Xfce

"Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly." — xfce.org

Avoiding GNOME deps
Avoiding optional GNOME support and packages will keep your system more lean and congruous.

Ensure you're using the basic desktop profile:

You'll want the one that ends with  (not   or  ):

has a  USE flag:

You may also simply want to disable the flag globally:

has an  USE flag which draws in many GNOME deps you may find unnecessary:

Without explicitly including  in your   command,   will draw in GNOME's   instead:

Installation
In /etc/make.conf, you can add/customize this line:

The above options may change, the current list is available here.

Install the complete Xfce desktop:

Or you can select only needed packages:

Terminal emulator
You may need a terminal emulator for Xfce:

Using
To start Xfce correctly with :

Using LightDM
The display manager (AKA login manager)  also goes well with Xfce:

Make sure 's config refers to LightDM:

Upon first run you may have to select 'Xfce Session' from a drop down.

Configuring consolekit daemon startup
Check if consolekit is started:

If not, setup startup on boot:

Configuring policykit daemon
Example of its configuration:

In this example permission is granted to users in group users.

Volume keys
With xfce4-volumed daemon.

Lower level method using ALSA:

Native Xfce theme engine
Xfce's own theme engine, gtk-engines-xfce, was recently updated to version 3.0, which implements native support for GTK+ 3 with no further configuration.

However, by default, only the GTK+ 2 version of the Xfce theme engine is pulled in when you install Xfce (x11-themes/gtk-engines-xfce-3.0.0-r200 as of this writing), so you will need to manually emerge it again to get GTK+ 3 support:

This should pull in a version of gtk-engines-xfce with the suffix -r300 in a new slot.

After emerging the GTK+ 3 version of gtk-engines-xfce, applications using GTK+ 3 should now blend nicely with applications using GTK+ 2 when you use one of the native Xfce themes.

Greybird theme
Another option is to use the Greybird theme, which has support for GTK+ 2, GTK+ 3, xfwm4, emerald, & metacity.

Go to Xfce menu -> Settings -> Appearance. Or run xfce4-appearance-settings. Select "Greybird" from the "Style" list.

Now GTK+ 2 and GTK+ 3 applications should have consistent look.

Additional applications
Application finder:

Volume control:

Text editor:

Removable media and drives manager:

Previewer for files from Thunar:

CD burning application:

Archive manager:

Plugin for Thunar for work with archives, uses or :

is perfect for laptop users. It displays battery percentage, time remaining, power source (AC or battery), fan status, warnings, and can even be configured to execute commands at certain power levels. This feature can be used to put the laptop into hibernate mode when the battery is almost exhausted.

is a small command line embedded into the panel. It's quicker than opening up another terminal when you want to run a command.

gives you a handy method of mounting devices listed in /etc/fstab just by clicking your mouse.

lets you monitor your hardware sensors, such as CPU temperature, fan RPM, hard drive temp, motherboard voltage, and more.

adds several window manager themes.

is a simple, handy calendar.

is an application to monitor and manage power usage. This is especially important for laptops! The power manager allows you to adjust screen brightness, choose maximum performance or battery-saving modes, and setup hibernate, suspend, and shutdown actions when the lid is shut or buttons are pressed. You can set xfce4-power-manager to warn you when your battery reaches certain levels, or even turn off your machine. The application comes with a couple of helpful panel plugins to display battery/charging status, and a brightness control.