Yesterday, GNOME 3.34 was released as the latest version of GNOME, the open-source desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems GNOME 3.34 comes 6 months after the release of GNOME 3.32, with features such as custom folders, tab pinning, improved background panel, Boxes, and much more. This release also offers support for more than 34 languages with at least 80 percent of strings translated.
[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Fun Fact: GNOME 3.34 release is termed “Thessaloniki” in recognition of GNOME’s primary annual conference GUADEC which was held in Thessaloniki, Greece.[/box]
What’s new in GNOME 3.34?
Visual refreshers
This release includes visual refreshes for a number of applications, including the desktop. The background selection settings have been redesigned and it is now easy to select custom backgrounds.
Custom folders
This release introduces custom folders in the application overview where users can simply drag an application icon on top of another for creating a folder. Once all the icons have been dragged out, folders are automatically removed.
Tab pinning
GNOME 3.34 brings tab pinning, so users can now pin their favorite tabs and save them in the tab list.
Improved ad-blocking
In this release, the ad-blocking feature has now been updated to use WebKit content filters.
Improved box workflow
GNOME’s virtual and remote machine manager, ‘boxes’ has received a number of improvements. Separate dialogs are now being used while adding a remote connection or external broker. The existing virtual machines can now be booted from an attached CD/DVD image so users can now simulate dual-booting environments.
Game state can now be saved
GNOME’s retro gaming application, ‘Games’ can now support multiple save states per game. Users can save as many game state snapshots as they want. Users can also export the Save states and share them or move them between devices.
Improved Background panel
The Background panel has been redesigned and it shows a preview of the selected background that is in use under the desktop panel and lock screen. Users can now add custom backgrounds by using the “Add Picture… button”.
Improvements in Music application
Music can now watch tracked sources including the Music folder in the Home directory for new or changed files and will now get updated automatically. This release features gapless playback and comes with an updated layout where the album, artist and playlist views have now been updated with a better layout.
Updates for Developers and System Administrators
Flaptak 1.4 releases in sync with GNOME 3.34
Flatpak 1.4 has been released in sync with GNOME 3.34. Flatpak is central to GNOME’s developer experience plans and is a cross-distribution, cross-desktop technology for application building and distribution.
New updates to Builder
In this release, Builder, a GNOME IDE has also received a number of new features; it can now run a program in a container via podman. Even the Git integration has now been moved to an out-of-process gnome-builder-git daemon.
Sysprof has been integrated with core platform libraries
In this release, Sysprof, the GNOME instrumenting and system profiling utility has been improved; it has now been integrated with a number of core platform libraries such as GTK, GJS, and Mutter.
New applications: Icon Library and Icon Preview
In this release, two new applications, Icon Library and Icon Preview have been released, Icon Library can be used for browsing symbolic icons and Icon Preview helps designers and developers in creating and testing new application icons.
Improved font rendering library
Pango, the font rendering library now makes rendering text easier as developers will now have more advanced control over their text rendering options.
To know more about this news, check out the release notes.
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