Recommended Ubuntu Themes. Have any?

[Roasted]

The most bittersweet thing about Linux is the fact that we can customize it. The problem is, customizing a Linux box turns into a drug fueled addiction. I've been browsing gnome-look off and on for a few days and trying out new themes. I feel like every time I try a new theme, there's one teeny little thing about it I don't like. So I figured instead of trying all of them, I figured I'd ask here and see what users think.

Are there any themes that stick out to you guys that you would recommend other users to try? Currently my favorite is Moomex Ultimatum. Which the only thing that bothers me about it (very very minor) is that there are a couple selection buttons that come through as the color white, yet the text is very very light gray and the background is also white, so it's hard to see. The best description of this is probably google.com with the search button.

Any suggestions?

[FuturePilot]

The most bittersweet thing about Linux is the fact that we can customize it. The problem is, customizing a Linux box turns into a drug fueled addiction. I've been browsing gnome-look off and on for a few days and trying out new themes. I feel like every time I try a new theme, there's one teeny little thing about it I don't like. So I figured instead of trying all of them, I figured I'd ask here and see what users think.
I'm in the same boat. I'm very picky about themes and it seems every one that I try has something I don't like about it. However since I came across the Shiki Colors theme, I haven't changed my theme in ages. There isn't one thing I don't like about it. It's the most complete and usable theme I've ever come across. And the Gnome Colors icon theme compliment it very nicely. Gnome Colors is also the most complete icon theme I've ever come across.

[MinimalBin]

If you have nothing against Murrine, check cimitan.com (http://www.cimitan.com/murrine/themes/gallery) :)

[qwerty2009]

the only themes i like to use is elementary and dust,

elementary is just gorgeous and the icons are great

[Ichtyandr]

I have been under the theming curse for a while as well. Its a perfect excuse for procrastination.
But have a look at these

Clearlooks colors
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Clearlooks-Colors?content=75417

Murrine colors
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Murrine-Colors?content=77661

Why these? Because if you look into their gtrc and panel.rc files, you will see that they are very configurable and well documented, with comments on how to change scrollbars and virtually anything with options etc (and colors of course).
So you can tweak-up your own clearlooks or murrine based theme pretty much on that basis, and stay rested for a while at least.
re: icons. gnome colors are good, but there is now even better imho icon theme Humanity Colors, which allows you to choose any color for humanity or elementary like icon theme.
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Humanity-Colors?content=117230
So these is always space for further improvisation

[Roasted]

Hmm, I'm liking those options.

I just swapped back to another theme I had previously loved and found I liked it with a small color tweak. The Slickness Black theme is pretty awesome, but I hate it when I'm on Google (a primarily white site) and the URL box is so dark it's hard to see it - this however is a very common problem, pretty much across all dark themes that I tried out. So in the custom colors section under appearance, tehn under input boxes, where background was dark and text was light, I flipped them. Background lighter, text black. The contrast is pretty nice, and the light gray is pretty complimentary to the black/dark theme yet it's readable and not straining.

EDIT - I also found that the theme "TechniX" is pretty friggen good too.

PS - all of these themes I'm trying I'm trying with my own icon set that I downloaded separately from gnome-look.org, so my input is based off of the -theme- itself and not the icons at all.

[arnab_das]

i have tried loads. my fav is murrine exotic. IMO one of the most beautiful themes. of course, i have changed my mouse pointer to aero drop, and i'm currently using mashup1 as the icons package. rest of the settings are of murrine exotic.

as for wallpaper, i use the ones from www.socwall.com they are always the best.
there's another hdwallapeprs.net but that has .zip files, so, u will have to extract and test each wallpaper to see what looks best. although its no pain doing so for a single wallpaper, but if u download loads of wallpapers from that site, trust me its very irritating testing each and every one.

[Roasted]

So after googling around I came across the Impression themes, that seem to be the new default themes that Lucid will come with. Impression, and Night Impression. They're the same theme except Night Impression is a bit darker.

While these themes aren't anything crazy sick nasty earth shattering, but they seem to be very user friendly and practical while still having a decent scheme of colors. I kind of dig them.. currently using Night Impression. Not sure if I'll need to deal with gnome look much longer. I'm not seeing any little things about the Impression themes that urk me that I often seem to find on other user made themes. Hmm...

[armageddon08]

Try Human Lucid.

[Roasted]

Try Human Lucid.

