this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025
43 points (89.1% liked)
Linux
59003 readers
781 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Oops, shouldve probably explained it in the post.
ssd= server side decorations
server side decorations is when the system draws the titlebar, as opposed to client side decorations (csd) where the applications draws it.
for example, gnome uses csd, but kde uses ssd.
There's debate over which is better, but the main difference is that csd allows applications to put anything in the titlebar, which can make the design nicer, and ssd allows the titlebars on all apps to be consistent, which I personally value more.
Of course server side decorations are better, why is there even a debate?
From a user perspective I don't understand how wasting a bunch of screen space on an ugly, non-functional bar across every window is better. I get that from a software development perspective it's basically one less thing to deal with. But I absolutely prefer to have a functional use for the space.
The title bars in KDE felt so antiquated, especially for such a foundational thing. For a while I removed the title bars and used a "move window" key and minimize/maximize/close shortcuts.
Eventually I just switched to Gnome.
That's a good take, I wish KDE had a better model that allowed for custom buttons and menus on the titlebar. But I still think CSD are awkard to work with, we need the best of both worlds in my opinion