Gnome Themes

**0011235813** · March 3rd, 2012

I know that many of us quickly get bored of Gnome's rather tiresome black bar and overall color scheme. In fact, Gnome's default color scheme looks downright awful with some programs.

So that's why I've decided to share with you lot a quick guide on how to install gnome-themes. Why? Because the default settings don't allow for much configuration, and installing themes can be quite un-intuitive for the average user.

First, you need to download a theme. I especially like the Gnome themes on DeviantArt; http://half-left.deviantart.com/art/...Orta-207047273 (Note: To download it, you must allow the site to run JavaScript). In the above example, we will be installing a theme called Orca.

Now, we need the Gnome tweak tool, which slightly confusingly is called "advanced settings" in the Ubuntu Software Center. Once you've installed that, open up your file manager, and extract the file from where you left it (probably in Downloads). Once you've extracted, open up advanced settings and go to Shell Extensions, and make sure User Shell Extensions is on. Now go to theme, and at "shell theme" click the folder icon to open up the file manager. Go to the folder that was extracted and select the .zip archive (the one that says gnome 3.2 on it). It should install the theme now. To turn it on, just select the drop-down menu right next to it and change it from "default" to whatever the theme you installed was called, in this case Orca.