A choice of system accent colour could be on offer in Ubuntu 22.04 when it arrives this spring.
Developers are currently considering patching in support to let users pick an accent colour used within the Yaru theme. A palette of pre-set colours would be available to pick from, similar to those macOS and Windows 11 offer their users, as inline with similar approaches taken by downstream distros like elementary OS and Linux Mint.
Which is pretty exciting.
The exact line-up of colours/shades is still under discussion but is expected to be around 7 or 8 choices. One idea is to use colours listed in the Ubuntu brand palette. Personally, I’m hoping for a more diverse set of hues than that, similar to the kinds of accent colours available on other DEs and OSes.
After all, all of the colours choices presented have to work as accent colours first and foremost, not just rep the Ubuntu brand.
There’s also the question of what happens to the accent colour used in the Ubuntu GNOME Shell theme, as GNOME Shell themes and GTK themes are currently changed separately. The plan is to have the Shell inherit the chosen highlight but some additional work will be required to make that happen.
Now, I must stress that this feature is in flux; nothing is committed, merged, or accepted. Also, Ubuntu 22.04 is an LTS release which mean if the effort currently underway isn’t polished enough by April it’s unlikely to be included.
But hey: glass half full, right? That this is in development — and real working code — at all is really encouraging. Fingers crossed it makes it across the finish line!
big thanks to Scotty