Nice!
What gtk theme do you use?

This looks terrific.

Would you please tell me from where you got the wallpaper in the screen shot of your desktop?

Ran through the instructions twice an I cannot see the panel on the bottom of the screen. The AWN launches, however it does not show up. I am very new to ubuntu, what may I have missed.

For Karl Thomas: It is at the beginning of the tutorial http://images.google.com/images?q=dark+knight&ndsp=20&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&imgsz=xxlarge

Anyway, the version you see in the screenshots is modified by me.

For dean: I think you did not activate Compiz Fusion. Right click on your desktop, click on Change Desktop Background, go to the last tab (Visual Effects) and select the "Normal" option. Also, make sure you have the latest video drivers for your graphics card.

For apfan: I am using Murrine Gilouche (sudo apt-get install murrine-themes). Find in the Themes tab, click the Customize button and under Controls tab.

Thanks for replying,Marius. I'm sorry that I didn't follow the link that you provided.

Great tutorial! It really looks awesome. I do have a question, though. That Pidgin applet is very nice and it almost renders the regular Pidgin buddy list redundant. Is it possible to hide the regular buddy list completely (so that it doesn't even show when alt-tabbing through open programs) and just use Pidgin from the applet?

Marius: That fixed it, thanks.

Hey Marius, thanks for the great guide! It worked perfectly for me, but I do have one question. How can I get those two icons, the home folder and file system, on my desktop? Seems silly, but I can't figure it out! Thanks!

Also, do you do anything to your Firefox to make it look any better with your theme?

Man that was nice! That was one of the sweetest Christmas gift I got so far. But hey I have a question : would that work on old computers (I'm talking 3-5 years maybe a little more) ? or even better what would be the minimal configuration you'd recommend for it to work ?

Thanks

I didn't understand some of that "right side of top bar" stuff, and not all the applets you listed were available... also, could not find Pidgin to drag to the bar... and you didn't say how to reverse all this stuff it is isn't what the user wants.

+3 hopefulness, -5 helpfulness

For Moss: right side of top bar = system tray area of a standard Ubuntu desktop (see the first screenshot at the beginning of the tutorial).

Not all the listed applets are available because you didn't installed the extras: awn-applets-python-extras and awn-applets-c-extras.

In order to drag Pidgin to the AWN dock, you must add a shortcut of it from the menu to the top panel.

I will add the reverse part in one or two days :)

For Timothy: Hey... you're welcome! For Firefox and Thunderbird I use the Silvermel theme.... it's simply beautiful .... http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Firefox-Extensions/Silvermel-Firefox-41457.shtml and http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Thunderbird-Extensions/Silvermel-Thunderbird-41458.shtml

Here's how to add those two icons.... The following example is for one icon, you just do the same for the rest:

1. Right click on the desktop -> Create Launcher
2. Type: Location / Name: Home (or whatever you want) / Command: file:///home/yourusername (or any other location on your hard drive).

Remember that any location should start with file:/// (e.g. file:///storage) .. where storage is a folder on my root partition.

Hope it helps!

For Leon: I'm glad you liked the gift :) I think it will work fine on a 1.5 Ghz with 512 RAM PC, as long as you have a good video card... let's say Nvidia GeForce 5200 (128 RAM).

For Sky: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I can't think of any trick to hide the main window of Pidgin.... but, you should just use the widget to talk to friends (click on a contact and the conversation window will open) ... so you see? no need for the main window of Pidgin anymore... just ignore it :)

I tried this out, but the notification area doesn't work. Some of the apps I run minimize to that area, so I have to keep the gnome panel's notification area,.

For aionys: Yes, but you have to think "different" now :) "Dock thinking" :... click on the icon to maximize the aplication, and click on minimize to dock it... NO clicking on the close button anymore, if you want to keep the applications running :)

i cannot find the pidginscreenlet any clue?

For mdimitris: All the requirements are at the beginning of the article.

Here is the Pidgin Screenlet: http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Environment/Screenlets/PidginScreenlet-36731.shtml

Have fun!

When i am trying to install the pidginscreenlet from screenlet manager i cannot find the file pidgincreenlet archive when i search for it ans so i cannot install it!

I can install all the stuff from the Synaptec packet manager but when I click Applications - Accessories - Avant Windows Navigator, the dock doesn't come up at the bottom of my screen, it sort of opens a small window and then disappears to the bottom right of my screen, but nothing is visible...any suggestions?

very nice work btw, looks very nice!

i can't drag the pidgin screenlet any clue?

How did you get xterm (or whichever term you used) to look like that? If it's in the tutorial, which part is it? All I want to do is get that. It's amazing!

