The Mint-Y theme offers users a flat, modern design

May 6, 2016 19:00 GMT  ·  By

Linux Mint project leader and maintainer Clement Lefebvre dropped some exciting news today about what users should expect from the upcoming Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" operating system.

Last month we talked about Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" and about the fact that it will ship with the Cinnamon 3.0 and MATE 1.14 desktop environments, as well as with a brand-new and long-anticipated design, based on the very popular Arc GTK theme. Well, in the meantime, Clement Lefebvre and his skilful team of developers have managed to release the Cinnamon 3.0 desktop environment, which brought some interesting changes.

And today, Clement Lefebvre wants to share with us the new look of the Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" operating system that everyone was curious about, because until now we have seen nothing concrete, just small elements for the window titlebars and buttons. Also, at that point in time the Linux Mint devs were still deciding on the final name of the new theme and on which themes it should be based on. So here it is, the new Linux Mint 18 theme is called Mint-Y and has a flat design.

"We talked about a new theme and we noticed two things: First, that some of you were very excited about it. And second, that some of you were also scared of the changes this would introduce. I think I’ve got good news for everybody," said Clement Lefebvre. "We decided to join the new trend and jump on the bandwagon (as people say) with a new 'flat' theme called 'Mint-Y', based on the very popular 'Arc' and 'Moka' themes."

Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" Beta coming June 2016

At the end of the article, you can see the new flat Mint-Y theme in action on the Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" Cinnamon edition. The theme is, as expected, based on the very popular Arc GTK theme and Moka icon set. Also, it looks like the Linux Mint devs decided to use the Paper icons for folders, as shown in the screenshots below. But, the Mint-Y theme won't be the default for Linux Mint 18, which will still ship with the old Mint-X style.

"We want to know how much you like it. Not just by looking at screenshots, but by using it, for 6 months, for a year. We don’t want to change styles just because we think it might 'look' better, we’ll provide both styles to you and eventually if the day comes where a huge majority prefer the new theme, then we’ll follow that and start using it as the new default," said Clement Lefebvre.

In a few weeks, you will finally be able to test drive the new Mint-Y theme, as the Beta of Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" will be launched in early June, and the Linux Mint devs would like to know what you think about it. Right now there's no release date set for the Linux Mint 18 Beta, nor for the final build, which we believe should see the light of day sometime this summer, in July or early August, shortly after the Release Candidate (RC) is out.

Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon with Mint-Y
Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon with Mint-Y
Moka and Paper icons
Moka and Paper icons

Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon with Mint-Y (2 Images)

Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon with Mint-Y
Moka and Paper icons
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