If not for KDE this would probably be the Linux desktop environment I’d run. I do run it on occasion with my Debian Unstable virtual machine, and it’s all themed and beautified in case they break KDE with an update. And it’s nice to see they’re still actively developing the desktop environment.
https://9to5linux.com/xfce-4-20-desktop-environment-released-with-experimental-wayland-support
The new Xfce version also introduces many new features and improvements to the Thunar file manager, as well as to the panel and plugins.
by Marius Nestor
Two years after the release of Xfce 4.18, Xfce 4.20 is here as another major update to this light and fast desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions.
Xfce 4.20 is packed with lots of new features and improvements like experimental support for Wayland with support for the Labwc and Wayfire compositors, improved support for HiDPI displays, and libxfce4windowing as a new abstraction library to present windowing concepts in a windowing-system-independent manner.
Wayland sessions of Xfce can be started with the startxfce4 --wayland command. However, you should keep in mind that several Xfce components don’t run at all on Wayland, including the Xfwm4 window manager, Xfdashboard, Xfce4-screensaver, Xfce4-windowck-plugin, and Xfce4-xkb-plugin.
“So far Xfce does not feature a compositor which supports Wayland. If you want to run Xfce in Wayland, Labwc and Wayfire will give you the best results,” said the Xfce development team. “Plans are underway to add Wayland support to Xfwm4 while preserving its existing X11 functionality. However, such a restructurization will be a major effort and we cannot tell yet when/if it will be done, so please don’t hold your breath waiting for it.”
Desktop-specific changes in Xfce 4.20 include support for SVG wallpapers on large screens, support for setting custom colors for icon labels and icon backgrounds, a new option to sort folders before files, the ability to place dropped and new files near the current cursor location, enhanced context menus, and support for configuring all Xfdesktop shortcuts.
Thunar, Xfce’s file manager, received support for IPv6 remote URLs, the ability to create symbolic links on remote locations, new toolbar buttons, search improvements, support for specific type descriptions and emblems for mount points, and an option to use client-side decorations (CSD).
Moreover, Thunar received a new option to display the number of hidden files in the status bar, a new option to use symbolic icons in the side pane, as well as colored icons in the toolbar, and new Recently Used Files behavior where only successfully opened files are shown and no directories.
Also in Thunar, folders are now opened automatically on hover when dragging them, shortcuts for custom action will now work when the custom action is located in a sub-menu, folder expansion support in the main view, as well as performance improvements to file transfers and handling of very large directories.
But wait, there’s more! Thunar also shows launcher names instead of filenames by default for trusted launchers, asks users before any deletion will be done by an undo operation, asks users for confirmation when closing a split-pane with multiple tabs, and allows shortcuts to be used to toggle between split-view panes.
Xfce 4.20 also brings improvements to the Application Finder like a new option to close the Appfinder window automatically when focus is lost, an option to show generic names of launchers, an option to launch items with a single click, support for launching Appfinder as a daemon, and improved keyboard navigation of the application list.
The Xfce Panel now lets you configure the border width of the panel, improves detection of plugins in XDG base directories, adds an option to visualize inactive segments for the LCD clock, adds a 24h mode to the Analog clock, adds week numbers to the Digital clock, lets you see the desktop when hovering the cursor on the “show desktop” panel icon, improves icon size management in the taskbar, and improves the Preferences dialog.
On top of that, Xfce 4.20 simplifies lock screen management, adds support for handling different power profiles, adds support for “Shutdown” and “Do nothing” functions on lid close for laptops, adds support for changing the brightness and keyboard backlight exponentially, and adds support for the hybrid sleep mode.
The Xfce settings have been enhanced well in this release with better support for handling dark themes, scaling improvements in display settings, support for switching between adaptive and flat mouse acceleration profiles, support for high-resolution scrolling, and better handling of icon themes.
Among other noteworthy changes, the About Xfce dialog now shows the distribution logo and information about the windowing system and GPU, there’s minimal support for xdg-desktop-portal, there’s a systemd user unit for xfconf, and there’s support for stretch theme variants in the Xfwm4 window manager.
Check out the release announcement for more details on the changes implemented in Xfce 4.20, which should soon land in the stable software repositories of various popular distributions.