A theme is a group of coordinated settings that specify how your desktop appears. Use the Theme preference tool to select a theme for your desktop. You can choose from a list of available themes. The list of available themes includes several themes for users with accessibility requirements.
When you select a theme in the Theme preference tool, you actually select a group of more specific themes that collectively determine the appearance of your desktop. Each theme is actually a group of other, more specific themes that control the look-and-feel of particular parts of the desktop. The following types of theme can control specific parts of the desktop:
- Controls theme
Specifies the visual appearance of your panels, menus, and applets. Controls themes also specify the appearance of GNOME-compliant application interface items. For example, controls themes affect the appearance of buttons, scrollbars, check boxes, and so on.
- Window frame theme
Specifies the visual appearance of your window frames.
- Icons theme
Specifies the visual appearance of the icons on your panels, menus, and desktop background.
The themes that are listed in the Theme preferences tool are different combinations of controls themes, window frame themes, and icon themes. You can create a custom theme that uses different combinations of controls themes, window frame themes, and icon themes.
To create a custom theme, perform the following steps:
To open the Theme preference tool, choose Applications->Desktop Preferences->Theme.
Select a theme in the list of themes.
Click on the Details button. A Theme Details dialog is displayed.
Select the controls theme that you want to use in the custom theme from the list in the Controls tabbed section. The list of available controls themes includes several themes for users with accessibility requirements.
Click on the Window Border tab to display the Window Border tabbed section. Select the window frame theme that you want to use in the custom theme from the list of available themes. The list of available window frame themes includes several themes for users with accessibility requirements.
Click on the Icons tab to display the Icons tabbed section. Select the icons theme that you want to use in the custom theme from the list of available themes. The list of available icons themes includes several themes for users with accessibility requirements.
Click Close to close the Theme Details dialog.
On the Theme preferences tool, click on the Save theme button. A Save theme to disk dialog is displayed.
Type a name and a short description for the custom theme in the dialog, then click Save. The custom theme now appears in your list of available themes.
You can add a theme to the list of available themes. The new theme must be an archive file that is tarred and zipped. That is, the new theme must be a .tar.gz file.
To install a new theme, perform the following steps:
To open the Theme preference tool, choose Applications->Desktop Preferences->Theme.
Click on the Install theme button. An Install New Theme dialog is displayed.
Enter the location of the theme archive file in the drop-down combination box. Alternatively, to browse for the file, click on the Browse button. When you have selected the file, click OK.
Click on the Install button to install the new theme.
You can also install new controls themes, window frame themes, or icons themes. You can find many controls themes on the Internet.
To install a new controls theme, window frame theme, or icons theme, perform the following steps:
To open the Theme preference tool, choose Applications->Desktop Preferences->Theme.
Click on the Details button. An Theme Details dialog is displayed.
Click on the tab for the type of theme that you want to install. For example, to install an icons theme, click on the Icons tab.
Click on the Install new theme button. An Install New Theme dialog is displayed.
Enter the location of the theme archive file in the drop-down combination box. Alternatively, to browse for the file, click on the Browse button. When you have selected the file, click OK.
Click on the Install button to install the new theme.
You can also delete controls themes, window frame themes, or icons themes.
To delete a controls theme, window frame theme, or icons theme, perform the following steps:
To open the Theme preference tool, choose Applications->Desktop Preferences->Theme.
Click on the Details button. An Theme Details dialog is displayed.
Click on the tab for the type of theme that you want to delete.
Click on the Go to theme folder button. A file manager window opens on the default theme folder.
Use the file manager window to delete the theme.