Introduction to Themes

A theme is a group of coordinated settings that specifies the visual appearance of a part of the desktop. Users can choose themes to change the appearance of the desktop.

A theme contains settings that affect different parts of the desktop, as follows:

Controls

The controls setting for a theme determines the visual appearance of windows, panels, and panel applications. The controls setting also determines the visual appearance of the GNOME-compliant interface items that appear on windows, panels, and panel applications, such as menus, icons, and buttons. Some of the controls setting options that are available are designed for special accessibility needs.

To change an option for the controls setting, users start the Theme preference tool, click on the Theme Details button, then select the option from the Controls tabbed section in the preference tool.

Window frame

The window frame setting for a theme determines the appearance of the frames around windows only.

To change an option for the window frame setting, users start the Theme preference tool, click on the Theme Details button, then select the option from the Window Border tabbed section in the preference tool.

Icon

The icon setting for a theme determines the appearance of the icons on panels and the desktop background.

To change an option for the icon setting, users start the Theme preference tool, click on the Theme Details button, then select the option from the Icons tabbed section in the preference tool.