Running Applications under Gnome 3.x
To run an application under Fedora 15 (-or other Linux flavours using Gnome 3), you first need to locate it. This is done by entering the "Activities" area using one of the following methods:
- Clicking on the "Activities" link in the top left of the desktop
- Clicking on the "Option" key (-aka the Windows key) on your keyboard
From here, click on the "Applications" link, to display all the available applications:
If you can see the desired application, you can simply click it's icon to invoke it. However, it it often difficult to locate the exact application in such a large list, so Gnome 3 gives you two ways to narrow down the field:
By clicking on one of the predefined categories on the right hand side of the screen (-the default is "All") to narrow down the applications by their function. In the example below, the display has been limited to show just the installed graphics applications:
By clicking in the search box and typing in the name (-or part of the name) of the application; this will limit the display to those applications containing the string entered. In the example below, the string "ter" has been entered and Gnome has removed all applications except those with names or descriptions containing the string "ter" (e.g. terminal, Printers, Character map, etc):
Once you can see the desired application icon, simply click it to invoke the application.
Note: if you do not find the application you are looking for, then you will need to install it first
Finding your main applications each time you want to use them is a bit laborious so Fedora 15 (-and other Linux flavours using Gnome 3), allows you to add applications to the Favourites List on your desktop. This allows you to quickly locate and launch the commonly used programs on your PC and works very much like the Unity launcher in Ubuntu 11.04 and above.
Once running, the application will automatically be added to the "Favourites List" until you exit the application -at which point it will be removed..
To add an application to the Favourites List, you first need to find and invoke the application - as directed in the previous section. Once running, the application will automatically be added to the "Favourites List" until you exit the application -at which point it will be removed. In order to permanently add the application as a favourite, you need to right click the application icon in the Favourites List and choose the "Add to Favorites" option:
The application will then be available from the "Favourites List" from then onwards.
If an application has been added to the Favourites List, you can start that application by entering the "Activities" area and left clicking on the application icon in the favourites area.
If you are unsure which application an icon represents in the favourites area, just hover the mouse over the icon for a second or two and the name of the application will be displayed underneath the icon:
If the application is already running when you left-click it's icon, then you will be taken directly to that window (-even if it is in another workspace). If you right-click the application in the favourites list, you will also see any open windows for that application listed at the top of the menu - click on any of these entries to jump to the relevent window:
If you wish to open a new window for an application that is already running then you need to right-click the application in the favourites list and choose the middle option ("New Window").