May 30, 2009

Give Gnome A More Modern Look

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When compared to KDE 4, OSX or Windows 7 the default Gnome desktop looks… let’s face it… old. Here are a few steps I took to make my desktop look more modern:

- Change the theme:

I’m using the Dust theme which is included in Ubuntu 9.04 (also available for earlier releases).
- Change the icon set:
I find the Oxygen icon set to be one of the best set’s out there, I really do love the upcoming Breathe icon set. Although Breathe is still work in progress you can already take it for a test drive.
- Change the wallpaper:
Of course I use the photo wallpapers from my Ubuntu Wallpaper Photo Pack, which recently was updated and now holds eighteen photographs (43 MB).
- Adjust panel properties:
Transparent panels look very modern and makes the panels more integrated with the desktop background. Under panel properties I also set the size to 34 pixels.
- Add custom system sounds:
The sounds I’m currently using are the Rhodes system sounds I created myself.

If you like to rock out with your dock, I would recommend that you try Gnome Do.

5 comments:

  1. Breathe and Oxygen are too cartoonish. Hydroxigen (from gnome-look.org) is what looks modern in Gnome

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  2. How do you install the sounds in Ubuntu Jaunty? I can't for the life of me find out how to use them...

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  3. I think it's Breathe not Breath for the icon set. Also, how were you able to get a fully transparent gnome panel using Dust (or any of the themes included in Ubuntu)? For some reason I cannot get any of the extra themes to have transparency under the text (Applications, Places, System) and some other parts of the panel. I thought this had to do with the Murrine engine that was used to build them. The default Human theme makes the bar transparent just fine for me.

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  4. LegoAddict: System -> Preferences -> Sound. Click the Sounds tab and double-click on default or disable to change the sound.

    Jonathan Blackhall: You won't get fully transparent gnome menus (Applications, Places, System), only the panel. Sorry :-(
    Thanks for the heads up about 'Breathe'

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  5. Thanks. I just looked again and apparently they fixed the problem in Dust since I last checked. To clarify, I wasn't talking about the menu itself (i.e. the background under "Accessories" when you click on "Applications"), I was talking about the background of the word Applications on the actual gnome panel. Anyway, it's fixed now, but apparently they're still having the problem in New Wave: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/O7d2a6JtaI912SJv_QAlCQ

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