The Best New Features in Ubuntu 23.04

Although Ubuntu’s Yaru theme has somewhat ruined the Quick Settings menu’s shape and usefulness, changes are on the way, upstream GNOME designers have made some significant enhancements.

Thanks to “split” icons, it is now simpler to quickly identify which features have sub-menus. (plus, you can now open sub-menus using the keyboard). Relevant information is now relayed by new captions, such as the Wi-Fi network you’re linked to or the power mode you’re using:

The bluetooth icon now has a new submenu, thanks to GNOME devs. You can rapidly link to and disconnect from previously paired Bluetooth devices using the sub-menu. Although you must go to Settings > Bluetooth to connect new devices, they will show up here once they are paired, which is an awesome addition:

The Quick Settings panel now features a new “background apps” area in GNOME 44. Only when compatible applications are allowed to operate in the background do they show in this area on demand. I was unable to get any of the pre-installed Ubuntu applications, such as Rhythmbox, to work with the functionality, but Flatpak applications, such as Amberol, are immediately recognized:

When you explore Settings, you’ll find that many of the included sections have undergone a number of improvements, reorganizations, and additions.

The GNOME developers completely revamped the Mouse & Touchpad area, adding more settings (like mouse acceleration) and new animations showcasing different behaviors. Unfortunately, these animations are presently absent from daily versions because Ubuntu tried to make them orange.

It’s crucial to be able to locate your kernel version fast, so GNOME has added the information to the Settings page’s “About” part. Simply scroll to the bottom to find it.

The Tiling Assistant application is something that Ubuntu developers want to include in the upcoming release. There is a tiny Easter surprise before that. You can access new options in options > Ubuntu Desktop if you install the Tiling AssentAssistant application in Lunar from the Ubuntu repositories.

As I previously gushed, GNOME 44 includes an updated version of Nautilus (also known as Files), which brings back the capability to “expand” folders in list mode for quicker browsing. You must visit Preferences and switch on this (very useful) option if you want to use it because it isn’t turned on by default.

Have you ever been annoyed by the GTK file picker’s absence of a thumbnail or symbol view? Developers for GNOME have, in fact, added one! Simply select the view button whenever the GTK file picker shows to swap from list view (with its teeny small symbols) to the new thumbnail mode:

When an application is active in the Dock, the Ubuntu Dock will now show a tally badge for (all) unread alerts produced by that application. This is a new feature that app makers don’t have to expressly support; it’s not the previous Unity unread API that was used by programs like Telegram. Apps that display native alerts can also display unread icons.

This has the drawback that if you use an app (like Telegram) that, for example, displays 1 unread message, if a notice is also said, the badge will say “2,” one for the unread message, and one for the reminder about the unread message.

Ubuntu Software has been upgraded to display snap program categories (to be honest, I didn’t know it didn’t already). One annoying quirk is that when you click on the Ubuntu Software app that is attached to the Ubuntu Dock, a Snap Store app with its own dock icon (unpinned) appears. Strange behavior—what does the orange symbol represent?

Visual Changes

In addition to a New Wallpaper (obviously), Ubuntu 23.04 updates its Adwaita-based Yaru GTK and Shell motif to reflect updates from source GNOEM makers.

A new screenshot icon has been added to the Quick Settings menu in response to GNOME developers updating their own, and instead of displaying LibreOffice’s (really rather brilliant) new app icons, Ubuntu’s design team has opted to do so in favor of a new set of custom ones.