I really like gnome and how it looks. However every time I try it I find myself in need of more functionality and so I install a bunch of extensions. For example I can't live without a dock and some sort of system tray that shows which apps are running in background.
Sometimes the extensions have small UI inconsistencies or use more memory than usual. That's why I totally ditched gnome and switch to KDE.
Also I tend to think it's been designed for people who are more comfortable using a keyboard. I'm mostly a mouse person.
Do any of you run pure gnome with no extensions? How do you cope with the lack of a dock and system tray?
Not having a dock is one of my favorite things about gnome. I actually use an extension to hide the top bar too. There's just something so satisfying about having 100% usable space on screen. I get all the info back in the win-key overlay, so I don't really need that stuff on screen at all times.