Comment 5 for bug 1707831

I respect Jeremy's (and other Ubuntu devs') positions that the GNOME documentation refers to the "Activities" text button for the Overview, and I think that can be helpful to keep it that way IF the users are going to go to the GNOME documentation, and not search on Ubuntu's forums, social media, community website, Askubuntu.com, etc. I'd probably vote that they're going to go for the latter, searching anything with the word "Ubuntu" Online, first, since Ubuntu is the distro they're using. New users might not even realize that the desktop is developed - primarily - by a different organization, entirely. If that's the case, why would they search for anything other than "Ubuntu help".

Back in June '17 I ran a poll on the Ubuntu G+ community, asking if users preferred the Ubuntu logo in the top-left or the "Activities" text. 169 members voted, and 87% were in favor of using the Ubuntu logo, with only 13% in favor of keeping the "Activities" text (here's the poll so you can see the comments, too: https://plus.google.com/+JesseDuBordFilms/posts/LEjy6zxmNw3).

I'd personally be in favor of replacing the "Activities" text for the Ubuntu logo in the Ubuntu-modified GNOME shell.

Reasons being:
(1) Brand recognition. Will better allow users and surveyors to identify Ubuntu on a PC they're passing by in the airport, coffee shop, etc.
(2) WAY less ambiguous (I have a hard time trying to understand why they used "Activities" for the English word -- can't imagine how it translates in other languages). Plasma tried using "Activities" as well, which I think is equally ambiguous. At least if users see that it's a symbol, they could click on it, see it's behavior, and designate it whatever they want. I feel that makes it way easier for the user to adopt the desktop as their own if they can even define it better on their terms, you know?

I do think Jeremy is right, though, that some users might not instinctively feel it's a button. The Antergos guys did a good job of putting the background in Blue for the "Activities" text on their theme of the GNOME shell. Maybe doing something like having the background of the Activities button the Ubuntu orange with the three white people aligned in the center of the button? I personally think that would look really cool, IMHO.

(3) With the Ubuntu-modifications to the GNOME shell, anyways, would it really be a deal-breaker with the GNOME documentation for it to fit to be modified a little more to fit Ubuntu's needs? I think it's more than fair for a brand to be recognized, and - not saying this in any way as criticism - but I imagine even some of the Ubuntu changes might differ than the GNOME documentation for the vanilla shell? Would it then be such a big deal to have something a little different? Again, no criticism intended at all, just bringing it to the table.

(4) With Ubuntu already offering a vanilla shell experience with the simple install of a package (you guys rock for that, by the way), would it really be such a bad thing for Ubuntu to make "their version" of the shell their own? You're offering both, after all. Maybe even a disclaimer somewhere might be all you need that says, "The default desktop in this version of Ubuntu uses a modified version of the GNOME desktop. Behavior may differ slightly from how the GNOME documentation depicts", something like that.

Alright, that was already a mouthful. Appreciate you all taking the time to read, and hope this comment helps in deciding how to proceed.