It looks good in the screenshots I saw, but when I install it (tried from 2 sources) it seems very blah. In the one instance, despite the highlighted color settings being the reddish brown, it was a dull darker blue. Wasn't too sure about that one...

Is there an "official" place for me to get human lucid besides gnome look?

[ankspo71]

I always end up going back to these themes: http://www.bisigi-project.org/ PPA is here https://launchpad.net/~bisigi/+archive/ppa

My second favorite is the "slicknessie" theme found at gnome-look.

[ElSlunko]

My top 3 have been elementary, shiki, & dust. Dust is probably my favorite of the three. The chrome/firefox themes are a must.

[MaxIBoy]

Playbill (red or blue, your choice.) It's simply the most beautiful widget set I have ever seen.
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=94076


Slickness-Black is good too (and easier to read,) but not as beautiful.
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Slickness+Black?content=73210



Someday, I will learn how to do GTK theming, and then I will modify the color scheme of Playbill to increase the contrast. This resulting theme will be my new best friend. And together, we will fight crime.

[steveneddy]

Here's a ppa of some very cool complete themes:

https://launchpad.net/~bisigi/+archive/ppa

Link to article:

http://ubuntumanual.org/posts/177/eyecandy-themes-for-ubuntu-download-via-launchpad-ppa-repo-and-be-safe

[arnab_das]

Here's a ppa of some very cool complete themes:

https://launchpad.net/~bisigi/+archive/ppa

Link to article:

http://ubuntumanual.org/posts/177/eyecandy-themes-for-ubuntu-download-via-launchpad-ppa-repo-and-be-safe

+1 thats the one! :)

installs the best themes for ubuntu. bisigi themes are the best.

[Mahngiel]

If it's icons you want, and you like to rearrange your house every few months as I do, search deviantart.com for 'hydroxygen'. It's a large file, but it plays host to like 15 different icon configs that you change with a simple terminal command. It comes with a large picture and the command to make it like that. Been using that for about 4 months now and i've swapped my wallpapers about every few weeks to match.

And it gives me a good reason to write a new conky.

[arnab_das]

If it's icons you want, and you like to rearrange your house every few months as I do, search deviantart.com for 'hydroxygen'. It's a large file, but it plays host to like 15 different icon configs that you change with a simple terminal command. It comes with a large picture and the command to make it like that. Been using that for about 4 months now and i've swapped my wallpapers about every few weeks to match.

And it gives me a good reason to write a new conky.

i like mashup remixes as well. generally if u search the most downloaded sections of gnome-look u'll find the best stuff.

[ankspo71]

Have any of you bisigi/zgegblog theme users tried the new airplane theme that was released this year? It's a different type of theme from bisigi. It has round buttons in the gtk including firefox and thunderbird 3.0, gnome panel and menu. Nice icon set too. :p

[ad_267]

MurrinaBlu GTK + X-Colors lite Metacity for a grey/blue theme.

Human GTK + Homosapien Metacity for a good looking theme that matches the Ubuntu colour scheme.

[Roasted]

Hmm... iMetalV5 is very nice, as well as "Grey Blend" which was just uploaded today. Both of them are metal-ish feeling and easy to read, use, etc, and look pretty decent too.

[PuddingKnife]

Another fan of Night Impression here. It looks nothing like Windows or OSX, and the Ubuntu logo-colored highlights give Ubuntu/Linux its own unique, yet classy look.

I really do think this should be the default theme for Ubuntu; Windows has the blueish glossy Aero, OSX has...grey. Night Impression is a theme that makes Linux look very appealing and yet sets it apart from the pack.

[Roasted]

Another fan of Night Impression here. It looks nothing like Windows or OSX, and the Ubuntu logo-colored highlights give Ubuntu/Linux its own unique, yet classy look.

I really do think this should be the default theme for Ubuntu; Windows has the blueish glossy Aero, OSX has...grey. Night Impression is a theme that makes Linux look very appealing and yet sets it apart from the pack.

I've been using Night Impression more and more and I'm really liking it. Adding to your opinion, one thing I like is how Ubuntu (theme wise) seems to stay true to its roots of the sub-par brown color, and kind of twisted it into more of a slate stone brownish-tan tinge with what they have in impression and I believe Dust has a similar color too. I just like how they weren't like okay brown sucks and went to navy blue or something very different. They simply morphed it a little bit and it worked out nicely.

