Themes, themes, and more themes, what's the difference?

[Harry Muscle]

I'm looking at using some themes for my Ubuntu, but I'm getting lost in all the types of themes available. For example, there are Gnome themes, Gtk themes, Emerald themes, Compiz themes, Beryl themes, and probably a few more. What's the difference between all of these? Do they all accomplish the same thing just with different ways?

If I wanted to change the look of my gnome panel to be something "cooler", which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of window title bars and/or window borders, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of the buttons used in dialog boxes, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of the gnome menu, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

Thanks for the help,
Harry

P.S. The themes included with Ubuntu, which type of theme are they?

[garwal]

Very good question , but I think your going to get so many different answers it is going to make it more confusing. I also have been a long time user and tried different looks for Unbuntu and am just confused as you are. It would be great if one of the geeks would write a guide on the different styles and what is the benefit of each. I would be willing to help. Lets see what:D help we get here.
Gary

[sliketymo]

I'm looking at using some themes for my Ubuntu, but I'm getting lost in all the types of themes available. For example, there are Gnome themes, Gtk themes, Emerald themes, Compiz themes, Beryl themes, and probably a few more. What's the difference between all of these? Do they all accomplish the same thing just with different ways?

If I wanted to change the look of my gnome panel to be something "cooler", which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of window title bars and/or window borders, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of the buttons used in dialog boxes, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of the gnome menu, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

Thanks for the help,
Harry

P.S. The themes included with Ubuntu, which type of theme are they?
:popcorn:Enjoy the adventure!

[MeanEYE]

I'm looking at using some themes for my Ubuntu, but I'm getting lost in all the types of themes available. For example, there are Gnome themes, Gtk themes, Emerald themes, Compiz themes, Beryl themes, and probably a few more. What's the difference between all of these? Do they all accomplish the same thing just with different ways?

If I wanted to change the look of my gnome panel to be something "cooler", which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of window title bars and/or window borders, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of the buttons used in dialog boxes, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

If I wanted to change the look of the gnome menu, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

Thanks for the help,
Harry

P.S. The themes included with Ubuntu, which type of theme are they?

Ok, let me give you some :D help here...
Gnome themes are just theme bundles. Meaning cursors, icons, window borders etc. etc.

GTK themes are themes for controls (buttons, progress bars)

Beryl is just a fork of Compiz so those two should be compatible.

Emerald is alternative window manager for gnome. So unless you explicitly installed it, you shouldn't worry about those themes...

And there are Metacity themes. Metacity is a window manager, so themes for metacity are actually window borders.

I know this sounds a bit complicated at first. It's not :) trust me. Linux is all about choices so feel free to experiment. Personally best theme for me is Shiki-Colors for GTK and Metacity, while I use Human-O2 icon theme.

I've attached a screenshot of my desktop :D so... you can see how this theme looks like :)

Have fun!

[mcduck]

I'm looking at using some themes for my Ubuntu, but I'm getting lost in all the types of themes available. For example, there are Gnome themes, Gtk themes, Emerald themes, Compiz themes, Beryl themes, and probably a few more. What's the difference between all of these? Do they all accomplish the same thing just with different ways?

Some of them are for different programs that do same things, other are completely different things.

GTK thees define how your applications look like.

Metacity and EEmerald themes are for window frames and titlebars. (Beryl and Compiz themes are exactly the same as Emerald themes, Compiz itself has no themes and Beryl doesn't even exist any more, it was mergd back to Compiz. Any compiz/beryl themes can simply be renamed to .emerald)

Icon themes are, well, icons.

GDM themes are for GDM, the login screen.

various splash screens are used for all kinds of applications, including the boot menu (Grub), the boot splash (Usplash) and individual applications that might display a splash screen while the app is starting.



If I wanted to change the look of my gnome panel to be something "cooler", which of the above themes should I be searching for?

GTK themes are what define how the panels look like, but if you want something more special the panels are able to use any JPG, PNG or SVG images you want as their background images. PNG and SVG both support transaprency, so this allows pretty cool looking panels. You can set the background image through panel's settings, or simply drag&drop an image to the panel to set it as panel background.

For best effect create a PNG or SVG image with exactly the same size as your panel is.



If I wanted to change the look of window title bars and/or window borders, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

By default, Metacity themes. If you are using Compiz (the "Visual Effects") you can also install Emerald, which has better support for transparency and includes it's own theme editor.



If I wanted to change the look of the buttons used in dialog boxes, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

GTK themes handle how the applications look like.



If I wanted to change the look of the gnome menu, which of the above themes should I be searching for?

Once again, GTK themes.



P.S. The themes included with Ubuntu, which type of theme are they?
They are combinations of a GTK theme (for applications), Metacity theme (for window frames) and icon theme. You can select each component individually, but a combination of all three can be saved as a Gnome theme..

[garwal]

Thanks to all who took time to explain,, now I am really confused!!!"Just Kidding" I have been a Linux user for longer than I can remember and the flexibility that it offers is one of the main reasons it is my only OS. I think the first distro I really fell in love with was Red Hat when they first released the Gnome desktop. Since then I have tried every distro, well most of them anyway. I am almost afraid to say this but for the first time I can truly say I have Linux not only looking the way I want to it is doing every thing I ask or want to do. Looking back it has been a lot of fun growing with Linux. I will post a shot of my Desk Top as it looks quite similar to the one posted here. Have fun and enjoy the freedom.
Gary

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/garwal/Screenshot.png

[Aggzza]

ill come back to this thread when i nuy a new computer

[azazel656]

Beautiful theme there MeanEYE.

[MeanEYE]

Beautiful theme there MeanEYE.

Thanx. I like my desktop simple and effective. As you can see I've even set opacity for background windows to 40% :) so they don't distract me :)...