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#+date: <2020-05-19 Tue 00:00:00>
#+title: A Beginner's Guide: Customizing Ubuntu
#+description:
#+slug: customizing-ubuntu
* More Information
For inspiration on designing your *nix computer, check out the
[[https://libredd.it/r/unixporn][r/unixporn]] subreddit!
* Customizing Ubuntu
New to Linux and want to add a personal touch to your machine? One of the best
perks of Linux is that it is *extremely* customizable. You can change the styles
of the windows, shell (status bars/docks), icons, fonts, terminals, and more.
In this post, I'm going to go through customization on Ubuntu 20.04 (GNOME)
since most new users tend to choose Ubuntu-based distros. If you've found a way
to install Arch with i3-gaps, I'm assuming you know how to find more advanced
tutorials out there on customizations.
** Required Tools
Ubuntu 20.04 ships with the default desktop environment [[https://www.gnome.org/][Gnome]], which includes
the handy =gnome-tweaks= tool to quickly change designs. To install this, just
open your terminal and enter the following command:
#+begin_src sh
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
#+end_src
After you've finished installing the tool, simply launch the Tweaks application,
and you'll be able to access the various customization options available by
default on Ubuntu. You might even like some of the pre-installed options.
** GNOME Application Themes
To change the themes applied to applications in GNOME, you will need to change
the Applications dropdown in the Appearance section of Tweaks. To add more
themes, you will have to find your preferred theme online and follow the steps
below to have it show up in the Tweaks tool. While you may find themes anywhere,
one of the most popular sites for GNOME themes is [[https://www.gnome-look.org/][gnome-look.org]]. This website
contains themes for applications, shells, icons, and cursors.
Steps to import themes into Tweaks:
1. Download the theme.
2. These files are usually compressed (.zip, .tar.gz, .tar.xz), so you will need
to extract the contents. This is easiest when opening the file explorer,
right-clicking the compressed file, and choosing "Extract here."
3. Move the theme folder to =/usr/share/themes/=. You can do so with the
following command: =sudo mv theme-folder/ /usr/share/themes/=.
- Icons and cursors will be moved to the =/usr/share/icons/= folder.
- Fonts will be moved to the =/usr/share/fonts/= folder Alternatively, you
can move them to the =/usr/share/fonts/opentype/= or
=/usr/share/fonts/opentype/= folders, if you have a specific font type.
4. Close tweaks if it is open. Re-open Tweaks and your new theme will be
available in the Applications dropdown in the Appearance section of Tweaks.
If the theme is not showing up after you've moved it into the themes folder, you
may have uncompressed the folder into a sub-folder. You can check this by
entering the theme folder and listing the contents:
#+begin_src sh
cd /usr/share/themes/Mojave-Dark && ls -la
#+end_src
This is an example of what the contents of your theme folder should look like.
If you just see another folder there, you should move that folder up into the
=/usr/share/themes/= folder.
#+begin_src sh
cinnamon COPYING gnome-shell gtk-2.0 gtk-3.0 index.theme metacity-1 plank xfwm4
#+end_src
** GNOME Shell Themes
To change the appearance of the title bar, default dock, app menu, and other
parts of the GNOME shell, you'll need to install the [[https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/19/user-themes/][user themes]] extension on
[[https://extensions.gnome.org/][Gnome Extensions]]. To be able to install extensions, you will first need to
install the browser extension that the website instructs you to. See this
screenshot for the blue box with a link to the extension.
After the browser extension is installed, you will need to install the native
host connector:
#+begin_src sh
sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell
#+end_src
Finally, you can go the [[https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/19/user-themes/][user themes]] extension page and click the installation
button. This will enable the Shell option in Tweaks. Now you can move shell
themes to the =/usr/share/themes= directory, using the same steps mentioned in
the previous section, and enable the new theme in Tweaks.
** Icons & Cursors
Icons and cursors are installed exactly the same way, so I'm grouping these
together in this post. Both of these items will need to follow the same process
as installing themes, except you will want to move your font folders to the
=/usr/share/icons/= directory instead.
** Fonts
Fonts are one of the overlooked parts of customization, but a good font can make
the whole screen look different. For example, I have installed the [[https://github.com/IBM/plex/releases][IBM Plex]]
fonts on my system. This follows the same process as installing themes, except
you will want to move your font folders to the =/usr/share/fonts/= directory
instead.
** Terminal
If you spend a lot of time typing commands, you know how important the style and
functionality of the terminal is. After spending a lot of time using the default
GNOME terminal with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_(Unix_shell)][unix shell]], I decided to try some different options. I ended
up choosing [[https://terminator-gtk3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/][Terminator]] with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_shell][zsh]].
Terminator is great if you need to open multiple terminals at one time by simply
right-clicking and splitting the screen into as many terminals as you want.
While this project hasn't been updated in a while, [[https://github.com/gnome-terminator/terminator/issues/1][it is coming under new
development]]. However, this terminal is great and I haven't experienced any
errors yet.
For the shell choice, I decided to choose zsh after trying it out on a fresh
Manjaro installation. Zsh is great if you like to change the themes of your
terminal, include icons, or add plugins.
The desktop uses the [[https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions][zsh-autosuggestions]] to suggest past commands as you type.
In addition, it suggests corrections if you misspell a command. Lastly, it uses
the =af-magic= theme, which adds dashed lines between commands, moving the
user@host tag to the right side of the terminal, and changes the colors. There
are plenty of plugins and themes to choose from. Just figure out what you like
and add it to your =~/.zshrc= file!
*** Steps to Replicate My Terminal
To install zsh on Ubuntu, enter the following command into a terminal:
#+begin_src sh
sudo apt install zsh
#+end_src
Then, enter the next command to activate zsh:
#+begin_src sh
sudo chsh -s $(which zsh) $(whoami)
#+end_src
To install Terminator on Ubuntu:
#+begin_src sh
sudo apt install terminator
#+end_src
To install Oh My Zsh on Ubuntu:
#+begin_src sh
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL
https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
#+end_src
To install zsh-autosuggestions via Oh My Zsh:
#+begin_src sh
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions
${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
#+end_src
Then, add the following plugin wording to your =~/.zshrc= file (the default
config usually has the =git= plugin activated, so just add any other plugins to
the parentheses separated by a space):
#+begin_src sh
nano ~/.zshrc
#+end_src
#+begin_src sh
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions)
#+end_src
Finally, you need to log out of your computer and log back in so your user shell
can refresh.
|