[ETbluez]

This theme seems popular http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4StlvX-kOg

[Roasted]

this theme seems popular http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4stlvx-kog

lol?

[Simian Man]

I use a version of Shiki Colors that I've modified over the years and ported to Xfwm. If you don't like something small about a theme, it is usually pretty simple to fix.

BTW distributions don't have themes, desktops do. So you're talking about Gnome themes, not "Ubuntu themes".

[Starlight]

I was using Elementary for a long time, and it's a very cool theme, but eventually I got bored of it so I decided to try something different. Now I'm using Murrina Aquaish with the Elementary icons and window borders, and it looks great.

[Roasted]

The only thing I don't like about Impression/Night Impression is each individual menu option is larger than most other themes (dust included), so if I go to system - preferences, there's so much there it requires an up and down scroll to see additional options, whereas other themes can fit them comfortably on only half or 3/4 of my screen.

Not a big deal, I just feel kind of bloated when searching for preference items. :P

[Roasted]

I think we have a winner. I checked out the Shiki Colors theme and to my surprise on Gnome Look, it had 640 comments, whereas other themes only had 10 or 20 comments.

I grabbed the Shiki Colors (Clearlooks) and adjusted some of the colors to more of my liking under the base theme of Shiki Brave, and got it looking pretty sweet. I don't like bright white themes. I like the colors toned down a bit, but it's easy enough to do what I need to with themes like this.

I also liked Karmic X. It was a pretty good theme as well. I think I might stick with my slightly customized Shiki Colors theme, though.

Can someone tell me what the difference is between Shiki Colors Clearlooks vs Murrine?

[armageddon08]

It looks good in the screenshots I saw, but when I install it (tried from 2 sources) it seems very blah. In the one instance, despite the highlighted color settings being the reddish brown, it was a dull darker blue. Wasn't too sure about that one...

Is there an "official" place for me to get human lucid besides gnome look?

Did you install the latest Murrine-git? You can find it here:
https://launchpad.net/~suraia/+archive/ppa

[Roasted]

Did you install the latest Murrine-git? You can find it here:
https://launchpad.net/~suraia/+archive/ppa

I hate to sound like an idiot, but after I install the PPA, then what? What's my apt-get command? I feel like I'm the only one who adds PPAs from that site and doesn't know what to do after... :/

[NoaHall]

I hate to sound like an idiot, but after I install the PPA, then what? What's my apt-get command? I feel like I'm the only one who adds PPAs from that site and doesn't know what to do after... :/

Try
sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine

[Roasted]

Try
sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine

:~$ sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
gtk2-engines-murrine is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
python-alsaaudio libawn0 python-sqlalchemy sqlite3 libawn-extras0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Kind of a PITA when these themes require these engines which seem to require jumping through quite a few hoops to figure out. Weeeeee

[NoaHall]

:~$ sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
gtk2-engines-murrine is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
python-alsaaudio libawn0 python-sqlalchemy sqlite3 libawn-extras0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Kind of a PITA when these themes require these engines which seem to require jumping through quite a few hoops to figure out. Weeeeee


sudo apt-get install shiki-colors-murrine

Otherwise, I'd imagine it's installed.

[MacJack]

Modified Murrine Neon. that was whrn I tried Gnome,

[bapoumba]

Moved to Desktop Environments.

[Roasted]

Trying to understand something here... just talking out loud.

I already have Murrine installed. I didn't realize I did. So that problem is kind of over with.

I installed Karmic X theme and thought it was real solid. Then I installed Lucid X, which was noted as being based on Murrine and is also currently in Alpha. Lucid X worked fine, which told me I did indeed have Murrine installed.

So, this brings up a question. Say Lucid comes out and I want to install Lucid X, which requires Murrine.

What do I do? Is Murrine installed by default? Do I need to install a PPA again? Will it auto install Murrine when I drag/drop the tar.gz to the appearance folder?

