something like diagramming apps: "Let me place things exactly where I want, but, let me align groups of selected items, horizontally and vertically, via context menu/shortcut when selected".