14 DAY TRIAL // Ubuntu can be easily tweaked and it's not all that difficult to make some visual changes to it. People think that Unity is not all that flexible, but that's definitely not the case and users need just two apps to make all the changes they want.
Unity is usually regarded as a rather closed desktop environment and people don't know that it can be customized in a number of ways, well beyond what you might think. In fact, with very few exceptions, Unity can be modified to a great extent.
The first thing that people will ask is if you can move the launcher to another part of the screen and that needs to be dealt with right from the start. The simple answer is no. You can't move the launcher to the bottom or to the right. You can set it to hide and you can install a dock, if you really want to, but that's pretty much it.
Unity Tweak
This is one of the best apps you can use to tweak Unity and Ubuntu. You can find it in the official repositories and it can be installed via the terminal or through the Ubuntu Software Center. Once you open it, you will find an entry called Unity right at the top.
From there you can modify the behavior of the launcher, you can set the transparency, and you can even change the animations of the icons. And that's just the first tab. From the next tabs, users will be able to change the background of the Dash search, what type of entries are displayed, change various settings for the panel at the top of the screen (including the indicators), modify the settings for the desktop switcher, disable the default webapps, and tweak the shortcuts.
Below the Unity settings, users will also find a few more changes for the Window Manager, like hot corners, windows spread, hardware acceleration options for the textures, and even a few window animations to choose from.
CompizConfig Settings Manager
This is a tool for people who usually know what they are doing. You can download it with the Ubuntu Software Center. It's not something that can be messed with, so be sure you check two times before making any changes. This application houses a lot of options and not all of them are about customizing the OS, but you can access Desktop from the left and then Unity.
You will get access to a ton of features and everything you change here is translated in real time in Unity. It's also important to mention that under no circumstances are you to uncheck the "Enable Ubuntu Unity plugin" on the left side. Feel free to experiment with all the options, but remember that it's a trick app and you can mess your system.
Enjoy!
