Before we dive into exploring the various desktop environments that I have selected to look at, we need to establish what a desktop environment even is. After we have decided on a definition and decide what we are looking for, we can move into exploring the features of the various desktop environments. According to the ArchLinux wiki, a desktop environment “provides a complete graphical user interface (GUI) for a system by bundling together a variety of components written using a common widget toolkit and set of libraries.” (1) This was the most simple definition that I could find, and I think that it sums up what a desktop environment is nicely. It essentially means that a desktop environment is just a collection of software put into a single package that creates a graphical user interface which allows a user to interact with the system. For example, in Microsoft Windows, the start menu and file explorer are examples of desktop environment components. They are a piece of software that is running in the background, adding to the user interface that allow you to interact with the system.

The underlying software aspect of a desktop environment isn’t the only part; a desktop environment also includes all of the user interface elements, such as icons, toolbars, wallpapers, and widgets. This shows that developers aren’t the only people working on these bundles, as you need media to be created as well. The media surrounding the desktop environment can play a large role in the look and feel of the environment. It could make the difference between a user feeling as if they are in 1990 or 2017. When I’m testing these environments, the look and feel will be a factor that I take into account. I find that the look and feel of a computer’s desktop environment can be very distracting if it looks outdated, clunky, or confusing. Although the environments that I am reviewing are–for the most part–modern looking and feeling, I will looking at their default display settings in my comparison.

I will also be judging what software & tools the environment comes with, and testing out how well they work. Tools that I will be looking at are mainly those used for productivity, e.g. text editors, internet browsers, word processing or office software, etc. If I find that an environment comes with a really cool piece of software that isn’t related to productivity, I may touch on it as well.

It is possible to swap and match different pieces of software to create your own fully customized environment, for example, if you love Unity, but you’ve been using the Kate text editor your whole life, it is possible to install Kate independently–without KDE–on your Unity environment. For the sake of this blog, I will be evaluating only the default software that ships with each environment in order to get the most accurate picture of each environment as possible.

Now that I’ve defined what an environment is and what I am looking for, next week we will look at our first desktop environment: Unity.

(1) https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/desktop_environment