I'm just trying to get the jist of how these things work. I've always just used the Moomex theme, so now that I'm browsing through hundreds of pages of themes and finally trying to understand the different engines, etc, it's a bit confusing. Plus, I tend to put myself in the shoes of a complete newbie and wonder "does this make sense?" For example, if a user has to jump through a ton of hoops to install a theme engine simply to try it out, that sounds a little bleh. Whereas if the user simply has to add a package (murrine) then dump the theme over and BLAM. Works. That's sounding a little more appealing! ;)

[litemirrors]

The two I'm using are

http://izobalax.deviantart.com/art/GRACE-116037511
http://monkeymagico.deviantart.com/art/TECHO-GTK2-143579856

I completely deleted the default themes and icons lmao

[Roasted]

The two I'm using are

http://izobalax.deviantart.com/art/GRACE-116037511
http://monkeymagico.deviantart.com/art/TECHO-GTK2-143579856

I completely deleted the default themes and icons lmao

Not bad. I like that grace theme. But holy geez that icon font is pretty small by default.

[Roasted]

Just curious - I have the entire shiki theme set installed, but out of curiosity from reading comments, I checked synaptic - and sure enough shiki themes are in there. That begs the obvious question - how is the shiki package I installed from gnome-look differ from the repo version?

I love these themes that have customizable color choices. I selected Shiki Human and gave the window background the same color that Night Impression uses, changed the icon set, and blam - I have the -exact- kind of theme I was looking for. Darkish while being use-able. Nice, nice.

[litemirrors]

Just curious - I have the entire shiki theme set installed, but out of curiosity from reading comments, I checked synaptic - and sure enough shiki themes are in there. That begs the obvious question - how is the shiki package I installed from gnome-look differ from the repo version?

I love these themes that have customizable color choices. I selected Shiki Human and gave the window background the same color that Night Impression uses, changed the icon set, and blam - I have the -exact- kind of theme I was looking for. Darkish while being use-able. Nice, nice.

I demand screenshot :p

Those two themes closely match my favorites from windows xp

http://alocal.deviantart.com/art/EX2008-Visual-Style-72394235
http://alocal.deviantart.com/art/neX-Pro-V1-1-Updated-68382556

However the XP themes are superior IMO

[Roasted]

I demand screenshot :p


http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7456/screenshotzp.th.png (http://img638.imageshack.us/i/screenshotzp.png/)

In my opinion, it's simple. It's something that looks half decent and doesn't hinder useability. The min/max/close is easy to click on since the click-able area seems to be a little larger, more comparable to most other themes you get from gnome-look (something I found was the opposite with Karmic X and Dust). The color is good, I personally like the icon set I added with it (your mileage may vary) and the system menu is clear to read yet it's still a dark gray as you can tell from the top panel. I also find I like changing the highlight color to a very very dark gray. I can see how some people might like a very bright orange as their highlighted color as shiki human comes with, but I dig it being a little easier on the eyes in an almost black color.

It's a win.

[Roasted]

So I was screwing around with the Human Lucid theme and I was kind of confused over something. I installed it on two Ubuntu machines. Each 9.10. Only difference is one is 32 bit, the other 64 bit.

One looks real slick, the other does not. When I searched for Murrine in Synaptic, I noticed a difference. The one looking good had the GIT version of Murrine. I have absolutely no idea what this means. I was told that as long as I had Karmic, I'd be fine. I have Karmic, and it looks pretty lame compared to the other system.

Screenshots:

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3539/humanlucidone.th.png (http://img203.imageshack.us/i/humanlucidone.png/)

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/6117/humanlucidtwo.th.png (http://img715.imageshack.us/i/humanlucidtwo.png/)

Why is it one system has the GIT Murrine and the other doesn't? Is the Human Lucid theme something that will be in Lucid by default, taking away the need for me to have to worry about this in the future when Lucid comes out and I upgrade?

[Roasted]

Additional question - is there a way to customize the size of menu options? Like if I'm going through my menu under applications or whatever, is there a way I can change the height of the options I'm seeing? Some appear very thin, some appear very tall, depending on the theme I'm using.

[Roasted]

Aw chit. Bumping up once more. I finally gave up on dark themes. I've seen so few dark themes that are actually use-able from day to day stuff at work. Each one impressed me, but more times than not I found myself with either a headache or frustration after 10-15 minutes.

I ended up checking out two themes... Elementary was the first, which is very nice. It had a smooth chrome-ish color to it that was something I could definitely use on a daily basis.

I also checked out Infinity, which is a theme out of the Bisigi package. Again, very solid. Infinity and Elementary were closely related with their color schemes and whatnot, so I got the same "I could use this at work" feeling with it.

