My one complaint with XFCE is that the default look, which is nothing like the default Zorin OS Lite look... is way too minimal and... dated.
XFCE itself, is not dated or minimal and it is easy to get that desktop look and feel that is polished and pristine.
But that first impression... it will get you.
Installing the Zorin OS Lite Desktop from scratch skips that Basic and Minimal experience... it is a small inconvenience for @LeaUK but as I also suggested; it also provides a healthy push to learn the system settings.
I was never a big MAC OS fan, but we had to use MAC's in school. If there was one thing I did like about MAC OS, (When they weren't crashing or showing no system disk logo) were the lovely 3D icons on the desktop, that I think came with OS9 if I remember correctly.
Your XFCE desktop while minimal, the desktop icons remind me of MAC OS 9 a little bit. I prefer the Windows7 layout on Zorin OS, I'm not a fan of the classic Gnome top bar, that apparently XFCE uses, probably cause their mice like to climb lol.
Tbh in the end I did receive Zorin Lite with an appropriate (Win7 feel) desktop (even with the hideous mouse background - see screen shot above), however I realised my HDMI monitor was presented as secondary in expand mode. The lappy screen showed the desktop (had I opened it) including panel/taskbar and usual 'start button' etc. It was perhaps a PICNIC issue, however as you rightly say a great learning experience.
Being a techie for 35 years I enjoy a challenge and also problem solving, alongside believe if something doesn't work it presents an opportunity to build experience. Of course for the less techie it can simply provide frustration and business is about productivity at the least supporting headcount cost, sadly.
I'm now running Zorin on Xorg and this seems the best compromise for me, feels Win10 and far more polished now with many issues I've highlighted resolved.
I even tried suspend over hibernate, however some basic testing shows it chews battery. Lost 7% in 14 hours.
Looking forward to Zorin 18 - is there a testing channel as I'd be happy to give back some how?
I'm also new here and also noticed an (unexpected) interaction/interference if one installs the Lite Desktop Environments into Z. Core. In my case, I chose LightDM.
It made touchpad function differently in X11 DE compared to before installing that Lite DE: it behaved now similar to in the Lite DE ( more responsively and also with proper acceleration ) but no longer obeyed the settings for touchpad.
Only within the Lite DE , and Xfce DE, I could have both better working touchpad and also adjust its settings (to make it even better).
