Customizing the Appearance of the Desktop
This chapter describes the methods you can use to change the appearance
of the GNOME Desktop
to enhance the accessibility of the desktop for users with visual impairments.
Customization Options
There are a number of methods to enable you to customize the appearance
of the GNOME Desktop
to suit your specific needs, as follows:
Themes
Themes are the most effective
way to change the appearance of the desktop in a consistent manner. See
for more information about themes and how to use themes
to achieve the type of desktop environment that you require.
Desktop and application-specific configuration settings
You can customize different components of the desktop
individually to achieve the display settings that you require. You can configure
the desktop and applications in addition to using themes or as an alternative
to using themes. See
for more information.
The following table summarizes the changes that you can
make to the GNOME Desktop and where you can make the changes. This manual does not provide
detailed instructions about how to customize the desktop. For detailed instructions
about how to use the customization tools that the desktop provides, refer
to the online help for each tool or to the
GNOME 2.8 Desktop User Guide
.
Quick Reference to Customizing the Appearance of the Desktop
To change the...
Use...
Overall appearance of the desktop to use high
contrast colors, low contrast colors, or large print.
The
Theme
preference tool.
Appearance of the desktop background only.
The
Desktop Background
preference tool and the
Nautilus
file manager
Backgrounds and Emblems
menu item.
Font displayed on the desktop background and
in all desktop applications.
The
Fonts
preference tool.
Default font settings of the
gedit
text editor or
Terminal
application.
By default,
gedit
and
Terminal
use the default application font that is specified in the
Font
preference tool.
The
Preferences
dialog for the application.
Appearance of icons and
tabs in the
Nautilus
file manager application.
The
View
menu and the
Preferences
dialog in the
Nautilus
file manager  application.
Using Themes to Customize the Desktop
This section describes how to use themes to customize the appearance
of the GNOME Desktop.
Introduction to Themes
You can use themes to modify and control the appearance of the desktop
in a consistent manner. A theme is a group of coordinated settings that specifies
how a desktop component or a group of desktop components appears. When you
apply a theme, the system modifies many desktop components simultaneously
to achieve the desired effect. For example, if you apply a theme that increases
the font size across the desktop, the theme also modifies the size of panels
and icons on the desktop for optimum compatibility with the font size.
The following types of themes affect different parts of the desktop:
Desktop themes
Desktop themes determine
the visual appearance of all windows, applications, dialogs, panels, and applets.
Desktop themes also determine the visual appearance of the GNOME-compliant
interface items that appear on windows, panels, and applets, such as menus,
icons, and buttons. Some of the desktop themes that are available in the Desktop
are designed for special accessibility needs.
Window frame themes
Window frame
themes determine the appearance of the frames around windows only.
To Choose a Desktop Theme
To open the
Theme
preference tool and view
the desktop themes that are available, choose
Applications
Desktop
Preferences
Theme
.
The
Theme Preferences
dialog is displayed.
The most popular desktop themes are listed on the left side of the
Theme Preferences
dialog. To choose a new theme for the desktop,
click on a theme in the list box. The system automatically applies the theme
to the desktop. The view a longer list of desktop themes, click on the
Theme Details
button. The desktop themes are displayed in the
Controls
tabbed section of the
Theme Details
dialog. There are several desktop themes available that suit different accessibility
needs. These themes are described in the following table:
Desktop Themes Designed for Accessibility Requirements
Theme Name
Description
HighContrast
Provides dark text on a light background using high
contrast colors.
HighContrastInverse
Provides
light text on a dark background using high contrast colors.
LowContrast
Uses low contrast colors for
the background and foreground text.
LargePrint
Increases the font size to 18pt.
The background and foreground colors are the same as those specified by the
Default
desktop theme.
HighContrastLargePrint
Provides dark text on a light background using high
contrast colors and increases the font size to 18pt.
HighContrastLargePrintInverse
Provides light text on a dark background using high
contrast colors and increases the font size to 18pt.
LowContrastLargePrint
Uses
low contrast colors for the background and foreground text and increases the
font size to 18pt.
To Choose a Window Frame Theme
To open the
Theme
preference tool and view
the window frame themes that are available, perform the following steps:
Choose
Applications
Desktop
Preferences
Theme
.
The
Theme Preferences
dialog is displayed.
Click on the
Theme Details
button.
The
Theme Details
dialog is displayed.
Click on the
Window Border
tab to display
the window frame themes that are available. The
Atlanta
theme is an accessible theme.
To choose a window frame theme, select a theme from the list
box, then click
Close
.
To Choose an Icon Theme
To open the
Theme
preference tool and view
the icon themes that are available, perform the following steps:
Choose
Applications
Desktop
Preferences
Theme
.
The
Theme Preferences
dialog is displayed.
Click on the
Theme Details
button.
The
Theme Details
dialog is displayed.
Click on the
Icons
tab to display the
icon themes that are available.
To choose an icon theme, select a theme from the list box,
then click
Close
.
To Create Your Own Themes
For information about how to create your own desktop themes and window
frame themes, see the
GNOME 2.8 Desktop System Administration Guide
.
Customizing Specific Components of the Desktop
This section describes how to customize specific components of the desktop
individually.
To Customize the Desktop Background
The desktop themes do not affect the desktop background. Therefore to
modify the desktop background to complement your desktop, you must customize
the desktop background separately using the
Desktop Background
preference tool. To start the
Desktop Background
preference tool,choose
Applications
Desktop
Preferences
Desktop Background
.
