All questions about Gnome Theming Here

[MetalheadGautham]

This is the thread where you can ask all questions you want about adding themes in gnome, creating and editing or exporting themes, changing the way gnome looks and adding/removing desktop icons, etc.

First some basic must visit links:


1. Examples

This is a thread for people to show off their custom linux desktops. There are several good gnome desktops here, and you can get an idea as a newbie as for what to expect here.

2. Mac4Lin

This is infra_red_dude's project for bringing the Macintosh's look and feel to gnome. If you want a no-fuss Leopard look alike in Gnome, go here and bug infra all you want with questions and suggestions, but no questions on that topic here.(Mine is too low class compared to his )

3. G-Tweak UI

This is a software kit that can be used to do simple tasks with the appearence of Gnome. To install, type

sudo apt-get install gtweakui

or visit the link in the title if you are not able to install it via the code given above.
All its functions are easily understood by just looking at its window, as it just consists of a bunch of self explanatory check boxes and buttons. This is a must install for all of you. Its there in System>Preferences then there are 4 programs for gtweakui.

4. Gnome-Look.org

Thats the website where most of the themes and decorations are housed. Just visit it if you need some eye-candy for your gnome and ask here if you have any troubles.

5. Ubuntu Customisation Guide

Thats a brilliant guide by dark star in our own forums for making your ubuntu look to kill. It makes ubuntu the Handsome Duckling of the OSes.



Happy Theming

[MetalheadGautham]

lemme start:

Where can I get a theme that has every possible icon/pic in it, so that I can use it as a base to create my own theme? If I get such a theme, I plan to replace each file with my own, so that I can create a custom theme. __________________

[FilledVoid]

Where can I get a theme that has every possible icon/pic in it

Impossible. Theres no way theres any icon theme that has all possible icons and pics in it. However you can get most of the icons one would use with big icon sets . One example would be Black and White. The download size is 39.5 MB though. So the more the icons. The more the size

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by exx_2000

Impossible. Theres no way theres any icon theme that has all possible icons and pics in it. However you can get most of the icons one would use with big icon sets . One example would be Black and White. The download size is 39.5 MB though. So the more the icons. The more the size

I meant excluding the application, the mime-type icons if thats what you mean.

I thought Mac4Lin looks like a good starting point.

[Hitboxx]

I found some nice icons today at Gnome-look to use in dock. (~2.5mb)



http://www.gnome-look.org/content/sh...?content=69347

[MetalheadGautham]

that one loks good...

[Dark Star]

How about adding a guide which helps theming Ubuntu Customization Guide v2..

Nice thread / I like Crashbit Icons a lot

[MetalheadGautham]

^^sure... wait for the edit.

[phreak0ut]

@Hitboxx-AWESOME desky there. @Gautham-My GDesklets refuses to install additional themes. It always says that the file is not of the right type. What do I do?

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by phreak0ut

@Hitboxx-AWESOME desky there. @Gautham-My GDesklets refuses to install additional themes. It always says that the file is not of the right type. What do I do?

can you please tell me exactly what happens?
If you try to install stuff that aren't meant for gDesklets, like gnome themes, etc you will get that error. The same thing happens in all applications. The best way to install stuff for gDesklets is through its "Manage Desklets" utitity, where all the available desklets are listed and organised like in Synaptic Package manager or Add/Remove Programs.

[FilledVoid]

@Gautham-My GDesklets refuses to install additional themes. It always says that the file is not of the right type. What do I do?

You sure that you aren't using a screenlet theme right?

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

I meant excluding the application, the mime-type icons if thats what you mean.

I thought Mac4Lin looks like a good starting point.

Mac4Lin Icon theme is a good one to start with. It is an extensive icon set.

Also, I can sugges you Oxygen-refit theme. Find it as gnome-look.org. Even that has quite a number of icons.

[ray|raven]

Perhaps this could be of use,
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeArt/Tutorials/IconThemes

Regards,
ray

[MetalheadGautham]

Ok, I tried to use M4L as a base, but the number of icons is just too much. I need to replace several hundreds, and before that I have to copy paste the names of the originals in the alternatives. How did you manage to do this much work Anirudh?

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Thats what I said. Mac4Lin Icon theme is extensive and exhaustive! How did I manage to do that?? Well, no shortcuts to hard work

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

^^^ Thats what I said. Mac4Lin Icon theme is extensive and exhaustive! How did I manage to do that?? Well, no shortcuts to hard work

I know I know... I did learn a lot from those links, BTW. But the problem is that there is no app to do the following:

1. Automatically export your theme setting as a .deb package(like ubuntu studio theme)

2. Help make a theme by allowing you to drag and drop pics you intend to use as icons into a window that has slots for each and every type of icon.

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

1. Automatically export your theme setting as a .deb package(like ubuntu studio theme)

2. Help make a theme by allowing you to drag and drop pics you intend to use as icons into a window that has slots for each and every type of icon.

1) Why do you wanna export your "theme settings" into a .deb package? I mean whaddya wanna exactly do with the poor theme?? All it needs to be done is placed in either /usr/share/icons or ~/.icons folder.

2) Thats too much to ask for man! Thats not possible, coz a complete theme has tens, hundreds and probably thousand icons. So thats just too much. Mac4Lin has 1800-odd icons!

One advise, find the theme that has the most number of icons you wanna use in your new theme (ensure they are gpl'd!!!), then start replacing. I didn't come up with Mac4Lin overnight! So believe me, its gonna take considerable time of yours.

