This tip is old hat for the Linux pros out there, but you can move your metacity buttons to the left side of the window (Mac style) very easily. I will show you how to do this in GNOME.

The first step is to open gconf-editor. You can do this by typing gconf-editor into a terminal. Once gconf-editor is open, go to Apps >> Metacity >> general. In the general section select button_layout. This is shown below:

In the button_layout section you need to reorder your buttons. The colon sepeparates what is on the left and right side of the window. So to change the buttons from the right side of the screen to the left type close,maximize,minimize:menu. In fact, I find the maximize and menu buttons wasteful so I only use close,minimize.

Read more: Design, Linux