Re: The 5 Most Customizable Linux Desktop Environments

On 2025-05-14, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Intro to the vast range of customizability available on Linux
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-5-most-customizable-linux-desktop-environments-when-you-want-it-your-way/>.
At the top of the list is KDE Plasma (of course). But you may be
surprised that GNOME makes it onto the list at all, albeit barely
squeezing it at number 5:
>
    The only reason GNOME makes the list is because of GNOME Shell
    Extensions. Without the extensions, there's very little
    customization to be made with GNOME.
>
In answer to the question asked in the subhead: “What makes Linux the
most flexible operating system on the planet?”, the answer is
“modularity”. Unlike other common platforms, the GUI is not baked into
the OS kernel -- it is a separate, modular layer. Being modular, it is
replaceable, with a whole range of options. And of course, you can
remove it altogether, and run without a GUI at all if you want.

It seems a bit of a fluff article, perhaps slop like, but KDE Plasma is
pretty configurable.  I haven't heard much about Enlightenment, only
having used it briefly in the 2000s and once again, briefly in the
2010s.

While its not a Desktop Environment, I find FVWM one of the most
configurable graphical environments I've come across.  It may not be THE
most configurable, but the power and ability to shape it is unlike
anything else I've seen.  It would be more appropriate to call it a
tookbox to build your own DE/Window Manager.  You can configure the
modules, the keybinding, create new functions, create new menus, the
very buttons in the top of the window, the title bar, its location.  You
can build your own modules, which isn't something I've done much, but
does allow you to extend the Window Manager.  If you can think it, you
are likely to be able to do it.