[_a_a_a_]

To be clear, it's not about how it looks or acts - I flip between emacs and visual studio and they are utterly different for example - I need an interface that

a) isn't buggy and

b) is designed by people who understand a GUI isn't an end in itself but a means for someone to get their work done.

I need both and gnome... wasn't it.

[Corazoor]

XFCE ist really nice. It comes with different presets and can be made to cater to ones preferences rather easily.

It is the default of xubuntu, which imho is a good first desktop linux, mostly because of the extensive documentation and tutorials for it.

[timbit42]

There is also Linux Mint XFCE. I prefer this because *ubuntu isn't focused on the desktop any more and Mint is. Also, Snaps are annoying and he repo is controlled by Canonical. Mint doesn't have Snaps unless you want them.