I do not understand this statement.
I always run with hidden files in home folder revealed. It does make life much easier. Initially, I allowed them to stay hidden as it looked neater / cleaner. I learned, it is not worth it. And few enough people see my system to make showing off worthwhile.
There really are not any specific guides for it. To give this a bit of perspective, it is for the same reason you cannot find written instructions very easily, for learning how to ride a bike. Written instructions mean little compared to getting in and Doing It.
You can read nothing, get on a bike, and be riding like a champ within a day.
But you can read all the manuals, guides, instructions you can find - and fall off the bike the moment you first try.
A quick Crash Course Here:
Your primary interest is in the Installed Software.
For you installed Software: Personalized Configurations are stored logically in your Home Directory - where you have fast and easy access to them to modify them and where they are easily transferred to a fresh OS install.
These are in ~.config
or ~./local/share
Some installed software creates its own easy to find directory, like Steam: ~/.steam
Installed Application Data is stored in ROOT, preventing easy write access, creating a Secure Sandbox in which you can run your applications without damaging your system and without allowing malicious foreign actors access to alter your installed software.
The Directories of interest to you for this are
/opt
- Here you will usually find the data files for Chrome based Browsers, like Brave, Vivaldi or Chrome. IrfanView apps also go here, like XNConvert. Mega App is placed here.
The lions share go to /usr/share
Here, you can browse to the Application Folder that you wish to access. For example, if I install BleachBit and want to modify the Widget Window sizing:
/usr/share/bleachbit/bleachbit/GUI.py
As you can see, it is a direct logical path through the tree.
The /usr/share directory also houses your Application Desktop Files, which govern what appears in your App Menu. /usr/share/applications
, here you can modify any .desktop file to your needs.
In /usr/share, the Icons, themes and Pixmaps, Backgrounds are all stored. As well as certain OS Specific scripts, such as needed for dynamic wallpapers or layouts.
So this directory is the most Useful to You.
The other directories in root deal with other things. Your system wide profiles are stored in /etc
. Your dependencies, necessary libraries are in /lib
. Cache, logs and temporary files are in /var
.