Too many (& dated) desktop themes.

[Jerzy Jalocha N]

In Xubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope we have more than a hundred desktop themes installed by default. This is just an overwhelming lot, and I believe, doesn't fit the (X)Ubuntu philosophy. It would be much more user-friendly to have six (a dozen at most) themes, and move the rest to an optional package.

Now, these six should span a wide range of distinct, modern-looking, high-quality themes. As a reference, you can compare with xfce-look.org, where themes such as Beastie, B6, Fbx, TUX, are definitely not in the list of the most downloaded or the highest rated.

Other themes such as Agua, Coolclean, Curve, Galaxy, Gnububble, Keramik, Tabs, Today do not even respect the GTK color schemes.

One specific theme I miss in Xubuntu Jaunty is Dust (with its variants). There's been a wild rave in the whole blogosphere about this new Ubuntu theme. Why isn't it included in Xubuntu? Maybe there's other good artwork in Ubuntu that could be provided to Xubuntu users? Finally it's just one big family!

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thank you for taking the time to make Xubuntu better. Since what you submitted is not really a bug, or a problem, but rather an idea to improve Xubuntu, you are invited to post your idea in Ubuntu Brainstorm at http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ where it can be discussed, voted by the community and reviewed by developers. Thanks for taking the time to share your opinion!

[Pasi Lallinaho (knome)]

Jerzy,

thanks for the valuable opinion. I agree with you - currently we have quite a lot of themes shipped by default. What Xubuntu missed in the Jaunty release was a new GTK theme (as we weren't really happy with the old either, as they had some unwanted changes).

We are most possibly going to ship a custom-made GTK theme with Xubuntu Karmic. It would be a good time to check out the existing themes and whether any of them is something we'd like to ship.

What comes including Dust in Xubuntu... You can always install it from the repositories. As the marketing lead of Xubuntu I'd say we are going to a bit different direction artwork-wise with Ubuntu, and I don't think it's a bad thing for either of the distributions. I also feel that as a desktop environment, Xfce is conventional while Gnome seeks new ways to do things. (I also think that neither of the developer teams are doing the wrong thing.) Considering this, I'd like to keep the look of Xubuntu somewhat conventional or at least try to accomplish slow but steady and controlled improvement towards new goals - the Xubuntu/Desktop look of 2010's.

[Jerzy Jalocha N (jjalocha)]

Thank you both, for your valuable and quick replies. I will move this idea to Brainstorm, as sugested.

I had a quick glance at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Artwork, but I couldn't find any specifications, or more clear directions about that "a bit different direction artwork-wise [than] Ubuntu". It would be interesting (valuable) to have that direction have clearly spelled out, exactly as there is a Xubuntu Strategy Document now.

One clear distinction we need to make, is between the default theme, and alternative themes/icons/backgrounds that are provided in a default installation, but have to be enabled manually by the user. I was talking only about the latter, here.

[Pasi Lallinaho (knome)]

Hi again Jerzy,

there is no clear specifications on how should we go to different direction. It's experience and looking at things that tells me that we are most possibly going to divert more of Ubuntu than earlier. It's not our main job to do something that doesn't look like Ubuntu, but of course being different (and in a positive way) increases your visibility and recognition.

What comes about the artwork direction for Karmic, it's not set yet. We're having discussion(s) at/during UDS and after that we will know more what the new Xubuntu *might* look. See https://blueprints.launchpad.net/xubuntu-artwork/+spec/xubuntu-karmic-visual-concept for the blueprint and later, the specification.

I understood that you were talking about the alternatives and not the default theme. Sorry for going a bit offtopic :)

[Jerzy Jalocha N (jjalocha)]

Pasi, thank you very much, for you mail and the link. I'll be keeping an eye on the development!