With each theme, I also decided to darken them a little bit with the windows (BBBBBA color code for those curious). By the time I gave the window backgrounds a darker shade of gray, the darkish-gray text was then somewhat "ehh" in terms of readability, so I changed the text to jet black, which immediately provided the proper contrast and color choices to the themes.

Anyway, both two very solid themes. Highly recommended.

[moongia]

I like the silent night,dark,light,and II themes at gnome look.Or just mess with themes you have all ready,I look for the ''window-bg.png'' in a theme folder,and use gimp to add to it.

[Roasted]

I like the silent night,dark,light,and II themes at gnome look.Or just mess with themes you have all ready,I look for the ''window-bg.png'' in a theme folder,and use gimp to add to it.

What for theme is in your thumbnail?

EDIT - Just got a hold of the Silent Night theme pack. Not bad... the only one that is even remotely use-able in my opinion is the Silent Night II Dark, because the text is light enough to read. The others were very dark, and none of the colors were customizable. :(

[moongia]

Theme is called ''Kreator'' but i modified it with gimp.I know dark themes are a pain with text,I think kupo finale dark,and light you can change colors.As for light themes i like LaGaDesk-MoNoChrome.

[Roasted]

Nice. I'll have to check it out.

Running along the same lines as earlier, I've also found Bisigi's "Showtime" theme can be color customized and turn out very nicely, just like what I was doing with Elementary and Bisigi's Infinity theme earlier.

Good stuff.

Also - Airplanes is a bangin theme too, but I can't figure out where I got it. Is it part of Bisigi?

[moongia]

Additional question - is there a way to customize the size of menu options? Like if I'm going through my menu under applications or whatever, is there a way I can change the height of the options I'm seeing? Some appear very thin, some appear very tall, depending on the theme I'm using.

With some themes i have done it,by moving the ''Menu-Menubar''folder some were else,and add the same folder form another theme.Some themes have this folder some don't,Or use gimp to play with the .png images.I hope this helps you,I don't know a way to do it with the CLI,sorry im a noob.When I mess with a theme i copy and paste to the desktop from my .themes folder,when im done i rename it and reinstall it.

[moongia]

Nice. I'll have to check it out.

Running along the same lines as earlier, I've also found Bisigi's "Showtime" theme can be color customized and turn out very nicely, just like what I was doing with Elementary and Bisigi's Infinity theme earlier.

Good stuff.

Also - Airplanes is a bangin theme too, but I can't figure out where I got it. Is it part of Bisigi?

I like "Showtime",not to sure about Airplanes,I go to deviantart a lot for themes,icons,and gimp brushes,some times i find some cool stuff at linxmint-art.

[Roasted]

I like "Showtime",not to sure about Airplanes,I go to deviantart a lot for themes,icons,and gimp brushes,some times i find some cool stuff at linxmint-art.

BTW - it seems as if I goofed up. The theme isn't airplanes, it's airlines. I only just now realized I said it wrong.

[Roasted]

Shiki users - is there a way to make their gray a bit darker? The panel gray and the gray at the top of windows is kind of light for my liking.. :(

[Simian Man]

Shiki users - is there a way to make their gray a bit darker? The panel gray and the gray at the top of windows is kind of light for my liking.. :(

I made exactly that change. I just opened up all the files and replaced all of the dark colors with #222222.

[carolinason]

need more themes or bump for 200

[Roasted]

I made exactly that change. I just opened up all the files and replaced all of the dark colors with #222222.

Nice, nice. What theme editor did you use? I've never edited themes before so I'm not too sure where to start.

[Simian Man]

Nice, nice. What theme editor did you use? I've never edited themes before so I'm not too sure where to start.

Just vim for the text files and gimp for the image files. Copy the theme to a new location first in case you screw it up. Also put it in a differently named folder so that it will show up under a different name in the theme selection dialog.

Here is my version of it which also includes a hacked-together Xfwm theme to match it.

[Roasted]

Just vim for the text files and gimp for the image files. Copy the theme to a new location first in case you screw it up. Also put it in a differently named folder so that it will show up under a different name in the theme selection dialog.

Here is my version of it which also includes a hacked-together Xfwm theme to match it.

Good deal man. I just wish that maybe Shiki came packaged with a range of some different window borders were available of different shades.

I guess old habits die hard, though. I'm finding that some minor tweaks to the original (default) Human theme can provide an 'easy on the eyes' interface while still being use-able and kind of unique.