Call for participation: an ubuntu default theme lead by the community?

@merlijn-sebrechts

Oh, odd - I just installed the version you linked to and it looks a LOT better than the one I was trying, which had very dark dividing lines. Was I using an even-more-out-of-date one anyway?

Oh, the Communitheme I’ve got now looks much more like the latest screenshots in the other thread.
So I guess it’s more representative. No idea what version of the theme I managed to install (and provide feedback on) when I was following some instructions earlier in the thread, but this looks much better. Please keep up the good work!

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Oh sorry, I’ve missed that line, now it’s clearer. As long as I agree with you (and loved menubar), this is something that we cannot change just styling GNOME Shell. The three stripes also should be gone when more applications will replace titlebar+menubar with headerbars, that includes menus and button in the same line (see Nautilus).

Can we just get decent sized scroll bars? The current ones are tiny!

No brown for me please .

1 Like

@c-lobrano

“As long as I agree with you (and loved menubar), this is something that we cannot change just styling GNOME Shell. The three stripes also should be gone when more applications will replace titlebar+menubar with headerbars, that includes menus and button in the same line (see Nautilus).”

I fully take your point that there’s only so much you can change with styling.

IMO apps like Libre Office, GIMP and Inkscape mean that we’re going to have menubars for the foreseeable future. I’ve been playing around in GIMP, and I believe you can at least “de-emphasise” the stripy-ness quite nicely by a) removing the dividing line between the title/menu and b) using the same shade for both.

What do you think of:

…which gives a less cluttered appearance (IMO!) when the window is maximised:

EDIT: I think it has another benefit, too, which is to reduce the visual difference between old-style apps (title + menubar) and the newer style (one header bar). This improves visual consistency, IMO, as shown in the first screenshot.

Also, I had a couple of bits of feedback on non-orange accents. I understand the logic behind using more meaningful colours like red or green. However, I believe this works best when two meaningful colours are contrasted with each other (red versus green). A single green element in an otherwise Ubuntu-coloured screenshot just looks like something you forgot to theme, IMO.

So, if you’re going to use green for “on” toggles, I would consider using red for “off” toggles, so the divergence from Ambiance colours seems logical rather than haphazard:

On the other hand, if you prefer to contrast “colour” with “no colour” for emphasis, then I’d prefer orange highlights. Orange is so ubiquitous in Ubuntu - the login screen, the launcher logo/dots, the Suru software icon, etc. - that I don’t think it carries any negative or destructive connotation here. So, IMO, this is fine too:

The blue on the volume slider is a gorgeous colour, but, IMO, it looks again like something you forgot to theme. I believe orange works as a neutral accent here and is the right choice for Communitheme:

my slider

Just some thoughts!

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Hey, thanks for this contribution!

removing the dividing line between the title/menu and

There’s already a ticket open for this :wink:

Also, I had a couple of bits of feedback on non-orange accents. I understand the logic behind using more meaningful colours like red or green. However, I believe this works best when two meaningful colours are contrasted with each other (red versus green). A single green element in an otherwise Ubuntu-coloured screenshot just looks like something you forgot to theme, IMO.

Orange and other colors are still widely discussed :D. My understanding is that some colors have a precise meaning, e.g. red is for destructive actions like stopping scan or rejecting a modal window, orange is for selected items, so you might be right on the second Tweak window.

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Cheers @c-lobrano :slight_smile:

One mockup I forgot to include - if the breadcrumbs are still under discussion, in the current PPA version, I think someone’s already done a good job on the theming/hover effect for other buttons seen on the header bar (e.g., “Save” and “☰” in text editor). I think this is quite smart and might work for breadcrumbs too, if combined with the orange underline?

Current text editor:

current button styling text editor

Applied to breadcrumbs:

my breadcrumbs with hover

Keep up the good work - looks like it’s getting better and better.

