Editing Desktop environment (section)

== Desktop environments for the X Window System ==
[[File:Popular free desktop environments.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|A brief timeline of the most popular modern desktop environments for Unix-like operating systems (greyscale logos indicate when the project's development started, while colorized logos indicate the project's first official release)]]
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{{Further|Comparison of X Window System desktop environments}}
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On systems running the [[X Window System]] (typically Unix-family systems such as Linux, [[Comparison of BSD operating systems|the BSDs]], and formal [[UNIX]] distributions), desktop environments are much more dynamic and customizable to meet user needs. In this context, a desktop environment typically consists of several separate components, including a [[window manager]] (such as [[Mutter (software)|Mutter]] or [[KWin]]), a [[file manager]] (such as [[GNOME Files|Files]] or [[Dolphin (file manager)|Dolphin]]), a set of [[Skin (computing)|graphical themes]], together with [[Widget toolkit|toolkits]] (such as [[GTK+]] and [[Qt (framework)|Qt]]) and [[Library (computing)|libraries]] for managing the desktop. All these individual modules can be exchanged and independently configured to suit users, but most desktop environments provide a default configuration that works with minimal user setup.

Some window managers{{mdashb}}such as [[IceWM]], [[Fluxbox]], [[Openbox]], [[ROX Desktop]] and [[Window Maker]]{{mdashb}}contain relatively sparse desktop environment elements, such as an integrated [[spatial file manager]], while others like [[evilwm]] and [[wmii]] do not provide such elements. Not all of the program code that is part of a desktop environment has effects which are directly visible to the user. Some of it may be low-level code. [[KDE]], for example, provides so-called [[KIO]] slaves which give the user access to a wide range of virtual devices. These I/O slaves are not available outside the KDE environment.

In 1996 the KDE was announced, followed in 1997 by the announcement of GNOME. [[Xfce]] is a smaller project that was also founded in 1996,<ref name="Then">{{citation |url=http://www.slashgear.com/xfce-creator-talks-linux-moblin-netbooks-and-open-source-0633329/ |title=Xfce creator talks Linux, Moblin, netbooks and open-source |last=Then |first=Ewdison |date=6 February 2009 |publisher=[[SlashGear]] |access-date=5 February 2011 |archive-date=16 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716084231/http://www.slashgear.com/xfce-creator-talks-linux-moblin-netbooks-and-open-source-0633329/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and focuses on speed and modularity, just like [[LXDE]] which was started in 2006. A [[comparison of X Window System desktop environments]] demonstrates the differences between environments. GNOME and KDE were usually seen as dominant solutions, and these are still often installed by default on Linux systems. Each of them offers:
* To programmers, a set of standard APIs, a programming environment, and [[human interface guidelines]].
* To translators, a collaboration infrastructure. KDE and GNOME are available in many languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://l10n.kde.org/ |title=KDE Localization |publisher=L10n.kde.org |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2013-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421082912/http://l10n.kde.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gnome.org/i18n/ |title=GNOME Internationalization |publisher=Gnome.org |date=2011-10-23 |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2011-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314090255/http://www.gnome.org/i18n/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* To artists, a workspace to share their talents.<ref>{{cite web |author=Link 27&nbsp;Dec Personalized Golf Ball Sign» |url=http://www.kde-artists.org/ |title=Where life imitates art |publisher=KDE-Artists |date=2011-12-27 |access-date=2012-02-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207004157/http://www.kde-artists.org/ |archive-date=2012-02-07 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://art.gnome.org/ |title=GNOME Art: Artwork and Themes |publisher=Art.gnome.org |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2007-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311231810/http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity/?sort_by=rating&thumbnails_per_page=12&view=list&order=DESC |url-status=live }}</ref>
* To ergonomics specialists, the chance to help simplify the working environment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://openusability.org/ |title=OpenUsability |publisher=OpenUsability |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2012-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204201451/http://www.openusability.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/ GNOME Human Interface Guidelines] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040201211856/http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/ |date=February 1, 2004 }}</ref><ref>[http://developer.kde.org/documentation/design/ui/ KDE User Interface Guidelines] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040106212356/http://developer.kde.org/documentation/design/ui/ |date=January 6, 2004 }}</ref>
* To developers of third-party applications, a reference environment for integration. OpenOffice.org is one such application.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kde.openoffice.org/ |title=KDE OpenOffice.org |publisher=KDE OpenOffice.org |access-date=2012-02-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713115136/http://kde.openoffice.org/ |archive-date=2010-07-13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gnome.org/projects/ooo/ |title=GNOME OpenOffice.org |publisher=Gnome.org |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2008-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018211352/http://www.gnome.org/projects/ooo/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* To users, a complete desktop environment and a suite of essential applications. These include a file manager, web browser, multimedia player, email client, address book, PDF reader, photo manager, and system preferences application.

In the early 2000s, KDE reached maturity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linux-usability.de/download/linux_usability_report_en.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719055000/http://www.linux-usability.de/download/linux_usability_report_en.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-19|title=Linux Usability Report v1.01 |access-date=2012-02-04}}</ref> The Appeal<ref>{{cite web |url=http://appeal.kde.org/wiki/Appeal |title=Appeal |work=[[KDE]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106085324/http://appeal.kde.org/wiki/Appeal |archive-date=2007-01-06}}</ref> and ToPaZ<ref>{{cite web |url=http://live.gnome.org/ThreePointZero |title=GNOME 3.0 |publisher=[[GNOME]] wiki |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2012-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030204733/https://live.gnome.org/ThreePointZero |url-status=live }}</ref> projects focused on bringing new advances to the next major releases of both KDE and GNOME respectively. Although striving for broadly similar goals, GNOME and KDE do differ in their approach to user ergonomics. KDE encourages applications to integrate and interoperate, is highly customizable, and contains many complex features, all whilst trying to establish sensible defaults. GNOME on the other hand is more prescriptive, and focuses on the finer details of essential tasks and overall simplification. Accordingly, each one attracts a different user and developer community. Technically, there are numerous technologies common to all Unix-like desktop environments, most obviously the X Window System. Accordingly, the [[freedesktop.org]] project was established as an informal collaboration zone with the goal being to reduce duplication of effort.

As GNOME and KDE focus on high-performance computers, users of less powerful or older computers often prefer alternative desktop environments specifically created for low-performance systems. Most commonly used lightweight desktop environments include [[LXDE]] and Xfce; they both use [[GTK+]], which is the same underlying toolkit GNOME uses. The [[MATE (software)|MATE]] desktop environment, a fork of [[GNOME 2|GNOME&nbsp;2]], is comparable to Xfce in its use of RAM and processor cycles, but is often considered more as an alternative to other lightweight desktop environments.

For a while, GNOME and KDE enjoyed the status of the most popular Linux desktop environments; later, other desktop environments grew in popularity. In April 2011, GNOME introduced a new interface concept with its [[GNOME 3|version 3]], while a popular Linux distribution [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] introduced its own new desktop environment, [[Unity (user interface)|Unity]]. Some users preferred to keep the traditional interface concept of GNOME 2, resulting in the creation of [[MATE (software)|MATE]] as a GNOME&nbsp;2 fork.<ref>Thorsten Leemhuis (usinglinux1173.blogspot.com), August 5, 2012: [https://web.archive.org/web/20190415104204/https://usinglinux1173.blogspot.com/2019/04/common-desktop-features.html Comment: Desktop Fragmentation]</ref>