Customizing your Ubuntu Desktop
I often like to go a little out of my way to write blogs that contain original information. But for some things, it pays to refer people to a resource that already exists to save time.
Alan Pope is well known in the Ubuntu Linux community for his screencasts. A collection of them can be found at http://screencasts.ubuntu.com/. All of his screencasts can be streamed from Google Video, as well as downloaded in MPEG-4 and OGG format. The one you will likely want to check out when it comes to modifying your computers login screen, desktop background, fonts, color scheme/theme can be found here:
http://screencasts.ubuntu.com/Customising_Ubuntu_Desktop
The video covers:
- Changing Wallpapers
- Changing Screensavers
- Panel Properties (Location/Auto-hide/Background)
- Changing/Adding Desktop Themes
- Adding/Moving Launcher Shortcuts to your Panel/Desktop
- Modifying Menu Layouts
- Adding Applets to your Panels
- Modifying your About Me user info
- Customizing your Login screen layouts/themes
- Using Multiple Workspaces
The video makes use of http://art.gnome.org/ for it’s demonstration of downloading wallpapers and themes, but another noteworthy site you should check for such things is http://www.gnome-look.org/. My personal favorite website for wallpapers is InterfaceLift Wallpapers.
A couple of things this video does not cover (which I think it should) is Compiz Fusion (the software behind Ubuntu’s special effects, such as wobbly windows, action animations, etc). But in Alan Pope’s defense, the video was based upon Ubuntu 6.10 which did not include Beryl or Compiz by default. I’ll write a seperate blog about customizing Compiz in the near future.
The video also does not cover the installation and use of a dockbar (such as AWN or Cairo Dock). I happen to have already written a tutorial about Cairo Dock if you’d like to make you’re Ubuntu desktop look more like a Mac.
Well I leave it to you. Have fun customizing!