Desktop Themes
On GNOME, you use the Themes Preferences tool to select or customize a theme. Themes control your desktop appearance. When you open the Theme tool, a list of currently installed themes is shown. The GNOME theme is initially selected. You can move down the list to select a different theme if you wish. If you have downloaded additional themes from sites like art.gnome.org, you can click the Install button to locate and install them. Once installed, the additional themes will also be displayed in the Themes Preferences tool’s listing. If you downloaded and installed a theme or icon set from the Fedora repository, it will be automatically installed for you.
The true power of Themes is in the ability it provides users to customize any given theme. Themes are organized into three components: controls, window border, and icons. Controls covers the appearance of window and dialog controls such as buttons and slider bars. Window border specifies how title bars, borders, and window buttons are displayed. Icons specify how all icons used on the desktop are displayed, whether on the file manager, desktop, or the panel. You can mix and match components from any installed theme to make your own theme. You can even download and install separate components like specific icon sets, which you can then use in a customized theme.
Clicking the Customize button will open a Themes Details window with panels of the different theme components. The ones used for the current theme will be already selected. In the control, window border, and icon panels you will see listings of the different installed themes. An additional Color panel lets you set the background and text colors for windows, input boxes, and selected items. You can then mix and match different components like icons, window styles, and controls, creating your own customized theme. Upon selecting a component, your desktop automatically changes, showing you how it looks. One you have created a new customized theme, a Custom Theme entry will appear in the theme list. To save the customized theme, click the Save Theme button. This opens a dialog where you can enter a theme name, any notes, and specify whether you want to also keep the theme background. The saved theme then appears in the theme listing.
On KDE, open the Theme manager in the KDE Control Center under Appearances and Themes. Select the theme you want from the Theme panel. The selected theme will be displayed on the facing panel. Buttons in the Customize section let you build a customized theme, selecting background, icons, colors, styles, fonts, and even screensavers. To download new themes, click the Get new themes link in the upper right corner. This opens the Kde-look web page for KDE themes. You will have to download themes, extract them, and then click the Install theme button, locating and selecting the downloaded theme’s .kth file. This method works only for themes in the Theme manager format, kth. Themes not in this format have to be installed manually.
GNOME themes and icons installed directly by a user are placed in the .themes and .icons directories in the user’s home directory. Should you want these themes made available for all users, you can move them from the .themes and .icons directories to the /usr/share/icons and /usr/share/themes directories. Be sure to log in as the root user. You then need to change ownership of the moved themes and icons to the root user.
User KDE themes are placed in the .kde/share/apps/kthememanager directory.