Install or update a Gnome extension without restarting Ubuntu

If you don’t want to restart Ubuntu after installing or updating an extension that requires Gnome to restart, simply hit Alt + F2, type ‘r’ without the quotes in the new pop-up window, and hit enter to run the command. You should see Gnome shell restart, and your new/updated extension should now be properly loaded.

If you’d like to try some really nice extensions, check these ones out that I’m using:

• Dash to Dock: this extensions makes the dash hide, and frees horizontal desktop space.
• Desktop Icons NG (DING): add support for desktop icons.
• Disable Workspace Switcher Popup: hides the annoying popup when you switch between workspaces.
• Impatience: speeds up animations. Useful in case you don’t want to completely disable animations, but find the default animation speed too slow.
• Unite: makes a bunch of UI improvements to save space, such as combining the application bar with the system bar, moves the date/time to the right, compacts the app indicators, etc