Modifying Borders in Lubuntu's Theme

One of the small things that annoys me about the default Lubuntu theme is the black border around windows (below, left).

Instead, I prefer the lighter border (above, right). It looks more nuanced and sophisticated, especially on lighter backgrounds.

Here's a screenshot of the new theme as part of the entire desktop.

To get that look, one option is to download my altered openbox theme and replace the themerc file inside:

/usr/share/themes/Lubuntu-default/openbox-3

Remember, to paste a file into a root directory, you will need root access (Tools -> Open Current Folder as Root).

Download Theme! If you want to change the borders manually, you will still need root access to the themerc file. Edit it by searching for border.color and change the values to #CCCCCC. There will be a few of them.

Restart and enjoy your new theme.

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Getting Bold with Lubuntu Fonts

The basic font selection is fairly spartan in a fresh Lubuntu install. But it certainly doesn't need to remain that way.

The easiest way to install fonts is via the Synaptic Package Manager (Menu -> System Tools -> Synaptic). A quick search for font will reveal almost 600 font packages available for install. However, it is a bit difficult to know what any of these fonts look like. Are they decent? Worth the space?

One package is certainly worth your while, however. The ttf-mscorefonts-installer contains standard fonts we've all grown to love (or hate) like Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman, Veranda, and a few more.

To install, simply right-click the mscorefonts pacakge and select "Mark for Installation." Agree to the additional packages, if any, and hit the apply button at the top of the Synaptic window.

Another method to install fonts -- my preferred -- is the manual method. This method takes a little more time, but it also allows you to preview fonts and only install the typefaces you love.

First, we need a legal method for acquiring free fonts. There are a lot of font sites out there. Here are my favorites:

• Urban Fonts
• dafont
• 1001 Free Fonts
• Abstract Fonts

[An aside here: You may be asking yourself why there is a Windows and a Mac option, but no Linux download option on some of these sites. To the best of my knowledge, the Mac option includes additional "resource files" that are no longer required for later versions of OS X. They are also not required for Linux. The Windows option is your best bet.]

So let's find a cool font. I like the "Mama" font on Urban Fonts and downloaded it.

Now, go to your newly downloaded .zip file, right click it, and chose the "extract here" option.

You will see your new fonts in your Downloads directory. Select and copy them.

To install them, direct the file manager to the location:

/usr/share/fonts

There are places where you can also install fonts in your home directory, but a font installation into your root directory will ensure the font is accessible to all programs and all users.

We now need to open this location with root access (Tools -> Open Current Folder as Root).

At this point, it really doesn't matter where you paste the fonts. The directories inside the fonts folder are really for organizational purposes. Therefore, I like to create my own font folder. Right click -> Create New -> Folder.

Name your folder whatever you wish. I like "My Fonts."

Finally, paste in your copied fonts.

Open up your favorite writing program, and you're in business.

A personal note: Some of you may be wondering why we should care so much about fonts. Check out the film, Helvetica. It's an incredible documentary about modern typefaces and their influence. Highly recommended.

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Lock Your Screen with Hotkeys in Lubuntu

You can bind the screensaver lock command to CTRL+ALT+L by editing your Lubuntu keyboard & mouse configuration file. In the terminal, paste:

leafpad ~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml

Find a spot where you see a lot of "keybind" words. Directly after a </keybind >, paste the following block:

<keybind key="C-A-L">
    <action name="Execute">
    <command>xscreensaver-command -lock</command>
    </action>
</keybind>

It should look similar to this:

Again, in the terminal, type

openbox --reconfigure

for changes to take effect.

Source: r/Lubuntu

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Lubuntu Login Screen: Changing the LightDM Background

When Ubuntu changed to the LightDM display manager, the desktop background was configured to change based on the user's configurations. However, this never made it into Lubuntu 12.04. So if you want a seamless look between your desktop and your login screen, or if you have some atrocious image you want all users to view before logging in, read on...

The first thing is to locate your background image and place it in the root directory. (Obviously, if it's in your home folder, this is inaccessible once you log out.) I suggest you place it where the other root background images are located.

/usr/share/lubuntu/wallpapers

Open this location with root access (Tools -> Open Current Folder as Root)

Paste in your new login background image or drag-and-drop.

In the same root-access window, open the LightDM configurations:

/etc/lightdm

Open the file named lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf

Finally, change the background option. Because the image should be in the same directory, simply change the file name.

Logout and enjoy the new eye-candy.

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Notification Pop-ups in Lubuntu

One of the things I loathe most about Lubuntu 12.04 is the dreaded notification system. Primarily, I don't like that I must clear old notifications from the panel before other notifications come through.

I also don't like how big the notifications are.

Below, I'll give you a method to remove the Lubuntu default notify system, but I will also end with a worthy alternative.

Remove Default Lubuntu Notifications
To remove the notifications simply remove the culprit: the notification-daemon. Open the terminal and paste the following code.

sudo apt-get remove notification-daemon

It may prompt you with something scary about removing the lubuntu-desktop. That didn't happen to me, but you shouldn't worry because it's part of a meta package. Your desktop will be fine. I promise!

Add a New Notification System
XFCE uses an excellent, minimal notify system. It's called xfce4-notifyd. The popups are a bit smaller, have a smokier look to them, and don't prompt you to clear the old notifications. What more can you ask for?

Oh, and did I mention it's configurable? Yeah, you can chose where they appear, what they look like, and how long they stay on the screen.

Want it? Make sure you've removed the notification-daemon first. Then paste into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install xfce4-notifyd

To open the configuration manager:

xfce4-notifyd-config

Restart. Enjoy.

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Moving Close, Maximize, and Minimize Buttons in Lubuntu

Those who come to Lubuntu from Mac OSX may like their window buttons on the left side of the title bar rather than the default settings (right).

To accomplish this, you need to open the lubuntu configuration file and edit one line. In the terminal, copy-paste in the following line:

leafpad ~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml

The file will open in the text editor. At this point, search for the following line of code (it will be about 45-50 lines from the top):

<titleLayout>NLIMC</titleLayout>

The order in which you list the N, L, I, M, and C in the line above dictates the order your buttons appear.

To get the order of the first picture above, I used the settings:

<titleLayout>CMILN</titleLayout>

As listed in the comments of the file, here are the available characters. Each can occur at most once:

N: window icon
L: window label (AKA title).
I: iconify
M: maximize
C: close
S: shade (roll up/down)
D: omnipresent (on all desktops).

Logout. Login. Enjoy your new button positions.

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