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@jaggers nice job with the mockups. As @c-lobrano mentioned the colors are still discussed and you make, and illustrate, some good points - although I disagree with you on red/orange toggles :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
I would argue that both red and orange signals danger, but I know that when you click the gears icon on YouTube the “on” toggle is actually red :roll_eyes: Anyway, by using green there will be no doubt that the toggle is on and I believe that is the most important thing here.
The gray is used for disabled elements (like you would see in a combobox or a textfield).

To me, the green toggels in the current theme, is a bit too much. I would like to see something lighter like this mockup.
Here Nautilus is in focus, so the toggels would be green (as usual) like this one, if the window was in focus.

Very good point with the volume slider (I had the same feeling), but I think that when/if the rest of the UI elements also used blue (Unity8), it wouldn’t feel this way.

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@madsrh

“To me, the green toggels in the current theme, is a bit too much. I would like to see something lighter like this mockup”

Actually, I quite like that too. Adding the :heavy_check_mark: to the toggle achieves the same effect as contrasting it with red (i.e., it makes it clear that green is used here to represent a positive choice, rather than just being a coloured accent that doesn’t match other coloured accents).

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Wow, I think this looks really slick! :heart_eyes:
I would love to see some more bigger modern UI changes like this.

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@madsrh

If there’s a requirement for an accent colour that isn’t orange or purple, I think the aquamarine you suggested in the other thread is worth exploring. If I try it on the volume slider, I think it looks better than the current shade of blue - in that one context at least:

aquamarine slider

Since it’s directly opposed to Ubuntu orange on the colour wheel, then it might make it a sensible addition to the Ubuntu palette.

However, in the volume slider mockup, there isn’t any of the Ubuntu “light aubergine” in shot, so I guess you would have to check it looked appealing in all Ubuntu contexts, rather than just the volume controls?

EDIT: full screen mockup for more balanced view.

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This is how I understood things too.

Hi. I am testing you’r Communit theme. Its very nice. I found a one problem in lists in programs.
Look at the screen. Sometime lists are too long like in LibreOffice.

The menu lists in the first creen its ok.

Second screen, the menu lists is to loong on my screen. Do you know why? Sorry about my language.

@godlyranchdressing

From the other thread:

“And I know everyone voted on the white, but I actually prefer the people holding hands in orange on white. With it in white and without a background it sort of looks incomplete, and the shape of the icon makes it seem slightly off-center.”

It looks off-centre to me too, but I think this is easily fixable :slight_smile:

I think you just have to account for the fact that the “heads” are not arranged symmetrically (at least, not in terms of left/right symmetry). Because of this, if you centre the graphic relative to where its edges are, the circle part is not quite central. This looks unbalanced, because the circle is the logo’s visual centre of gravity, and we expect the circle to be central.

IMO, the solution is simply to make sure we centre the circle, rather than the whole graphic including heads. Illustration follows:

fixing logo

To achieve this, you just make versions of the logo that have more padding on the right, to centre the circle. Presumably something like this, but with transparency:

centre logo with purple background

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I am unaware of this gnew theme, as I am using 17.10 xubuntu with ubuntu-Mate DE pasted ontop.

(as I lost my accessories inthe Xubuntu DE - I use Mate)

originally, I had planned to try a couple of desktop env. However, I have no knowledge about how to implement whatever I am seeing on this page.

Because - DEnvironments aren’t easily brushed onto my desktop.

IF you know how - then ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶
̶ tell me so ?

https://developer.gnome.org/hig/stable/
I thought this may be of some use .
this one is better
https://developer.gnome.org

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Hello,

I tested the new theme (communitheme) with the ppa :

Sorry but I have a rather negative opinion on the current state, after each his tastes but here what I do not like:

  • The ubuntu dock is ugly with communitheme, there is the left and right border of the dark dock and the middle a little transparent but too dark, it’s less pretty.
  • The Ubuntu button at the bottom of the dock is on a totally black background, it does not look good either
  • The bar at the top is no longer transparent but totally black, I find it less beautiful (except if the wallpaper is dark and in this case it does not change much)

It is however a little better at the buttons of the windows, for example in nautilus.

For now on the 18.04 I prefer the traditional theme (ambiance) that communitheme.

(and the bar at the top is better in transparent than in black !)

Thk;

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