Remember the days when Linux desktops were ugly.Well, those days are now a thing of the past. Modern distros include many tools and options that enable them to look good and be more useful. Unlike windows, Linux has several different widget toolkits. Some of the most well known widget engines are GTK+ which is distributed with GNOME and QT.If you are wondering what widgets are they are the various elements that make up a programs GUI scrollbars,arrows,checkboxes,etc.You should however differentiate between QT/GTK widgets and desktop widgets as they are not the same.
Widgets and related applications like window chrome i.e. the toolbars, panels, etc of a program’s interface and window decoration i.e. window title bar among others are the various elements that when grouped together create a startling theme for QT or GTK.It is easy to modify the various themes in your Linux and change how they look. You can even go a step further and create your own. In this article you will be presented with various methods of making your desktop look its best. You will also be presented with its enormous benefits.
Changing GTK themes.
GTK themes are very easy to customize and suit them to your needs. They were originally created for the GIMP,(GNU Image Manipulation Program)GTK is used in many applications especially with the GNOME desktop. Some of the more elaborate GTK themes use PNG graphics to create the visual appearance of the widgets, but most GTK themes use effects created by the GTK engine itself. Each installed GTK theme is stored in its own folder in shared themes and has a gtkrc file that is used to store the parameters of the theme. These parameters may include element colours,size and position. Though gtkrc files are plain text and therefore human readable they require to be learnt quite well as they are a bit complicated.
However once learnt they are easy to use.
Luckily, GNOME’s Appearance module has a built-in tool to allow your own themes in an easy –to-use interface. This tool uses themes that have already been installed and allows you to mix and match parts from different themes to create your own hybrid designs, you can use icons from one theme, widgets from another, and also from window decorations. Obviously the more themes you have installed, the more versatile and customizable your tool will be. If you install a few extra themes, the number of combinations can be rise quickly. Therefore is advisable to install as many themes as possible since each theme can provide a larger inventory of spare parts to work with. This tool is more suited to those who don’t know how to work with gtkrc files directly or don’t want to go through the hurdles of creating their own themes. However if you are very creative you can create your own
themes from scratch.
Plasma themes.
Unlike GTK themes, Plasma themes used in KDE4 are predominantly made up of scalable vector graphics.(SVG).These are usually made in vector graphics editing software like Inkscape,Karbon or any application that can export SVG.KDE4’s appearance management is less straightforward than GNOME.KDE4 has several interface to control its appearance while GNOME has only one.