I've been a frequent distrohopper but nothing hits home like Ubuntu. I've previously used Xubuntu but I felt like it was lacking, thus Ubuntu MATE.
First Impressions
- I love how crisp it looked using the standard scaling and native DPI
- The ambience is so welcoming, it feels so cozy
- Love the MATE Tweaks and Control Center so much
- Being a conservative user in terms of workflow, I like MATE Desktop through and through
- The default apps (except Snap ones) were very coherent with the overall theming, even the Gnome Maps and Weather app
- As a previous Thunar user, I can't say how much I appreciate Caja
I initially downloaded Jammy Jellyfish though I eventually updated to Noble Numbat two days after. It's still the same MATE I love. Here are some few things I've noticed:
The menu looks pretty nice and coherent, until you notice the Control Center icon. It looks nice but given the overall theming, it might look better if it shared the same icon as the System Tools category. It won't be too ambiguous if so either. Orange accent color is a bit too much of a deviation to the design norms.
Screenshot of the MATE Control Center sections
The Control Center is a very nice place to be at. There are some few subtle things I find a bit weird design-wise here. First, the Internet and Network section completely disrupts the entire alignment and organization. The icons of some entries don't seem so consistent with the rest (i.e. MATE User Manager, Firewall Configuration, HUD Settings, Main Menu, Popup Notifications, Screensaver, Windows, and Onboard Settings).
Screenshot of the MATE User Manager app
The MATE User Manager app was new for me, coming from UM22. I find the concept nice, since I've not encountered any similar front-ends before.
Generally, the profile picture is a square all throughout the system. The user list in the left column is the only exception I've found so far. It also looks weird inside a rectangular module. The contents of the green rectangle are also not aligned properly (vertically).
Most descriptions of option lists across the system are aligned to the left, with the corresponding field aligned to the right. For the same reason, it's inconsistent for the user manager's entry descriptions not to follow the same organization.
Finally, the most obvious here, that button and the message balloon. There's no need to explain for that button. The message balloon on the other hand doesn't seem so emphasized, despite the dimmed options. The margins on the top and bottom of the text doesn't seem consistent with the design cues, as well as the icon size and its placement in the left. The radius of the message balloon is slightly higher than the normal one.
For managing drives, it might be better to keep GParted instead of Gnome Disks. Not only is it a much powerful utility for such instances, its interface also seems much more coherent to the overall MATE Desktop.
That aside, I'm very much impressed with the entire implementation on Ubuntu MATE. For almost a year of using Xfce, it might just be something new and fresh in a while, but it most certainly feels complete and something I'd call home.
I hope this is somewhere I can finally stay in, to bring an end to my distrohopping cycle. I've recently joined the translation teams for UM Welcome and MATE Desktop and I look forward to be with this community for the following years!