Customizing Gnome 3 (Shell)

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I’ve been using Ubuntu for several years now, and like many users, I switched from Gnome 2 to Ubuntu Unity as display manager. I found lots of good ideas in Unity (very suitable for netbooks in particular), but it didn’t really convince me and I finally regretted my old Gnome 2 desktop.

After several months of using Unity, I decided to test Gnome 3, released Mid-Year of 2011.

After installing Gnome 3 and its Shell interface, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Gnome developers have taken a lot of good ideas from Unity, unless it’s in reverse… Even better, I find it more responsive and ergonomic. Only one drawback, user interface design is a bit poor especially compared to Unity.

Gnome Shell requires a little customization to be perfect. What you see below is what you can get in less than one hour !

After customizing

The following assumes you have already installed Gnome Shell.

1. Then, install Gnome Tweak Tool, needed to customize Gnome 3 (show buttons in the toolbar, change theme, etc.).
   sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
   
2. Add the user-theme extension (it unlocks an option in Gnome Tweak Tool to change the theme of Gnome Shell).
3. Add the WebUpd8 PPA and install the Zukitwo theme. This is a direct download, but it will always be the latest version.
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install zukitwo-dark-gtk-theme
   
4. Install the Faenza icon theme.
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme
   
5. Launch Gnome Tweak Tool and configure it as follows:
   

   Theme configuration

   The top bar in Zukitwo theme is transparent making a second menu shows up behind the top bar. If this is your case too, you can fix this by removing the old and useless global menu.

   sudo apt-get autoremove appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt
   
6. To further improve the functionality, Gnome Shell has extensions support.
   Gnome Shell is based on CSS. Install/uninstall of extensions is simply a mouse click from the Gnome Shell Extensions website, simply amazing !
   • Alternative Status Menu : replaces Gnome Shell Status Menu with one showing suspend, hibernate and power off.
   • Analog Clock : shows an analog clock.
   • Applications Menu : adds a gnome 2 style menu for applications.
   • Battery Percentage Indicator : puts a percentage label next to the battery panel icon.
   • Bluetooth icon remover : removes the bluetooth icon from the panel.
   • Dock : adds a dock.
     

     To position the dock at the left, you must edit a javascript file (yes !).
     Open the file “.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/extension.js” and replace line 44 “const DOCK_POSITION = PositionMode.RIGHT;” by “const DOCK_POSITION = PositionMode.LEFT;” .

   • Extended Volume Indicator : switches output devices and adjusts application volume on volume indicator menu.
   • Media player indicator : controls your media player.
   • NetSpeed : displays internet speed.
   • Places Status Indicator : adds a systems status menu for quickly navigating places in the system.
   • Remove Accesibility : removes the accesibility button icon from the panel.
   • Show Desktop Button : hides all windows and shows the current desktop.
   • Shutdown Timer : adds a panel icon for delayed or scheduled power off.
   • System Monitor : adds a system monitor (disk and CPU usage).
   • Trash : adds a trash button.
   • Weather indicator : displays the current weather of your location.
     

     I did not find this extension on the official site, but you can use the following commands :
     

     sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome-shell-extensions
     sudo apt-get update
     sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extension-weather
     

     To display the weather of your current location, you must configure the WOEID (Where on Earth IDentifier).
     You can get it by going on the website https://www.findmecity.com/.

7. I’m getting used to application launchers (cf. my article about Launchy for Windows), I now use Synapse on Linux.
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install synapse
   

   To have a black color would best fits with the Zukitwo-dark theme, add this gtkrc file in the ~/.config/synapse/ folder.

8. To put the finishing touches to your desktop, you can also install Conky to display the date and some additional settings (the example is taken from tux-planet).
   sudo apt-get install conky-all ttf-ubuntu-font-family
   wget -O ~/.conkyrc www.tux-planet.fr/public/conf/conky/conky-gotham
   conky
   

   Do not forget to make Conky to run at startup.

9. If you use Firefox, add this personas to improve compatibility with the Zukitwo theme. If you use Chrome/Chromium, add this theme
10. You can download the wallpaper that I use (2560 x 1600). This is the Leopard wallpaper from Apple.

Here are some additional screenshots to give you a better idea…



After customizing - 2



After customizing - 3



After customizing - 4