I really Like what you have done and the tutorial it is great. However I am having a problem with the screenlets. when I click on the screenlets Icon nothing happens except a flash. Also when I add the avant to the startup avant-window-navigator as soon as I close the add menu it is gone and when I boot up I don't have the avant navigator I have to go to the top bar and click on the icon so it will work.
Thanks for a great tutorial.
Mel

First of all...awesome article! I just have one problem.... 3 of the icons in the dock are huge compared to the rest. The dock height cuts off the top of them. Any ideas? Thanks.

take a look to this: http://beyecixramd.deviantart.com/art/12-30-2008-linux-mint-107800272
http://beyecixramd.deviantart.com/art/Linux-screenshot-monday-29-dec-107688038

i've used to have AWN, but i dont like it anymore :3

Hi Marius Nestor,

"For dean: I think you did not activate Compiz Fusion. Right click on your desktop, click on Change Desktop Background, go to the last tab (Visual Effects) and select the "Normal" option. Also, make sure you have the latest video drivers for your graphics card."

I have been trying to follow this, but unfortunately I am unable to select the "Normal" option. How do I check the video drivers & update them? I am also a newbie. Thanks in advance

Dear Marius,

I lost the bottom panel. How do I get it back?

Carl

where can i find the mashup theme?

For dimitris: Well, there is another way of installing screenlets....

Open the Screenlets program and just drag and drop the PidginScreenlet archive in the main window. Shortly after, you will receive a message that it was installed.

For Thomas: You don't have Compiz Fusion activated. Right click on your desktop, click on Change Desktop Background, go to the last tab (Visual Effects) and select the "Normal" option.

For jake: That's an AWN (Avant Window Navigator) applet :)

For Mel: You're welcome and I'm glad you like the tutorial. Regarding the Avant Window Navigator start-up option... you said "as soon as I close the add menu it is gone" ... You did clicked the "Add" button after you filled the Name and Command fields... right? :)

For Sasha: That's very strange... only 3? Hmmm... You can adjust the size of the icons from System -> Preferences -> Awn Manager ... Bar Appearance tab... play a little with the "Bar height" and "Icon offset" options until you get it right... I am sure it is just a temporary issue.

For Carl C: Hi, when you clicked the "Normal" option, the application was supposed to check for video drivers automatically and prompt you to install, if necessary. However, go to System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers and see if there are any video drivers available for your video card. BTW, what video card do you have?

Regarding the bottom panel. Right click on the upper panel and than click on the "New panel" entry :)

For sken: http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Environment/Icons/Mashup-40124.shtml

It's also linked at the beginning of the tutorial :)

possible stupid question, accidentally opened a second panel on the bottom, now theres one behind the other. when i close a program it causes the one behind it to lag. a way to close the panel would be nice. thanks.

For Jon: Did you mean two docks? If so... right click in an empty area of it (on a corner) and see that it has a Close option.

Nice Job! Great Tunning!
When you click on an application, at first click it opens, the following clicks show and hide the application.
Is there a way to open twice the same application? Let's say I would like to open two terminals. Thank you!

For guille: Thanks! I did not try it, but I think you can add two terminal applets on the AWN dock. Anyway, I know that you can run many instances of Firefox :) ... don't know if it works with other apps.

great desktop...soo easy to follow...but the only problem i had was with deleting the upper bar, it is grayed out and i dont have the option to delete it??..(i am new to ubuntu) :)

For ken: There is no delete option for the upper panel. You just have to make it transparent, like I said in the tutorial :)

How do you put it all back to default?

Here are the instruction to revert everything to default: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-8-10-Desktop-Customization-Revert-Guide-104942.shtml

love your guide!! thank you!

This is my desktop after following your tutorial and playing around with the icons.

http://www.therebelmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ununtu2.png

bw, will

Loved the Tutorial, I have an NVIDIA 8500GT. When I select the normal option on my Visual tab I lose the top bar on my windows. So I can't close or minimize. I have not been able to really find how to fix this. Anyone else have this problem.

I have added the options to my Xorg.conf file
Option "AddARGBVisuals" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Under both Screen and Hardware but without a difference.

Any ideas

for Jason: It's on a different card, I had the same issue, and mine was resolved by installing the Emerald window decorator: sudo apt-get install emerald.

Give that a try and see if works for you. I'm not sure why it is necessary, but mine is working like a champ now. If I could just get the laptop to play vids fullscreen with compiz running, I'd be set...

This looks very nice on my computer. Just one point if you remove the Ubuntu logout restart turn off Guest Suspend Hibernate Lock Screen Applet how do you perform these tasks, especially the Guest Account.

