WebUpd8 Themes PPA: Updated Minty Freshness, New Additions: Divergence IV, Victory, Buuf

* To be able to install the themes in this post, you'll firstly have to add the WebUpd8 themes PPA using the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes && sudo apt-get update

If you've already added the WebUpd8 Ubuntu Themes PPA, make sure you run "sudo apt-get update" to be able to install the new packages / updates presented in this post.

Minty Freshness

Minty Freshness got an update, bringing an optional dark panel as well as many other improvements. Here's the complete changelog for the latest 0.6.5 version:

• Panel improvements
• Addition of a dark panel (replace 'include "Styles/panel.rc"' with 'include "Styles/panel-dark.rc"' in the gtkrc)
• Nautilus elementary mode button redesigned
• GtkScale slider is now round with all versions of murrine
• Banshee toolbar fixes for newer versions (1.8 >=)
• Banshee and synaptic button fixes now work for newer versions
• GtkComboEntry no longer renders a grey line in the right side in non gtk applications
• Scrollbars now have up and down arrows on non gtk applications
• New style for statusbar on non gtk applications

Thanks to Skies Of Azel for the info!

To get a dark panel, press ALT + F2 and enter:

gksu gedit /usr/share/themes/Minty-Freshness/gtk-2.0/gtkrc

Then on line 371, replace:

include "Styles/panel.rc"

with:

include "Styles/panel-dark.rc"

Save the file, apply a different theme and then switch back to Minty Freshness to see the changes.

Install Minty Freshness from the WebUpd8 themes PPA using the following command (make sure you've added the PPA firstly as stated in the beginning of the post):

sudo apt-get install minty-freshness-theme

New themes in the WebUpd8 themes PPA

All the WoW themes (it's just one theme but it comes with quite a few variations) were uploaded soon after announcing the WebUpd8 themes PPA and today I've added more themes based on your suggestions:

Divergence IV: A New Hope

* Divergence IV "A New Hope" - available for Ubuntu 10.10 and 11.04 only! Install the GTK theme using the following command:

sudo apt-get install divergence-iv-gtk-theme

There is also a package providing the Divergence IV Emerald decorations. Install it using:

sudo apt-get install divergence-iv-emerald-decorators

Once installed, you'll be able to tweak Divergence IV A New Hope GTK theme by going to System > Preferences > Divergence IV: A New Hope Settings Manager.

Victory GTK theme

* Victory GTK theme - a very customizable theme - available for Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04. Install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install victory-gtk-theme

Buuf Icon theme

* Buuf icon theme - available for Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04. Install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install buuf-icon-theme

Want a theme in the WebUpd8 Themes PPA? Suggest it in the comments!

Divergence IV: A New Hope, Victory and Buuf screenshot credits: their original authors (see links above).

Try Something Different: Divergence IV - "A New Hope" (GTK & Emerald Theme) [Post Updated!]

Divergence IV - "A New Hope" is a very cool looking new theme which gives a slick look to your desktop. I'm not an Emerald fan, but the truth is you can't do something as beautiful as the Divergence IV - "A New Hope" Emerald themes with Metacity.

The pack incluses a beautiful GTK2 theme as well as 3 Emerald themes: 2 "A New Hope" themesL one with the buttons on the right side and one with the buttons on the left and a theme called "The Empire strikes back" which you can see in the Nautilus Elementary screenshot further down in the post.

Install the required packages

To use Divergence IV, you'll need Emerald and CompizConfig Settings Manager (to make Emerald default):

sudo apt-get install emerald compizconfig-settings-manager

The latest Murrine Engine (step not required for Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:murrine-daily/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine

Then, download Faenza Dark icons (edited) and the Divergence IV - "A New Hope" theme pack.

Usage

1. Extract the downloaded .zip archive and copy the "A-New-Hope" and "A-New-Hope (gtk-breadcrumbs)" folders to ~/.themes/. The "A-New-Hope (gtk-breadcrumbs)" theme uses the default Nautilus breadcrumbs while A-New-Hope will give you slick new Nautilus Elementary breadcrumbs (if using Nautilus Elementary):

(Nautilus Elementary breadcrumbs and the new "The Empire strikes back" Emerald theme in Divergence IV - "A New Hope" 0.5)

Please note that you might have to manually set the icon theme to Faenza Dark (for some reason, the theme displayed an error about Faenza Dark not being even though it's installed).

Then for the Emerald themes go to System > Preferences > Emerald Theme Manager, click "Import" and browse for the 3 extracted Emerald themes.

2. In CompizConfig Settings Manager (System > Preferences), click the "Window decorations" plugin and under the command field, enter:

emerald --replace

Then to use the Emerald theme, press ALT + F2 and enter the same command as above.


Update: version 0.4 was using the Awoken icon theme but the new version 0.5 released on October 23 is using Faenza so I've updated the instructions. Also, version 0.5 includes a variation of the GTK theme with Nautilus Elementary breadcrumbs as well as a new "Ambiance-ish" Emerald theme (see the Nautilus Elementary screenshot above).


Don't like Divergence IV? Try the latest Elementary theme 2.0 or the Equinox themes.