Open Nautilus, then open Sound Recorder and try switching across various themes. Especially if you try a theme that has four rounded corners and you can easily test this for yourself.
Nautilus has a Windowed titlebar - Sound recorder does not. It will show a thinner titlebar.
On Gnome Sound Recorder, there is no right header, so the titlebuttons for Close, Min and max will appear slightly offset compared to other gnome apps that are bordered.
Sound recorder is a notebook stack, so does not have the windowed background or scrollable window, leaving the lower stack without the border and if you have a round border theme, then the recorder will still have square corners - but only on the lower half.
Good point...
Clear in that I went into detail, even if some of those details were blurred by jargon.
I must work on expressing myself better.
Gnome was my daily driver. Currently, it is XFCE. If I use the same words as you did, I could say, "I switched away from Gnome because it lacked Polish and prefer the more polished XFCE / Cinnamon". You can see how we both used the same words to totally different results. Which brings us back to my initial point about the use of this word and how it should be used sparingly.
However, I do tend to install and use Cinnamon, as well. I actually use XFCE more often.
You make two valid good points:
- we are biased
- we could nitpick any desktop environment
I think those both can be addressed.
If I compare a Monet to a kindergarten macaroni picture, I think I can still make valid points about the stark differences between the two.
In my examination of points you make that have merit, it can help me to overcome my biases. As you examine mine - the same. All humans are biased. It's why we have a scientific method. To be able to step away from bias.
This is also why it is so important to attack the idea, not the person. Debates can help people grow and learn and explore beyond their own formulated opinions. Whereas fights just make people angry.
XFCE 4.14 and Cinnamon both have consistent appearance, across gtk and across all window borders. This is because they both utilize a full window manager.
If you run a Gnome Application on either of those desktops, it will be the only inconsistency and it can really stand out because of this. This is because Gnome and Gnome apps use CSD. CSD dumps window management on the client. This can be beneficial in some cases. But it also causes a lack of "polish."
While all XFCE 4.14 or Cinnamon (Metacity) windows are bordered to the same size and consistency, gnomes borders are often influenced by other widgets, changing the borders by the Content box, Padding Box or the Border Box. These Boxes are all Widgets. Place a widget inside of a Managed Window, and it will contain the widget. Place a widget inside an unmanaged window (gnome) and the inner widget will press the borders outward.