The default Ubuntu light themes are getting a bit of a spruce in time for Ubuntu 10.10 – but how far a spruce will it go?

Since we first posted this article it has been confirmed that this is, indeed, the shiny new Ubuntu Light theme revamp for Ubuntu 10.10.

Details on how to get it at the bottom, but for now here’s a quick visual tour…

New metacity and window controls.
Note the new indentation on the panel for Indicator menus

Of course, once doesn’t need to be a rocket scientists to understand that beta = not final and, as with most things Ubuntu-related, the end article is always more rocking than the beta’s before it.

These refinements due for 10.10 are beautiful. Truly. All of the visual kinks and gripes users found in the Lucid themes are gone – everything feels thought out, well implemented and stylish. It is hard to believe that this is the same OS that once shipped with the inelegant brown Human theme as standard.

Install

I don’t how long this PPA will stay up for but you can currently install these themes in both Lucid & Maverick using the Murrine Daily PPA: –

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:murrine-daily/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Usual warnings apply: this doesn’t ship as default for now so don’t expect it to work as flawless as default.

Two new themes are included thus far; Ambiance and Abmiance-Dark
A slightly lighter look to windows and check out the new shadows and scrubber icon

Ambiance Dark is reminiscent of the dark theme Ubuntu once shipped with. The theme is probably a test as it certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes.
maverick