Theme Updates: Ambiance Blue Theme Pack, Elegance GNOME Shell Theme

Ambiance Blue theme pack

Ambiance Blue - a theme pack that includes a GTK2, GTK3 and GNOME Shell theme -, has been updated for GNOME 3.2:

Besides supporting GNOME 3.2 (and GNOME Shell 3.2), the latest Ambiance Blue also comes with support for the Unity panel:

Ambiance Blue in Unity (Ubuntu 11.10)

Ambiance Blue is available in the WebUpd8 themes PPA so Ubuntu 11.10 users can install it using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ambiance-blue-theme

If you don't want to add our PPA or don't use Ubuntu, download Ambiance Blue theme pack from DeviantArt.

Elegance GNOME Shell theme

Elegance is a new dark GNOME Shell theme created by WebUpd8 reader Satyajit Sahoo (who has also created Ambiance Blue). The theme is fully compatible with GNOME Shell 3.2 and comes with a slightly transparent top bar (not exactly visible in the screenshots) and other beautiful, elegant elements:

Download GNOME Shell Elegance.

To install this GNOME Shell theme, extract the downloaded .zip file, then extract the "Elegance.tar.gz" file to the ~/.themes/ directory (".themes" is a hidden directory in your home folder so press CTRL + H to see it; if it doesn't exist, create it).

Applying the new themes

To be able to easily change the GTK theme, install GNOME Tweak Tool:

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Then search for "Advanced Settings" in the menu and look under the "Theme" tab.


To be able to change the GNOME Shell themes, you'll need GNOME Shell User Theme extension. For Ubuntu, install it using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-user-theme

Then once again launch GNOME Tweak Tool ("Advanced Settings"), activate the User Themes extension, restart GNOME Tweak Tool and apply a new GNOME Shell themes from the "Themes" tab.

Thanks to Satyajit for the tip!