The return of the gnome panels!! And the best thing is that they return on Unity. All you have to do is create a launcher so you can enable them when you need them. Or add it to your startup programs list so they will be enabled on startup.
With the gnome panels enabled you still have the launcher panel on the left and the rest of the Unity “looks” but you can also add shortuts and launchers to the top and bottom panel.. just like we can on Ununtu 10.10 🙂
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The magic command line to us is:
gnome-panel
To create a launcher on your desktop click with your right mouse button on your desktop and select Create Launcher. First enter a name for the launcher and type: gnome-panel in the Command field (You can add a comment if you want). When done cllick on the OK button and the launcher will be shown on your desktop.
To add the command line to the startup list press Alt+F2 and type:
gnome-session-properties
Your Startup Applications Preferences manager will open now click on the Add button, enter a name and type: gnome-panel in the Command field. Add a comment if you want and click on the OK button. Now the gnome panel will enabled automatically at startup. When using this option the top gnome panel will NOT be shown because the Unity top panel overlaps it. Before restarting your system after you added the command to the startup list remove the bottom gnome panel. Click with the right mouse button on the bottom gnome panel and select Delete This Panel. Now click with the right mouse button on the top gnome panel and select Properties. Change Orientation from Top to Bottom and restart your system. When restarted the top gnome-panel will now be shown as the bottom gnome panel and you can add extra launchers or the workspace switcher. Or you can simply move the launchers to the top gnome panel before you delete the bottom gnome panel.