Why should we use that icon theme, when there are many many themes that are highest rated than this?
2nd. What about the GTK theme?
I thing it's most important part of the tuning the Gnome...
I thing you should take advantage of Beryl Emerald.
It increases the look of the theme....
There are many doc-s instead of avant-window-navigator.
AWN shows bugs depending of the system.
What about Cia dock, Cairo-dock etc...
I think if you want to be correct and comprehensive, youhave a lot of work here...

Dear dgp, the above tutorial is just an example... to demonstrate how Ubuntu/GNOME desktop can be customized. As I said at the very beginning of the guide "But, remember that nothing can stop you from adding other elements to your desktop, in order to make it "perfect"!" I encourage the users to use the icon themes, GTK themes, Emerald themes that we provid on our website, in order to customize their desktops :)

Thanks u very much for ur guide, I'm a new user for ubuntu, i made it as u told but i need somethings to be completed:
1- i entered the avant window - as u told- in the sessions to be opened automatically when i login, but i still open it manually
2- I couldn't add applet for" firefox, evolution, system menu, network connection monitor, sound control, terminal, automatically mounted drivers
3- about pidgin, when i login ubuntu, a msg appeared "pidgin not running" in many places on the screen
4- The applet for shutdown is just to logout/ quit not including hibernate, restart, standby, so how can i add them

Thanks again for ur help

Nice tutorial......I am having some trouble with the pidginscreenlets... once I have done everything exactly how it is shown i got a message that said pidgin not running...

some help will be apreciated!!!!

Thanks

Pidgin should run in background. Did you started Pidgin?

This is how it looks my de

http://www.freepicload.com/view.php?image=7f1dbb57bd57121396078881dc6aa4e7.jpg

Hey thank you for the tutorial! I have a question how you made everything look transparent and glassy? Thank you!

You're welcome! Well... I guess Compiz Fusion takes care of that :)

How do you undo everything and revert back to the way it was originally? The effects look nice but they are actually really annoying. Any tips?

Here are the instruction to revert everything to default: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-8-10-Desktop-Customization-Revert-Guide-104942.shtml

Hi there! thanks for the tutorial. Indeed it looks great but it would be great if you add how to revert each step. That would make the tutorial complete and really help newbies to learn. Cheers

Here are the instruction to revert everything to default: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-8-10-Desktop-Customization-Revert-Guide-104942.shtml

One other issue: when you have an application running and press close (X) it finishes the application, even if you have it set to go to the icon tray. Examples are Pidgin, Skype, Rythmbox. Is there a way around this?

Yes, think "different" :) ... "Dock thinking" : click on the icon to maximize the application, click on minimize to dock it... NO clicking on the close button anymore, if you want to keep the applications running :)

Hello,

How to unistall this avant and restore the desktop to default one.

Here are the instruction to revert everything to default: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-8-10-Desktop-Customization-Revert-Guide-104942.shtml

Hey.
I ame tring to change the collors from my terminal.
Its now gray, and it is a litle hard to read whit a lunar background :P

I dont have the menu bar above the terminal, so, is there a other location where i can change the colors to green on black?
Or is there a option that can give me the menu choise on or off?

ps: thx for your guid, it was just the thing i was missing here :P
just tring to find a other guid for blackbox :)

This was awsome!

foarte buna treaba Marius! cand ma voi duce acasa o voi aplica si eu, dupa ce in prealabil voi face backup la ce exista deja!

can someone help me cuz I tryed using pidgin but is just says pidgin is not runing when I launch it.

Please start Pidgin first! And keep it opened... the Pidgin screenlet requires Pidgin :)

Thx for the guide. Everything worked well except for the Awn Manager that does not automatically start when I open my computer... Since I'm not a really experienced linux user, it's a major problem. I've added an entry for Avant Window Navigator in preference-sessions, so it should automatically start with the session... Can you help?

I followed this tutorial with Debian 5 and it works perfectly, plus it feels much faster and more stable than in Ubuntu 8.10 or 9.04 on my old Thinkpad T42 laptop.

pidgin not running. what this mean ? I did something wrong ? somebody help me please. I am novice

Open Pidgin from the menu... and keep it open :) Do NOT click the CLOSE button.... only use minimize :)

oh thanks a lot marius. see ya . I solve the problem

can you help me? if ind your tutorial really great but im new into ubuntu, i have my ubuntu 8.10 iinstalled dualboot with windows xp, i have download the file needed to this step and put it in my usb .gz file if im correct is compressed file right? ive already extracted it in my usb my problem is the process in step 1 it cannot dtect i have avant in my usb drive although my usb is deected when i plugged it.. hope you can help me with my problem...

Great simple guide, thanks for sharing it :)
I'm having a hard time looking for "sesions:, i can't find it where you say it should be under System -> Preferences -> Sessions
I'm using the latest ubuntu version :)

Allison, Session has been renamed to Startup Applications. It is located under System -> Preferences :)