To Customize Desktop Background Objects
The size of the icons that are displayed on the desktop background is
controlled by the
Nautilus
file manager. To change
the size of the icons, perform the following steps:
Start the file manager.
Choose
Edit
Preferences
.
Select the
Views
tabbed section.
In the
Icon View Defaults
group, select
the zoom level that you require in the
Default zoom level
drop-down list.
To Customize Fonts
This section describes how to customize the font settings for the desktop
and frequently-used applications.
If you have difficulty with the default font type and font size that
is used on the desktop and desktop background, you can customize the font
settings to suit your needs.
You can specify individual font settings for the following desktop components
and applications:
Entire desktop excluding the desktop background
Desktop background only
Terminal
gedit
text editor
Nautilus
file manager
To Customize the Desktop Fonts
The
Font
preference tool allows you to specify
the default fonts for the desktop.
To start the
Font
preference tool, choose
Applications
Desktop
Preferences
Font
.
The
Font Preferences
dialog contains the following options:
Application font
Click on this button to select a default font to use for the text that
is displayed on the desktop, including the text displayed on the windows and
dialogs associated with GNOME-compliant applications and applets.
If you use the
Theme
preference tool
to select a theme that modifies the application font, the theme setting overrides
the font that you select using the
Font
preference
tool.
Desktop font
Click on this button to select a font to use for the text that is displayed
on the desktop background only.
If you use large fonts, you may need to change the size of panes
in applications that use panes such as,
Nautilus
file manager and
Yelp
.
To Customize the Terminal Font
By default, the
Terminal
application uses
the default font settings that are specified in the
Font
preference tool to display the text in the
Terminal
window components such as the titlebar, toolbar, menubar, and application
dialogs. However,
Terminal
uses fixed-width fonts
to display the contents of the
Terminal
window,
that is the text that is displayed at the command line.
To change the font settings for the contents of the
Terminal
window, start the
Terminal
application,
then choose
Edit
Current
Profile
. In the
General
tabbed
section, specify a font for the window contents as follows:
Deselect the
Use the same font as other applications
option.
Click on the font selector button to select the font type
and font size to use for the contents of the
Terminal
window.
To Customize the gedit Text Editor Font
By default, the
gedit
application uses the
default font settings that are specified in the
Font
preference tool to display the text in the
gedit
window components such as the menubar, toolbar, and application dialogs. However,
you can customize the font that
gedit
uses to display
the text editor window contents. To customize the font settings for the
gedit
window contents, perform the following steps:
In the
gedit
application, choose
Edit
Preferences
.
In the
Preferences
dialog, select the
Fonts & Colors
category.
Perform one of the following steps:
To use the default application font that is specified in the
Font
preference tool, select the
Use default theme
font
option.
To specify a font, deselect the
Use default theme
font
option, then click on the
Font used by the editor
button to display the font selector dialog.
To Customize the Nautilus File Manager Font
By default, the
Nautilus
file manager uses
the default font settings that are specified in the
Font
preference tool to display the text in the file manager window. However, you
can further customize the font that is used in the file manager view pane.
To customize the font that is used in the view pane, click on the
View
menu in the file manager, then select one of the following
menu items:
To enlarge the text, select
Zoom In
.
To reduce the text, select
Zoom Out
.
To reset the text to the default font setting, select
Normal Size
.
Meeting Specific Accessibility Needs
The following sections summarize the steps you need to take to improve
the accessibility of the desktop in a particular area.
To Achieve a High or Low Contrast Desktop
To achieve a high or low contrast desktop, perform the following steps:
Use the
Theme
preference tool to
select the high contrast or low contrast desktop theme that you require.
Use the
Theme
preference tool to
select a window frame theme. You should select the
Atlanta
window frame theme for use with high contrast desktop themes. The
Atlanta
window frame theme may also improve readability for some
users. However, you can choose the window frame theme that best suits your
needs.
Use the
Desktop Background
preference
tool to customize your desktop background as follows:
Set the
Desktop Wallpaper
to
No Wallpaper
.
Set the
Desktop Colors
to
Solid Color
.
Select a background color that suits your needs.
In the
Terminal
application, ensure
that the
Use colors from system theme
option is selected
in the
Colors
tabbed section of the
Editing
Profile
dialog.
In the
gedit
application, ensure
that the
Use default theme colors
option is selected
in the
Fonts & Colors
tabbed section of the
Preferences
dialog.
To Achieve a Large Print Desktop
To achieve a large print desktop, perform the following steps:
Use the
Theme
preference tool to
select the large print theme that you require.
Use the
Theme
preference tool to
select a window frame theme. You can use the
Crux
,
Atlanta
, or
Bright
window frame themes with
large print desktop themes, depending on the contrast level that you prefer.
Use the
Font
preference tool to
increase the font that is displayed on desktop background objects.
Increase the font size that is used to display the contents
of the
Terminal
application window. See
for more information.
If the
Use default theme font
option
is selected in the
gedit
Preferences
dialog,
gedit
uses the font size that
is specified in the large print theme that you selected. However, if the
Use default theme font
option is not selected, increase the font
size that is used to display the contents of the
gedit
text editor window. See
for more information.
If you use applications that use panes, such as
Nautilus
file manager and the Help browser, you may need to
change the size of panes to accommodate the large print. See the online help
for the appropriate application for more information.