But now that Mac4Lin is out, updating/adding/editing icons is not a big task. Once the base is built, you can live in peace

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

1) Why do you wanna export your "theme settings" into a .deb package? I mean whaddya wanna exactly do with the poor theme?? All it needs to be done is placed in either /usr/share/icons or ~/.icons folder.

2) Thats too much to ask for man! Thats not possible, coz a complete theme has tens, hundreds and probably thousand icons (Mac4Lin has about 1800-odd icons!). So thats just too much.

One advise, find the theme that has the most number of icons you wanna use in your new theme (ensure they are gpl'd!!!), then start replacing. I didn't come up with Mac4Lin overnight! So believe me, its gonna take considerable time of yours.

But now that Mac4Lin is out, updating/adding/editing icons is not a big task. Once the base is built, you can live in peace

1. its for the same reason you wanna make debs outta m4l
2. ecept for app and mime icons, none of them will create trouble

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

1. its for the same reason you wanna make debs outta m4l

If its only icon theme that you wanna use then a .deb is not necessary. Coz the procedure of installing an icon theme in GNOME is actually just to goto the icon selection theme and press the install button and select the theme!

You can just code a script which extracts the icon theme to the specified folder. But the user still has to goto the Appearances tab to select it to apply. If you wanna automate that too, then you can use the gconf command to apply it. So a script is all this is needed. Plus its not distro depenedent

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

2. ecept for app and mime icons, none of them will create trouble

Unfortunately, out of 1800-odd icons in Mac4Lin both of them amount to about half of it!!

So apps/mime/actions are the ones that make up most of the theme files!

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

If its only icon theme that you wanna use then a .deb is not necessary. Coz the procedure of installing an icon theme in GNOME is actually just to goto the icon selection theme and press the install button and select the theme!

You can just code a script which extracts the icon theme to the specified folder. But the user still has to goto the Appearances tab to select it to apply. If you wanna automate that too, then you can use the gconf command to apply it. So a script is all this is needed. Plus its not distro depenedent


Unfortunately, out of 1800-odd icons in Mac4Lin both of them amount to about half of it!!

So apps/mime/actions are the ones that make up most of the theme files!

1. Good idea. I will script the installation, like ubuntu studio or something.

2. Thats what I am saying. A theme without mime types and apps. Such a skleton will be easier and more logical. So I am talking about a program that allows us to place other stuff, ecept the apps and mime.

[infra_red_dude]

2) Arey yaar, you don't get the point. A theme without apps/mime will almost not haf anything. In that case, how difficult it is to replace each icon manually??

Thing is, the built in gnome/hi color themes are exhaustive too. Just that they lack icons other than the default apps. So you can use them. You must've seen a lot of themes falling back to the default ones in case it misses any icons. The theme config files contains the entry where the default fallback theme is indicated for that particular theme.

So believe me, its not an easy job creating the software which will haf fields with filenames wherein you just hafta select the icon image. Also icons come in different sizes 8x8, 16x16.. etc. So you need different sized pics. Simply resizing them distorts the icon (unless they are in vector format).

But then again, nothing is impossible. Go ahead and create your own Icon-Maker package

[MetalheadGautham]

^^for a guy still learning Basic C++ and who has no knowledge of C and who is struggling to find alternatives for Borland Commands in GCC + NCurses, do you think I can make an Icon Maker Package?

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Why not?

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

^^^ Why not?

Its possible, but not now...


anyway, can you tell me where to start for GTK C++ Programming?

[QwertyManiac]

Yeah all you need are available functions. Anyone with a decent problem solving skill can do it, you don't have to be ultra proficient to create stuff, you may need that kind of skill only when you need to optimize and create efficient stuff.

Just follow this simple tutorial link:
http://www.gtk.org/tutorial/

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by QwertyManiac

Yeah all you need are available functions. Anyone with a decent problem solving skill can do it, you don't have to be ultra proficient to create stuff, you may need that kind of skill only when you need to optimize and create efficient stuff.

Just follow this simple tutorial link:
http://www.gtk.org/tutorial/

I forgot C, I only know C++, so please give me another link

[MetalheadGautham]

I have a few questions regarding the Gnome Menu:

1. I use Ubuntu, and I want to replace that Ubuntu Logo in the menu with another image. How can I do That?

2. I want to merge the menus and make a single MetalMenu(tm). I also want to customise that single menu, sothat it expands to have along with applications, places & system, some custom launchers and quick launch, along with a dictionary box and a search box and some other goodies from the "Add to Pannel" window. How can I do that?

3. I was impressed with Mint Daryna's menu...

[ray|raven]

1.Look in the folder
/usr/share/icons/scalable/places/ or ~/.icons/scalable/places/
You should see a file called distributor-logo.svg.
changing it will change the menu icon.

2.If you just want to merge the menus,
there's a merged menu in gnome , add it just like you add any item to the panel.
However,if you want those extra features,
try this: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Slab

3.If you like mint's menu, you could get it for ubuntu,as they share the same base.

Regards,
ray

[Hitboxx]

Originally Posted by rayraven

1.Look in the folder
/usr/share/icons/scalable/places/ or ~/.icons/scalable/places/
You should see a file called distributor-logo.svg.
changing it will change the menu icon.

Regards,
ray

Thanks for this but the icon to change is start-here.png. The distributor-logo.svg is a link to the same.

[ray|raven]

@Hitboxx,
Thanks for that.
But,changing the distributor-logo.svg will also work as the menu refers to it,I guess.Correct me if am wrong.
Also,I believe it changes with the theme.

Regards,
ray