Install XFCE 4.10 In Xubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin Via PPA

XFCE 4.10 was released about two weeks ago, too late to be included in Xubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin. But you can install the latest XFCE 4.10 in Xubuntu 12.04 using a PPA.

XFCE 4.10 comes with many improvements which include a new application finder, a new vertical display mode for the panel: "deskbar", multiple rows support for the panel, the window manager supports tiling windows when dragging them to the screen edges, thumbnail rendering support for Xfdesktop, the mouse and touchpad dialog is capable of handling basic Synaptics and Wacom properties in the GUI, and more. For more info, check out the XFCE 4.10 tour.

Install / upgrade to XFCE 4.10 in Xubuntu 12.04 via PPA

Lionel Le Folgoc, a Xubuntu contributor, has set up a PPA to make it easy to install the latest XFCE 4.10 in Xubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin. To add the PPA and upgrade to XFCE 4.10, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.10
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If after running "dist-upgrade", you get 3 held back packages which can't be upgraded, open Synaptic Package Manager (it's installed by default in Xubuntu), click the "Mark all upgrades" button, then "Apply". Synaptic will ask to remove one package and install a new one - select yes and you're done.

To install XFCE 4.10 in Xubuntu 12.04 (if you're using a different desktop environment such as GNOME for example), instead of the last command above, use the following:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Note: in XFCE 4.10, the window buttons plugin no longer expands, so the notification area / indicators will show up next to the window buttons plugin, leaving an empty area to the right of the panel. You can get the old behaviour back by adding a separator plugin to the panel, then right clicking it and enabling the "Expand" option.

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Bluebird Theme Ported To GTK3 (Works With GTK 3.2 And 3.4)

Bluebird GTK3 - Ubuntu 11.10

Bluebird, a simple yet stylish theme that was used by default in Xubuntu 10.10 is now available for GTK3 (it supports GTK 3.2 and 3.4) and works with both Xubuntu (Xfce) and Ubuntu (GNOME / Unity).

The theme is not 100% GTK3 ready and there's no Unity integration unfortunately (no maximized window buttons or a custom top panel), but it's pretty usable already.

Bluebird - Ubuntu 12.04 (GTK 3.4)

Install Bluebird GTK2/3 theme

If you like Bluebird and want to install it in Ubuntu/Xubuntu 11.10 or 12.04, you can use our Themes PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bluebird-gtk-theme

The old GTK2-only Bluebird theme is also available in our Themes PPA for Ubuntu Lucid, Maverick and Natty so if you use one of these Ubuntu versions, you can install Bluebird GTK2 using the same commands.

Once installed, use GNOME Tweak Tool, Ubuntu Tweak or MyUnity to apply the new theme (for both GTK and window).

For other Linux distributions: you can download Bluebird via GIT:

git clone https://github.com/shimmerproject/Bluebird ~/.themes/Bluebird

If you don't use Ubuntu, make sure you've installed Unico GTK3 engine (as well as Murrine GTK2 engine) or else Bluebird will not look properly.

via Xubuntu @ Google+

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Get Better Looking Qt Applications In Xubuntu 11.10 (XFCE)

Qt-based applications like Puddletag, SMPlayer, VLC and many others, look poorly in Xubuntu 11.10 (and probably in other XFCE based Linux distributions too) by default, so here's how to improve their look.

Firstly, here are a couple of screenshots to see what I mean:

- before:

- after:

To get better looking Qt applications in Xubuntu / XFCE, you need to change the /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme Gconf value to match your GTK theme. To do this, open a terminal and copy/paste the following command:

gconftool-2 --set --type string /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme THEME-NAME

In the command above, replace "THEME-NAME" with your current theme.

For instance, to set the default Xubuntu 11.10 theme, Greybird, as your GTK theme in Gconf (and thus, get Qt applications to use it under XFCE), use the command below:

gconftool-2 --set --type string /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme greybird

To also set the icon theme (this will only affect Qt applications that don't use their own icons, like Puddletag; it won't work with SMPlayer for instance), use the following command:

gconftool-2 --set --type string /desktop/gnome/interface/icon_theme THEME-NAME

Where "THEME-NAME" is the name of your current icon theme.

For instance, to set the icon theme to elementary, use the command below:

gconftool-2 --set --type string /desktop/gnome/interface/icon_theme elementary

I've tested this on a fresh Xubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot and it should work without installing any additional packages, but if it doesn't work for you (on other Linux distributions based on XFCE, etc.), make sure gconf is installed.

Thanks to spc311 for the tip!

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Ambiance And Radiance Colors Theme Pack Available In A PPA

A quick update: Ambiance and Radiance Colors theme pack, which provides Ambiance and Radiance available in 8 different colors, is now available in a PPA for Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot and 12.04 Precise Pangolin users.

Using the PPA instead of manually installing the themes, you can stay up to date with newer versions without having to manually check for new updates. Add the PPA and install Ambiance and Radiance Colors GTK2/3 themes using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ravefinity-project/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ambiance-colors radiance-colors

Once installed, use GNOME Tweak Tool or Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 to switch to any of the newly installed themes.

To install Ambiance and Radiance Colors for XFCE/LXDE, instead of the last command above, use:

sudo apt-get install ambiance-colors-lxxf radiance-colors-lxxf

The themes are of course also available on GNOME Look.

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