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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Ubuntu WebApps: Where does that leave Lubuntu?

By now, I'm sure you've heard of Ubuntu's new WebApps. If not, here's a movie that fills you in.

In my opinion, WebApps is a brilliant first step to integrate the web and the desktop in a seamless fashion. However, this integration is specifically designed for the Unity desktop environment. In other words, Lubuntu users can't use it.

So what are our options?

First, I suggest creating bookmark apps. With a few steps, you can create your own Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and other bookmark launchers. Now, pulling up your favorite social networking site is a click away.

Secondly, you may wish to look into applications like Nuvola. Nuvola integrates web-based music services into the desktop.

You can chose from Amazon, 8tracks, Google, Groveshark, Hype Machine, Pandora, and Rdio.

Although each service is simply a wrapper of the website, Nuvola does offer a notification tray icon, notification pop-ups, and dock integration.

So, it's not a perfect solution by any means, but it starts the process.

Finally, should you hold your breath for Lubuntu to adopt WebApps in the future? Considering Ubuntu One integration has been on the to-do list for awhile, I would start looking elsewhere.

Enjoy your new and minimal web/desktop integration!

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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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Elementary Wallpaper Release

The elementary OS team just released their new wallpaper set for the upcoming Luna release. Although this is a Lubuntu blog, I believe the two projects hold so many design similarities, both their aesthetics and their light-weight priorities.

The screenshot above is my little acer netbook running Lubuntu 12.04 with my favorite of the new wallpapers.
Download Wallpapers

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Lubuntu Panel Location

If you are using docky and want to move the Lubuntu Panel to the top of the monitor, here's how.

First, secondary-click (left-click) the panel at any location and chose "Panel Settings."

Second, click on the "top" edge radio button.

If you want to change the color of your panel, click on the appearance tab and select the "solid color" option.

I use the following options WITH approximately 50% opacity. If you want to see my entire desktop, click here.

Finally, if you're using docky and want applications to minimize to the dock rather than the panel, remove the "Task Bar" applet from the "Panel Applets" menu. Here's my setup:

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Lubuntu Digital Clock

Editing the digital clock in the Lubuntu panel is always one of my first tweaks after a fresh install.

To edit The format of the clock, secondary-click the clock text and select "digital clock settings."

However, I always forget which letters correspond to which date format. I've posted some of them below, but this tool will solve all your problems with a simple drag and drop web interface.

%a - The abbreviated weekday name (Sun)
%A - The full weekday name (Sunday)
%b - The abbreviated month name (Jan)
%B - The full month name (January)
%d - Day of the month (01..31)
%e - Day of the month (1..31)
%H - Hour of the day, 24-hour clock (00..23)
%I - Hour of the day, 12-hour clock (01..12)
%l - Hour of the day ()
%j - Day of the year (001..366)
%m - Month of the year (01..12)
%M - Minute of the hour (00..59)
%p - Meridian indicator (AM or PM)
%S - Second of the minute (00..60)
%w - Day of the week (Sunday is 0, 0..6)
%y - Year without a century (00..99)
%Y - Year with century
%Z - Time zone name
%% - Literal % character

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Lubuntu 12.04

Lubuntu 12.04 was released a few days ago. After some configuration changes, here is my desktop:

(1) Moved panel to the top. Semi-transparent. Added Faenza icons, but I liked the elementaryOS panel icons better. Elementary background. Docky.

(2) PCManFM and the "updated theme" -- looks the same to me.

(3) My favorite: Synapse.

(4) The new Lubuntu Software Center. Looking good.

As for stability? I had a few things crash in the days right after the release. I can't say I have much to complain about now, however. Solid release.

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Docky + Lubuntu

Lubuntu 10.04, onward

There are a lot of dock options available: Cairo, wbar, etc. But my favorite is Docky.

To install docky, copy-and-paste into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install docky

Under Docky setting, click on the option to "Start when user logs in." Easy.

However, Docky will look very strange without composting. To enable composting, look here.

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Lubuntu Icon Theme

Lubuntu/Ubuntu 10.04 onward

I've never been too happy with Ubuntu/Lubuntu default icons. I've toyed with a few different icon sets, but my favorite by far has to be the Faenza Icon Theme. Here's a sample of Faenza:

To install the icon theme, open LXTerminal and paste in the following code.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme

After it's installed, open the Look and Feel preference window: Applications -> Preferences -> Customize Look and Feel. Click on the icons tab and choose one of the Faenza themes.

Enjoy your new theme!

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Lubuntu: gconf-editor

Lubuntu 10.04-11.10

There are times when editing the configuration files of a particular app is done most easily using a tool like gconf-editor.

This editor ships by default with Ubuntu, but not Lubuntu. If you want it, here's how to get it:

First, open up LXTerminal. Then type/paste in the following code.

sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

Done. To use the editor: Applications -> System Tools -> Configuration Editor

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Lubuntu Quick Launch: Synapse

Lubuntu 10.04 onwards.

I came to Linux/Ubuntu from OSX after falling in love with spotlight. To scratch your quick-launcher itch, there's a lot of options, but my favorite has become Synapse.

Synapse uses the hotkeys CTRL+SPACE to summon the launcher.

To install Synapse, open up LXTerminal and type/paste in the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install synapse

Finally, let's talk appearance. I used Synapse for about 5 months without compositing, but I finally took the plunge. If you want full aesthetic functionality, install a composite manager like xcompmgr. You can find instructions HERE.

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Bookmark Apps

Lubuntu 11.04, 11.10. Will probably work for almost all flavors of Ubuntu.

Because I use the gmail web interface as my email client, I was looking for a way to create a "gmail.com" application/icon on my desktop. There are certainly "easier" ways to do this, but most beginers don't like using the terminal. Here's a GUI approach.

First, you need root access of your applications file. Direct your file manager to:

/usr/share/applications

Now open the location as root.

Now, secondary-click -> create blank file.

Save as gmail.desktop.

Find your newly created file, secondary-click, and open with leafpad.

Paste the following code into the document and click save.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Gmail
Exec=chromium-browser http://gmail.com
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=gmail
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;

If you use Firefox, simply replace "chromium-browser" with "firefox". Also the icon option can be set to any icon. You can view acceptable icons by looking through

/usr/share/icons

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My Lubuntu Desktop

In my opinion, Lubuntu ships with some fairly ugly defaults. In all fairness, 11.10 was a huge improvement over 11.04. However, here's some modification ideas.

Docky, semi-transparent panel on top, Faenza icon theme.

PCManFM file browser. Looks like an elementary theme.

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