GNOME Themes

Themes are files that modify various aspects of the user interface including icons, windows, and window wrappings (the appearance of the borders and titlebars of a window). A theme may be used to change all or only a portion of GNOME. Themes can be used in conjunction with different window managers and desktop environments like KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, and more. They are also able to be applied to Flatpak applications. Themes are stored in two locations: globally, under /usr/share/themes, which requires root permissions to store new themes and affects all users; and locally, in /.themes, which is a hidden folder in the home directory that only changes the theme for the current user.

If you’re looking for a new look, the best place to start is with the official GNOME themes. They’re available in the GNOME Look Marketplace and can be installed easily with the installer. These themes are compatible with all versions of the GNOME Desktop and can be modified to suit your taste. You can also create your own themes using a simple text editor.

A good starting point is Adwaita, which is the default theme for GNOME and ships out-of-the-box in Fedora Workstation. Its steely grey tones are reminiscent of the modern user experience and it is considered the’reference theme’ for GTK app development, meaning that it is the theme that Linux application developers would most like users to adopt. It is utilitarian and simple, with plenty of padding and a companion color that accents the UI elements rather than being overly showy.

This theme is based on Google’s Material Design principle and is ideal for users who want a clean user interface. Its colors are subtle and it is very easy on the eyes. Its minimalist approach to the UI is very attractive and the theme can be customised easily by changing the font and icon sets. It is also a very responsive theme, which means it will adjust to the size of your screen.

If you’re on a laptop, the Orchids theme is perfect for you because it is designed with touch-friendly screens in mind. It has a light and dark version and is compatible with all GTK versions. It has a very classy-looking feel and offers a few different color variants. You can even customize it by adding some background image, so you can make it really your own. This theme also works well with Flatpak applications and can be used in GNOME Classic mode.