Give your Ubuntu desktop a stunning new look with GTK themes, free icon packs, Conky, visual customisation tools, desktop wallpapers and more – all of which you’ll find featured below.
GTK themes are like sports teams: everyone has a favourite. I can't get enough of Ubuntu's default theme Ambiance, but if you're bored by the stock style of Ubuntu, the Bisigi Project provide 15 well-thought out themes for easy installation in Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and, now, Ubuntu 11.04 too.
Cross-platform app launcher 'Launchy' might be a helpful tool for getting things done quickly but the default theme it ships with doesn't look all that great in Ubuntu. Thankfully we have a solution - Ubuntu user Maxime has created both an Ambiance and Radiance theme for the utility. And they look great...
So you're using Adobe Air twitter application 'Tweetdeck' - on your Ubuntu desktop. Only it doesn't look quite as native as it could do. The solution? @corbindavenport shared it with his followers on Twitter...
There's no denying that a clean, minimal looking desktop is attractive. But how does one make Unity, with its launcher bar stuffed full of icons, 'clean looking'? Reader Juan Carlos Arroyo Callejas sent us his guide on getting a "clean looking Natty desktop"
When I think 'blue-coloured desktop themes' my mind instantly recalls the harsh Crayola hues of Windows XP. Can Fusion Blue GTK heal those wounds?
If you been wondering whether the indomitable elementary theme would look better dark, get ready to climb aboard: your theme-train just arrived courtesy of DeviantArtist ~satya164...
If the default GTK themes supplied with Ubuntu 11.04 aren't to your taste 'Unity Impression', a new GTK theme designed specifically with Ubuntu's Unity interface in mind, is well worth a try out. Download link and choice-pictures inside.
GNOME 3’s default theme is a pale, elegant affair. Granted the window controls are a bit on the, shall we say beefier side, but it’s still a great theme that is very easy on the eye. If you like the theme and want to use it in Ubuntu, but don’t want the hassle that comes with it adding the GNOME 3 PPA, you now can thanks to a GTK2 port of the theme dubbed ‘Aldabra’.
"Yo Mr OMG!, Can you feature a theme other than Ambiance-based ones?" I will soon, I promise. But in the mean time let me draw your attention to some more work by ~simplygreat who has created a rather elegant mod of Ubuntu's default Ambiance theme.
Self-described 'ubuntu YouYube and Android fanatic' Joe Steiger has finally published his long-in-development Ubuntu Unity themed Android skin.
Want UbuntuOne Control Panel style 'dark toolbars' in all of your Ubuntu apps? Now you can using the following modified version of the default Ubuntu theme, installable via PPA.
It's always frustrating to come across an applications whose features are let down by a less-than great interface. Calibre, an e-book management tool, has, for me at least, been a prime example of this. Thankfully the developer has begun working to tweak and refine the interface, with he fruits of this labour appearing in the most recent release. Reader and all round ace guy Wyatt K., having read that post, thought it could be made better still - and all rather easily, too...
