Make Desktop a real... Desktop ?

The thing is that ATM it isn't just a matter of some disabled option, it's that we don't ship any application that can handle the desktop. If you install nautilus, or any other app that can handle the desktop, and activate it you should get your traditional desktop :)

Adding this to what Andrea said so that you have a complete answer:
You can add folders into the dock (just drag and drop them) for quick access. :)

I've noticed that double-clicking on "files" in /etc/xdg/autostart make icons appear on desktop...

But adding

/etc/xdg/autostart/nautilus-autostart.desktop

or

/etc/xdg/autostart/Files

in "apps at starting" (applications au démarrage, in french) does not display my wished traditionnal desktop.

In dconf-editor :

org > gnome > desktop > background

then

check show-desktop-icons

http://hpics.li/bc3b5a8

What Gérald said should have answered and solved the question.

Gérald Maruccia, it didn't work.

I totally support elementary's decision of disabling the desktop, I'm not one of the haters :)
but +1 for an alternative way of accessing files you're working on atm or whatever, be it some widget, some stack accessible from wingpanel or plank, some kind of drawer... I don't know. Is there anything like it in the works? Does a blueprint exist about it?

Once the option is checked in dconf-editor, launching nautilus brings icons on desktop. I still can't manage to have this behaviour by default on pc start-up.

...while keeping pantheon-files as default files manager.

We believe that the desktop is not a place to put files on. It's not just us, it's actually most GNU/Linux Window Managers. What you are trying to do might just be undoable, but there's nothing we can do about it.

Oh please...

1st) I have many beliefs too. And I do NOT force anyone to obey them !!! Are you saying GNU-linux is no more made for humans, but that humans should bend to some developers' ideal ???

2nd) Unity, Gnome-Classic, mate, xFce or KDE (and probably others) lets users the ability to put files and folders on their desktop. So it's not most windows manager. It's just most developers which think they've found truth in spite of users behaviors, needs or habits.

3rd) I'm not trying to do. I do. http://hpics.li/05b778d And there many things you could help about it but you don't want because you think I'm wrong.

I'm not angry. I swear there's humor inside™ but I'd be the happiest man on earth if someone could explain how to change the color of text under the icons when nautilus handles the desktop ?

Please stop re-opening this question. If you want to have an app manage files on your wallpaper, you're free to do that. Any support for that app however is not our responsibility. We do not have the resources to support every app you could possibly install.

I see. This is how the "community" works here? Many other distros don't have resources too, but you guys don't need to have a big budget or a high working capital to start to listening your users' needs.

Please, we just want a working space easy to access. Maybe we really don't "need" a Desktop like you're trying to say, but eOS is not presenting any realistic alternatives.

You are building a beautiful distro, but design need to be functional as well as aesthetic. Even the minimalist ones.

Ok for the fact you don't have to support Nautilus, I'll ask my question elsewhere.

But don't forget it's part of the system you all are building upon.

Same way goes for libreOffice for example...

I might open a bug about open the useless desktop ?

@Belenos
"This is how the "community" works here? Many other distros don't have resources too, but you guys don't need to have a big budget or a high working capital to start to listening your users' needs."

So, to be clear: if anyone code something to get desktop icons in pantheon files (probably via a plugin, so as just a package would be needed to enable it, it would be perfect), we would be really happy to see it, but unless a developer says he maintains it, we couldn't support it. Our current budget to hire developers is 0$.

But we do know that this would be a cool feature, but having an elementary irc client would be great too (it requires about the same work ), fixing all gala crashs would be good, proper ipod/android sync in noise would be useful, etc, etc...

In fact, I am not sure that everyone sees how this is difficult to implement. We can't do that in an afternoon, it would need one week or two I suppose, if we want a good code structure, and something really usable.

@Gérald:
Puisque je m'exprime mieux en français, je continuerai dans cette merveilleuse langue :P
Donc, non, nous ne construisons pas le système sur Nautilus, pantheon files n'est PAS un fork de nautilus. Nous savons bien que des gens vont installer nautilus sur eos, nous savons aussi que d'autres installeront banshee, etc, etc... On ne peut pas vérifier que tous les logiciels des dépôts fonctionnent correctement.
Quand on regarde le reste du système, dans la version beta du moins, Pantheon Files n'est pas la plus grande priorité, d'autres logiciels inclus par défaut ont beaucoup plus de crashs.

Après, c'est toujours dûr de savoir par quoi commencer, il faut bien se rendre compte que le nombre de développeurs est très très réduit, je dirai que moins d'une dizaine contribuent régulièrement. Je te laisse compter le nombre de projets ;)

Mais encore une fois, nous savons bien qu'il faudrait une option pour ces icones, de nombreuses personnes les utilisent, et même si ce n'est pas mon cas, je peux comprendre que ça soit pratique.

Mais comme toujours, "patch welcomed" :)

Bonne journée :)

@xapantu : ah chic comme ça je peux corriger le tir. Ce que je voulais dire c'est que je comprends bien que vous n'allez pas me tuyauter sur Nautilus puisque ce n'est pas votre "bébé". Donc aucun souci là-dessus et sur l'impossibilité de vérifier toutes les combinaisons d'installations et de configurations possibles !!! Perso je suis épaté par Gala, efficace, beau et léger...

Bref bien du courage et hélas ch'uis pas développeur, juste un utilisateur ch*ant ;-D